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As one might expect from a man who ’ s devoted his life to protecting the public , McGinness is candid about the recent downtown Sacramento mass shooting that left six people dead , calling it a gang shooting initiated by people who were known to be violent .
“ Their criminal records speak for themselves ( since ) each of the persons identified as having been in possession of a firearm on that occasion had been banned from possessing a firearm because of their violent criminal history ,” he says , adding one of the shooters was a part of the recently established early release program from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation .
McGinness hosts , with no notes , a weekday radio talk show on KFBK . He says he finds it therapeutic after a career in which he had to make very tough choices — not just life and death but also “ very hard personnel decisions , like when I had to lay off 122 officers in 2009 .”
He shakes his head at the weight of that decision , then allows himself a small smile as he adds , “ I got them all back before I retired .”
On his program , McGinness comes off as tough law and order and fiscally conservative — which makes him an appropriate fit for a conservative-leaning station ( it was the career birthplace of the late Rush Limbaugh and still features the conservative talk show host Tom Sullivan ) — but fair . “ If I had to label myself ,” he says , “ I ’ d call me a libertarian with a small ‘ l ’.” He raises his eyebrow when he hears politicians talk of defunding the police and says he wishes people “ knew the organization as I do . We have some amazingly smart and caring people working there .” Asked about the ongoing complaints about the Sacramento County Jail ’ s alleged mistreatment of prisoners , he sighs .
“ Here ’ s the problem ,” he says . “ Almost nobody wants to be there . It ’ s not like a retail store where you ’ re going to be
treated like a preferred customer and be urged to come back again . If you ’ re arrested we don ’ t want you to come back .” He pauses . “ We want people to get their lives in order ,” sounding very much like a man born at the right time .
Editor ’ s note : As we went to press , the school shooting took place in Uvalde , Texas that killed 19 children and two adults . John McGinness made these comments on KFBK : “ I feel conflicted . I do believe media , especially excess media , leads to the duplication of this happening someplace else .” McGinness also pointed to social media , but said he was hopeful rational people working together can come up with a solution to prevent future incidents .
Ed Goldman writes a thrice-weekly column , The Goldman State , for his website goldmanstate . com .
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30 comstocksmag . com | June 2022