Security Theater
It’s all for show!
So, I had to help out a friend recently.
This poor guy had an extra ticket to the Rush concert, and had no idea what to do with it.
Out of the goodness of my heart, I offered to relieve him of said ticket. Anything for a friend, that’s my motto.
The only downside to this act of selfless altruism was the venue: an event center in one of Connecticut’s worst urban areas. It’s a city I won’t enter without a weapon.
Being a basically law-abiding person, I check the venue’s website for policies. Not a mention of banning guns on premises. Fair enough. I strapped on my Airweight Centennial and head to the arena.
(more)
Ready for action
It’s a madhouse. Major police presence, including 3 mounted units. (For a Rush concert? It’s not a hip-hop brawl, fellas.) Waiting out front for the rest of the crew, I scope out the entrances. No signs prohibiting weapons. So far, so good.
The gang arrives and we get in line to enter. And as I get to the front of the line, and the 400lb landmass ahead of me finally steps inside, I see a security guard with a metal-detector wand giving everyone the once-over.
My options:
- Step out of line, go back to my car and lock up the gun
- Stay in line and try to smooth-talk my way past him
I choose option 2, because I really don’t want to go all the way back to my car. I have a permit, maybe that will persuade him.
He wands my midsection on both sides, scraping my jacket pockets, 1 inch from the gun, and gets no alert from the detector; none of the lights changed and it didn’t make a noise. He waves me inside.
I didn’t show my pleasant surprise, but all I could think was: WTF?
Many alloys of stainless steel are non-magnetic. When I got home, I took a magnet and ran it over the gun. The barrel, cylinder, screws and cylinder latch of this stainless-steel gun were all strongly magnetic, which leaves that out as a factor.
I saw the lights on the unit, so it had batteries. Were they weak?
Was the unit not calibrated?
Did the operator not know how to operate it?
I don’t have an answer, but I now have even less trust in the so-called security measures that the “authorities” implement as an alternative to letting people have the means to defend themselves.
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3 Responses to “Security Theater”
Just “wow.” On several levels.
[...] Security Theater [...]
Makes you wonder. I was a combat engineer way back in the day, and the metal detectors that we used for finding mines had to be calibrated quite precisely to work properly.
I wonder if you could de-gauss a gun, like the Navy does with ships and submarines.