# Small casinos and security **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 6, 2026, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-casinos-and-security/1029833 "2026-05-06T11:08:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2026, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-casinos-and-security/1029833/61 "2026-05-19T11:40:07Z")
Yes, you can set a metal detector for “gun” and not for “bra clips”. That is, to only detect larger amounts of metal. Those are at the entrance to many events, and aren’t very invasive. They also don’t register my tiny and harmless pocket knife. I’ve never seen one at a street fair, though. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2026, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-casinos-and-security/1029833/62 "2026-05-19T12:15:17Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > I’ve never seen one at a street fair, though And yet they still exist. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2026, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-casinos-and-security/1029833/63 "2026-05-19T12:43:34Z")
Yeah. That would probably discourage me from bothering going to that street fair. Maybe that’s why they aren’t common around here. I suspect I’m not alone, and the vendors don’t want to discourage shoppers. Maybe your street fairs are a different things that what i think I’d as a “street fair”. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2026, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-casinos-and-security/1029833/64 "2026-05-19T13:00:17Z")
Yes, and the closest they generally get to blocking entrances is those wooden barricades at the cross streets , or sometimes vehicles. But those only block vehicles from accessing the closed street, not pedestrians. Although I have seen advertisements for various events requiring tickets that seem to be taking place on the street or in other public areas - I assume they handle that similarly to NYE in Times Square or the July 4 fireworks. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2026, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-casinos-and-security/1029833/65 "2026-05-19T13:36:52Z")
Here in Chicago, some street festivals are semi-gated and have ‘suggested donations.’ I don’t recall any searches, though and the fences are porous. The Taste Of Melrose Park (edit: a suburb) doesn’t have a fee but definitely had manual metal detector wands at the entry gate last year. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2026, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-casinos-and-security/1029833/66 "2026-05-19T18:25:21Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > And yet they still exist. Sure, in some places and times. No-where that I attended one. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2026, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-casinos-and-security/1029833/67 "2026-05-19T22:37:18Z")
It’s pretty clear by now that security at outdoor events is all over the map; literally. Some have lots, some have none. What’s sorta the common denominator around [here] isn’t the common denominator around [there]. ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2026, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-casinos-and-security/1029833/68 "2026-05-19T23:28:18Z")
Here in most places in Florida, street fairs have barriers (they used to just be sawhorses, increasingly they are more beefy), but it’s about alcohol\*, not weapons (although, again, I’ve been to a few lately that had the rapid walk-through scanners). \* For most Florida municipalities, you cannot walk around in public with an open container of alcohol. You must be on licensed premises. For street fairs, the organizers will get an event license that lets you walk around, but the barriers are there to comply with the conditions of the permit. Going in, there’s a sign that says “No Outside Alcohol” (often with an extra-duty cop standing there. Going out, the sign says “No Alcohol Past This Point”. But up until recently, it was all about booze, taxes, and licenses. Lately there is definitely an increase in the “no guns and no plowing through the crowd in your car” mentality happening. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2026, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-casinos-and-security/1029833/69 "2026-05-19T23:59:22Z")
“Interestingly” enough, the only real violence I’ve seen at a casino (resulting in a police shooting death) was outside when a guy drove into a street festival. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2026, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-casinos-and-security/1029833/70 "2026-05-23T15:23:23Z")
> [@Zakalwe](#): > > Here in most places in Florida, street fairs have barriers (they used to just be sawhorses, increasingly they are more beefy), but it’s about alcohol\*, not weapons (although, again, I’ve been to a few lately that had the rapid walk-through scanners). Once when the event was a big beer and food fest it included not only the bollard block I mentioned above but also half of the block to its right and all of the parking lot the two blocks bordered. Because alcohol was involved metal pipe barricades were set up to separate the fest from the public. The barricades in the street by the side of the museum were in the gutter so the sidewalk could be used by the public. Unfortunately, even though the fest was not until Saturday workers were installing the barricades at 9am Friday and that block is where, starting at 10am the busloads of school kids unload to be brought into the museum’s side entrance. We had to argue with them. “They can walk around the barricade.” “You want a hundred fifty second graders to get off of the buses, walk a half a block _in the street_ to the end of the barricades, then come back on the sidewalk to use this door right here? Yeah, that ain’t happening.” The kids would be done by 1pm and they grudgingly agreed to come back at 1:30. It was the left hand of the city government not caring about what the right hand needed. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2026, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-casinos-and-security/1029833/71 "2026-05-24T11:10:37Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > metal pipe barricades were set up to separate the fest from the public If you mean these, [they](https://www.valtirrentals.com/barricades/french-barricades/) are called French barricades > [@DesertDog](#): > > Unfortunately, even though the fest was not until Saturday workers were installing the barricades at 9am Friday and that block is where, starting at 10am the busloads of school kids unload to be brought into the museum’s side entrance. We had to argue with them. “They can walk around the barricade.” The event needs to be set up in advance. The event got a permit to be there & close streets/sidewalks; that includes a reasonable setup / breakdown period, which can be days or even a week at either end. If you don’t like it, go bitch at City Hall who approved the permit. I work in event production; depending upon the event & security needs, they may be double locked, which requires swinging one of them about 30° to drop the one angled pin in, just single-locked with the straight pin, just touching / overlapping but not locked, or even gapped (10-20’ between each one; more of a guided path than a true fence line.). Leaving a gap for you now can make it impossible to lock later; especially, if they need to be double locked, which would mean handling every individual piece down the rest if the line. Ain’t gonna happen as that can be a lot of extra time & effort for something that has is permitted to be closed off. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2026, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-casinos-and-security/1029833/72 "2026-05-24T12:18:13Z")
Yup, then the permit shouldn’t have been approved in a way that made the public street unusable to busloads of kids. > [@DesertDog](#): > > It was the left hand of the city government not caring about what the right hand needed. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2026, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-casinos-and-security/1029833/73 "2026-05-24T16:47:31Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > If you mean these, [they](https://www.valtirrentals.com/barricades/french-barricades/) are called French barricades I do, indeed. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2026, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-casinos-and-security/1029833/74 "2026-05-24T17:13:19Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > The event needs to be set up in advance. The event got a permit to be there & close streets/sidewalks; that includes a reasonable setup / breakdown period, which can be days or even a week at either end. If you don’t like it, go bitch at City Hall who approved the permit. The museum is run by the city hence my right-hand, left hand comment. Also, as I said, they came back after a few hours and finished what they needed to do well before quitting time. The event was unusually large, taking not only the bollard block and its sidewalks like most of them, but also the intersection of the two blocks. the parking lot the two blocks bordered and the block bordering the museum we wanted to unload on, but not the sidewalk on the museum-side of the block. In fact, they didn’t close the street itself until later that afternoon as, besides the public’s use, the food and beer purveyors needed it to get to the parking lot where they were setting up. As you can imagine there were quite a few barricades needed to close off the perimeter and the permitting department needed to specify what parts should be done last. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2026, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-casinos-and-security/1029833/75 "2026-05-24T23:35:34Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > they came back after a few hours and finished what they needed to do well before quitting time It’s **MUCH** easier to lock them, if needed, when they come off the truck or trailer that is transporting them; someone is already holding it & needs to put it down, it’s 1/2 a second to lock it while one is already holding it rather than send a crew down the street a second time to lock 'em. Sometimes it is necessary, like a street that cant be closed the day/night before but let me tell you it sucks having to do double work. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2026, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-casinos-and-security/1029833/76 "2026-05-25T00:48:29Z")
Tell that to the second-graders. When we found them, the barricades were already on the ground, not being handed down from a truck. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2026, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-casinos-and-security/1029833/77 "2026-05-25T01:12:16Z")
That’s the fault of whatever museum; they should have been made aware of the plans & disseminated that info out. It is absolutely **not** the fault of the production company who was following an agreed upon & signed off plan [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-casinos-and-security/1029833.md?page=3)