Make kicking lawyers in the nutsack an Olympic sport?
Which will absolutely thwart all but the world’s most ingenious would-be mass killers who, I dunno, stuff weapons into their coat pockets before entering the theater.
Oh shit. I hope they’re not reading this!
Seriously. Herding an audience into a crowded, dark room, and allowing access to those helpless patrons through an unsecured rear door (one bypassing the lobby) is a recipe for disaster. I realize fire regulations prevent boarding up those exits, but those regulations don’t prohibit restricting ingress to the building via those doors.
This is a major issue and will be one of the major issues for everyone filing a lawsuit over this incident.
And you may well find metal detectors in theater lines when this is over. After all, they have them in courtrooms, airports and schools, etc.
So are you going to answer the question or not?
The theaters seem to realize this may be a new liability risk as there were about 10 off-duty cops outside the showing of Batman I attended this weekend. I’ve heard this from friends in other locales, too. Initially, it’s a response to the threat of copycats, but one of my partners has just been asked to review the safety policies and procedures for small theater chain.
No, we won’t. And that’s because installing metal detectors will put theaters out of business. Why would I subject myself to an intrusive search when I can just stay home and watch Netflix?
And are you going to put metal detectors on grocery store doors, shopping mall doors, post offices, bus stations, private businesses, all sporting complexes large and small, etc.? Because if not, all that happens is that the nutso killer shifts his attack to another venue. Absolute security and a free, open society are diametrically opposed.
I’ll bet dollars to donuts that every theater chain is scrambling to review their safety procedures as well as updating their insurance after this incident.
You forgot to include that the price of a movie is now $45 to pay for the TSA screeners.
Absolutely. It is not in their scope of duty to protect me from all the nutjobs in the world. And I’d prefer if they didn’t even try, because all it’s going to do is inconvenience the 99.99% of theater goers who aren’t whackadoodles.
Thank you for continuing to point out that people overreact in the face of tragedy, Capt. Obvious.
What would an adequate measure of security consist of, in your opinion?
Shall we, once again, talk about restricting access to the theater from the parking lot? I mean, I’ve only mentioned that what, 5 times already?
Cliffs note version for you Czarcasm
Secure Rear Door access.
So restricting entry to the the main front door of the theatre would be enough of a security measure as far as you are concerned?
Of course, if they come through the front door guns blazing the employees will be the first to die.
The entire crowd trying to exit through the tiny emergency door might cause some issues though.
That’s not what I said. Front is that way, rear is the other way. When you can tell front from rear, we’ll try this again.
Substitute “main” for “front”, then. Would this be enough of a security fix in your opinion?
edited to add: To rephrase the question, would changing the access rules to the way you have previously described them be the only change necessary to make in your opinion?
Envisioning James Holmes walking up to the back door of the theater, armed with sufficient ammunition to take out a small village.
He reaches out and jiggles the door handle. It’s locked.
“Dammit! Foiled again!”
(Shoulders slumped, he walks back to his car.)
P.S. You can’t restrict access any more than they do already. It’s a fire code violation.
No it’s not. The fire code requires egress from the building. People need to leave a burning building. Ingress is not required.
Wasn’t it already locked from the outside, though? Wasn’t that why he went inside and propped it open? You could lock it from the inside but then you’re just going to get sued the next time a theater of patrons burns up waiting for a manager to come unlock the door.
I think it was marked as a one-way exit door, and the proposal was that it be changed to an alarmed emergency door, I think.