Going to the movies is getting airportified: your knapsacks, bags and purses will be searched on the way in to stop you from carrying in guns that you don’t stick in your waistband or in a shoulder-holster.
Regal says it’s OK to do this because “Security issues have become a daily part of our lives in America.”
And given what we know about the most recent theater shootings, a bag check wouldn’t have stopped anything. James Holmes, who killed 12 and wounded 70 in Aurora, CO, stashed his weapons in his vehicle. The shooter in Louisiana may have had a backpack (reports are inconclusive), but it wasn’t on or near him when police got to him, and a controlled detonation later proved there was nothing harmful inside it. The shooter at the Antioch, TN theater was carrying two backpacks — one of which was strapped across his chest. When police engaged him, he was also wearing a surgical mask. Most of what was in his bags weren’t actually weapons, though. Pepper spray, a hatchet and an Airsoft gun were used in the theater attack. Only one of these is an actual weapon, and Regal’s new policy doesn’t make it clear what will happen to those who bring in legal items that aren’t weapons but the theater decides could be deployed as one.
TSA At The Movies: Theater Chain Looks To Bring Security Theater To The Movie Theater [Tim Cushing/Techdirt]
(Image: One of several security personnel protecting this building, stands ready to assist her teammat, TSGT Lance Cheung, public domain)
