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gun free theaters

Security theater IN a theater?
 
Serenity said:
I live in one of the largest Cities in Australia and I love going to the movies. Fortunately we don't have a gun culture here. The only thing that has ever really bothered me at the movies is when the movie is screening and people won't leave their mobile phones alone. That can get annoying.
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There is a gun in the movies every time I go. I'm not concerned about a mass shooter. I'm more worried about walking out to the car. You don't need a gun to be an asshole mugger.
 
Helix said:
realistically, they are probably going to start running people through metal detectors. it's a massive liability for theater chains, and nutters choose theaters because there are a lot of people in a confined space with limited ability to escape. yeah, i know, you want to be the one carrying so you can take out the shooter, but most of the people who carry a gun into the theater are going to be untrained and trying to shoot a single moving target in the dark. the nutball, on the other hand, is firing indiscriminately into a crowd. seems like it's a better idea to have metal detectors and trained security guards in street clothes to discourage this nonsense. it will cost the theaters some money, but this **** just keeps happening.
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Well I have a new holster on order that will fit my gun with a tactical light on and next pay check I'm getting a laser grip installed. That should fix any problems hitting a mass shooter in the dark
 
Serenity said:
I live in one of the largest Cities in Australia and I love going to the movies. Fortunately we don't have a gun culture here. The only thing that has ever really bothered me at the movies is when the movie is screening and people won't leave their mobile phones alone. That can get annoying.
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Thank your lucky stars you don't have a border connected to the 3rd world as the US does.
We have more drugs with a street value exceeding Australias annual GDP crossing those borders into the US every day. With those drugs comes weapons.

That and a Left wing government will eventually bring the guns home....for the criminals that is anyway
 
EMNofSeattle said:
I think it's sexist discrimination, in order to enjoy a movie without being searched a woman must cross dress and not carry a purse.

Us men don't worry, especially overweight men like myself, 38 waist cargo pants have 7 really deep pockets with more carrying capacity then a purse and don't get searched
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And if they try, fart, make a strange face and run away.
 
NoLeftNoRight said:
Thank your lucky stars you don't have a border connected to the 3rd world as the US does.
We have more drugs with a street value exceeding Australias annual GDP crossing those borders into the US every day. With those drugs comes weapons.

That and a Left wing government will eventually bring the guns home....for the criminals that is anyway
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Gainesville Georgia, about 1/2 hour south of here, is a sanctuary city. luckily they don't come up here to the mountains.
 
tech30528 said:
Gainesville Georgia, about 1/2 hour south of here, is a sanctuary city. luckily they don't come up here to the mountains.
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The North Georgia Mountains are beautiful. Love that area. Been to Helen, Blairsville and all around that area quite a bit.
Also very familiar with Lake Lanier.
I had no idea Gainesville had become a sanctuary city.

Did you know that it is hard to find English speaking people in Miami Florida?

The United States I was born into is GONE.
And I don't know what the hell it's becoming, but it looks bad.
 
haymarket said:
Allow me my senior Andy Rooney moment as it fits in perfectly with this thread.

One of my long time pet peeves is people and their behavior in movie theaters. Years ago when I was a kid - (I was born in 1949) we had people called USHERS who patrolled the aisles and told you to shut up and knock it off if you talked during the film. The idea was very simple: people were paying some of their hard earned money to watch a movie and the patrons in other seats were not part of that entertainment. But over the years its not kids so much that are the problem - its adults who do not like to be told by anybody to shut up and knock it off.

So how do we handle it today? Simple. The volume is turned up loud enough to drown out even the most obnoxious loudmouth from any distance beyond a row or two. So most people never even hear the offending motormouths. And then we have the cute announcements in front of the movie telling us to be quiet and turn off our cell phones and basically don't be a buttwipe and respect your fellow movie goers.

And lots of people have stopped going to the movies in favor of large TV's at home with great sound systems an no idiots bothering them. I myself rarely go to the theater and even then I go early in the day and it has to be some big epic type film that needs the large screen and all the state of the art extras that come with it. If I am going to see a drama or comedy, I would just as soon see it on my own big screen at home.

So now we have another reason not to go to the movies - would be killers picking off the crowd. And people are scared.

I have a solution that I have been touting for years.

Up in the corner of the theater next to the screen in the upper regions of the theater, we build a small snipers nest. When somebody talks or acts out of turn, they shine a red light upon them as a warning. The next time they talk, the sniper goes into action shooting them in the chest where the red light had previously been as a warning that was unheeded. And I want a really loud ass gun that makes a hell of a lot of noise and is messy when it does its job. Then the lights would come on, the film would stop and an usher (remember them?) would walk down the aisle and place a placard on a string around the neck of the deceased with the words I TALKED on it in big letters. The lights would go off and the film come back and I promise you nobody would talk again.

Now my plan was designed to cut down on poor behavior. But now it can also be used to defend patrons against Colorado/Batman type wanna be killers. My sniper would simply shoot them dead as soon as they got off their first shot. Oh - and my sniper is behind a protective barrier so he cannot be the first victim. Its a win win situation for everybody but the would be killers.......... and the loudmouths who cannot control themselves.

I just may start going to the movies again.
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See, people like those who believe it's a good idea to shoot someone else for talking at the movies is EXACTLY the reason I carry.
 
EMNofSeattle said:
Well I have a new holster on order that will fit my gun with a tactical light on and next pay check I'm getting a laser grip installed. That should fix any problems hitting a mass shooter in the dark
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including the people who are scattering in every direction in the dark between you and the shooter? how about the ones behind him? i'm a great shot, and even i couldn't make you a guarantee that there wouldn't be a risk of someone else catching a stray bullet, especially if another person was also shooting at the dude. what if that person thought that i was also a shooter? too many variables there. metal detectors and trained security guards seem to be the better option.
 
Lutherf said:
See, people like those who believe it's a good idea to shoot someone else for talking at the movies is EXACTLY the reason I carry.
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perhaps you deserve it like I described?
 
tech30528 said:
My wife and I went to see A Walk in the Woods yesterday at a theater we have been to many times, this time was a little different. When we got to the 19 or 20 year old girl taking tickets, she informed us that she needed to check my wife's bag for guns and knives as the theater now had a no weapons policy. So my wife opened the bag, the girl shines her flashlihgt over it briefly and we were on our way. It brought a couple of questions immediately to mind, such as:

1) Would this girl know a gun or knife if she saw one?

2) What would she do if she did?

3) Is the special needs kid we usually hand our tickets to a security screener now too, or is he out of a job?

Any way about it, I sure felt safer.
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I think that's so very appropriate. If a business is going to ban guns, they should have to take reasonable precautions to make sure there are no guns.
 
MaggieD said:
I think that's so very appropriate. If a business is going to ban guns, they should have to take reasonable precautions to make sure there are no guns.
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Agreed. Over the years in these sort of discussions there are those who like to brag how that no guns sign does to stop them and they carry anyway disregarding the rules of the establishment. So enforcement is a solid idea.
 
haymarket said:
Agreed. Over the years in these sort of discussions there are those who like to brag how that no guns sign does to stop them and they carry anyway disregarding the rules of the establishment. So enforcement is a solid idea.
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I don't carry into my gun free work place. They actually check for firearms. The only legitimate "gun free sign" is backed up by enforcement and probably, ironically, guys with guns.
 
Helix said:
including the people who are scattering in every direction in the dark between you and the shooter? how about the ones behind him? i'm a great shot, and even i couldn't make you a guarantee that there wouldn't be a risk of someone else catching a stray bullet, especially if another person was also shooting at the dude. what if that person thought that i was also a shooter? too many variables there. metal detectors and trained security guards seem to be the better option.
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Which will never happen because it is far cheaper to just make your customers lambs for slaughter and make a token gesture like the crap described above. Besides. I think having SOMEONE shooting back at the shooter is better than NOBODY.
 
Helix said:
realistically, they are probably going to start running people through metal detectors. it's a massive liability for theater chains, and nutters choose theaters because there are a lot of people in a confined space with limited ability to escape. yeah, i know, you want to be the one carrying so you can take out the shooter, but most of the people who carry a gun into the theater are going to be untrained and trying to shoot a single moving target in the dark. the nutball, on the other hand, is firing indiscriminately into a crowd. seems like it's a better idea to have metal detectors and trained security guards in street clothes to discourage this nonsense. it will cost the theaters some money, but this **** just keeps happening.
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Considering the many millions of movies shown in US theaters since 1979 that would not be cost effectuve to stop less than 20 such incidents (including some outside of the theater property) nationwide.

https://www.thewrap.com/a-history-o...ors-gang-showdown-to-2015s-lafayette-tragedy/

Perhaos you can provide us with the cost (to date) of lawsuit settlements paid by those theaters so we can judge for ourselves whether more security would indeed be cost effective. ;)
 
MaggieD said:
I think that's so very appropriate. If a business is going to ban guns, they should have to take reasonable precautions to make sure there are no guns.
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That, IMHO, is the point of this thread - those "purse examining" precautions did not pass the reasonable test since they let an armed person enter.
 
Helix said:
including the people who are scattering in every direction in the dark between you and the shooter? how about the ones behind him? i'm a great shot, and even i couldn't make you a guarantee that there wouldn't be a risk of someone else catching a stray bullet, especially if another person was also shooting at the dude. what if that person thought that i was also a shooter? too many variables there. metal detectors and trained security guards seem to be the better option.
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Metal detectors will be a disaster for business. Private guards do not have immunity from civil damages like government agents do, and people carry so many metal things that are innocent, coins, pocket knives, keys, belt buckles, steel toe shoes many people have had medical procedures like pinned ankles which will set off detectors, in a private function like a theater open to the general public, metal detectors will cost more business then liability they will prevent.

Hence why they are only used for government facilities and closed private facilities. I can't think of any private facility open to the general public that uses them
 
EMNofSeattle said:
Metal detectors will be a disaster for business. Private guards do not have immunity from civil damages like government agents do, and people carry so many metal things that are innocent, coins, pocket knives, keys, belt buckles, steel toe shoes many people have had medical procedures like pinned ankles which will set off detectors, in a private function like a theater open to the general public, metal detectors will cost more business then liability they will prevent.

Hence why they are only used for government facilities and closed private facilities. I can't think of any private facility open to the general public that uses them
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And honestly...if liability is the concern...how is the movie theatre liable for the actions of a member of the public using their right?
 
stonewall50 said:
Which will never happen because it is far cheaper to just make your customers lambs for slaughter and make a token gesture like the crap described above. Besides. I think having SOMEONE shooting back at the shooter is better than NOBODY.
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metal detectors at the entrance and a security guard would be far better than a wild west shootout with the lights off in a crowd of people. anyone who has experience with guns knows that, too, i'd guess, even if they won't admit it. if i was consulting with a movie theater chain, i would definitely advise against allowing people to carry into theaters for the reasons that i've already outlined.
 
Meh, about the time I feel the need to carry into a movie theater, I'll just stop going.
 
EMNofSeattle said:
Metal detectors will be a disaster for business. Private guards do not have immunity from civil damages like government agents do, and people carry so many metal things that are innocent, coins, pocket knives, keys, belt buckles, steel toe shoes many people have had medical procedures like pinned ankles which will set off detectors, in a private function like a theater open to the general public, metal detectors will cost more business then liability they will prevent.
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people manage to get on planes ok. i doubt many of them want to be shot in a theater either by the shooter or by an amped up untrained person firing at a moving target in the dark, either. and that dude is likely to be mistaken for a second shooter. what happens when a third armed person starts trying to take him down, and then he mistakes person number three for shooter number two?

EMNofSeattle said:
Hence why they are only used for government facilities and closed private facilities. I can't think of any private facility open to the general public that uses them
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liability? you're telling me the liability is worse for a theater security guard than for issuing an open invitation for everyone to come in fully armed? i doubt it, man. i really doubt it.
 
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Helix said:
people manage to get on planes ok. i doubt many of them want to be shot in a theater either by the shooter or by an amped up untrained person firing at a moving target in the dark, either. and that dude is likely to be mistaken for a second shooter. what happens when a third armed person starts trying to take him down, and then he mistakes person number three for shooter number two?



liability? you're telling me the liability is worse for a theater security guard than for issuing an open invitation for everyone to come in fully armed? i doubt it, man. i really doubt it.
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I just dropped in, so maybe I'm misunderstanding...who issues an "open invitation" other than our constitution? I rather think that if a business elects to remove MY right to defend myself, that business should then be RESPONSIBLE for my safety.

Every person I know who owns a gun PRAYS they will never have to use it on another human being . . . If not for the trauma of taking a life, then for the fear of making a mistake or injuring/killing an innocent as well as the criminal and civil sideshow almost sure to take place.
 
MaggieD said:
I just dropped in, so maybe I'm misunderstanding...who issues an "open invitation" other than our constitution? I rather think that if a business elects to remove MY right to defend myself, that business should then be RESPONSIBLE for my safety.
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which is exactly what i proposed earlier in the thread.

MaggieD said:
Every person I know who owns a gun PRAYS they will never have to use it on another human being . . . If not for the trauma of taking a life, then for the fear of making a mistake or injuring/killing an innocent as well as the criminal and civil sideshow almost sure to take place.
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a shootout involving untrained individuals in a dark room with high crowd density is a bad idea. there are better options, which i have already explained multiple times. i am a great shot, probably one of the better target shooters on this site, and i wouldn't trust myself to hit a moving target (while under fire) (in the dark) (unprepared,) especially with a handgun. and what about the dude who thinks i'm shooter number two? and what about me turning suddenly to fire back at the guy who i mistake for shooter two?

metal detectors and trained security seems a much better option for a movie theater.
 
Helix said:
metal detectors at the entrance and a security guard would be far better than a wild west shootout with the lights off in a crowd of people. anyone who has experience with guns knows that, too, i'd guess, even if they won't admit it. if i was consulting with a movie theater chain, i would definitely advise against allowing people to carry into theaters for the reasons that i've already outlined.
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Everyone* should know that the security and metal detectors won't happen. So in the mean time I would rather risk the "Wild West" (that never happens btw), than an unarmed theatre filled with defenseless sheep for slaughter.
 
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