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Convention center safety
Nathan Wind
Colorado Springs, CORegistered User regular
Colorado Springs, CORegistered User regular
in PAX West
In light of the horrible incident in Jacksonville and other mass shootings, should PAX install X-ray machines and start checking backpacks at entry? I imagine the backup to enter would be horrible but the con floor is a nut jobs’ fantasy shooting gallery. I know knee jerk reactions and all that but seems like there isn’t much security anywhere in the WSCC. I don’t recall seeing any armed guards or remember bag checks in the past.
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PAX West 16, 17
My Rig: I7 7700K, Aorus K5, 32GB RipJaws V, Samsung 960 PCIe 256 & 500, Zotac 1080Ti
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The huge crowd of people waiting to get into the show would be just as big of a target and they wouldn’t have to buy a badge to get into the show.
I agree we should do what we can to mitigate the risks, but security checks that just make it look like you are doing something is not the answer.
My experience with the East checks were that they were inconsistent in their methodology. One screener's process would not be the same as another's which added to the feeling of it all being theater.
Law and Order ≠ Justice
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Captain of the SES Comptroller of the State
I'm sure it's made more complicated by the fact that Washington is an open carry state as well.
Yes, and they send around the occasional uniformed officers as well.
As far as the comment about the East checks being inconsistent, it's true. But generally didn't take too long, and you were sent to line up within the building after you got through.
PAX has a "No Weapons" policy. Washington State has made it illegal to carry a firearm in the convention center (http://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=9.41.300). I don't even want to look at all the local county and city ordinances that restrict or outlaw open carry in downtown Seattle. It's probably one of the most unfriendly firearms cities in the US.
As pointed out, there is nothing anyone can do to prevent a determined individual from performing violence on other people- be it by firearm, knife, bomb, car, truck, etc. etc. The best thing you can do is be aware. Be aware of your surroundings, report people with odd behavior, always have an escape route and know where the nearest exit is.
Sarcasm Allows None.
#2: Realize that if someone is determined to do something (and die in the process), there is very little anyone can do about it, until after it has already occurred.
#3: Realize that #2 is difficult to trigger, and the best thing you can do is to be friendly, and not dismissive of people.
#4: Realize that you are more likely to die in a car crash driving to PAX in a 15 minute drive than this is to ever occur (Many times more likely)
#5: Remember that fear is the mind killer. Fear makes people do stupid things. Don't fear.
(across multiple venues). IIRC heightened security is the reason given for why Bumbershoot is moving to no re-entry as a general policy this year.
On the whole you achieve a marginal increase in safety at a cost that often greatly outweighs it.
https://www.polygon.com/2018/8/27/17788862/pax-west-2018-security
Open carry wild west mentality of "good guy with gun" is no solution either, it's just more people with very little training all freaked and shooting into a crowd. Basic probability will tell you everyone that ends up getting shot will be an innocent and the perpetrator will be unharmed.
Sarcasm Allows None.
So stop it about whether or not open carry is a thing or not because it's irrelevant.
In America every single day, there are many shootings that do not need to happen including but not limited to what happened at the gaming event in Jacksville Flordia, and schools, if you open Google Browser and look up specific keywords on the news you can look at the news in your area regarding crime taking place.
I generally don't go to Pax, but I have many friends that do, although I do go to smaller event's, but still I am really concerned as far as security goes.
. For the casual shooter who is just mentally insane and does a crime they are likely to get stopped, or detected if security is good enough.
. Planned Execution of an attack is the one that conerns me the most.
- It's legal to buy body armor online.
- 3D Printed Weapons can now easily be made.
- I** can be made from instructions on the internet.
- Social Engineering, can be used by people to carry out an attack.
- RF ID tags are easily hacked / cloned on facility that use these.
- Knowing the layout of the facility, position of security, and guards
- Police Uniforms are easy to make fabricated ones that look real enough, This is one thing I hope Pax does is verify each officer at Pax over the radio. Because as we know cosplayers can make well designed uniforms, even getting all the same type of equipment a police officer has is easy such as in my area Axon Body Cameras, Pepper Spray, Taser, and so on all easy to get so this could be one of the biggest security flaws in most places.
^ From here learning to act like a police officer, the code words, and how to equip the uniform is the biggest issue but not really that hard to do either.
In other words there are many factors to consider when carrying out an attack, most of the time in America though what you read about on the news it's due to lack of security, for example a Student letting another student in through a back-door in the school who is armed, or pulling the fire-alarm to unlock doors based off news articles i've read in the past.
There are however many things that America, or rather facility, and event's likely do not have which would enhance security.
- Installing facial recognition cameras to detect possible terror activity, and known criminals on property This technology is here many places do not use it because of the cost.
- Gunshot Detectors, Yes they are real certain places should use it.
- The best security in the end is Humans, nothing is fool proof, there are always ways in you just have to find them, but there are ways to make it really hard, and unlikely, and it's true you are more likely to die in an accident than at an attack at a public place, but when it does happen it hurts a lot.
- Also for security, you need to research all the mass - shootings off the internet, and learn to think like they do, and like a organized group doing a crime would, this is how you can help prevent it, and when something does happen, you learn from it and make it even better.
- I do support 2A, and Concealed Carry it can save lives, but gotta look at it two ways a person who does get a concealed, or open carry license, and has mental health issues could end up harming others, although it can save lives so its really 50/50 of what can happen and can't although getting a weapon isn't really that hard even if you are not supposed to have one 80% arms is totally legal to those who can own, but even those who are not supposed to can still get hold of them.
But hey then lets talk about chance.
- Almost died when I was young due to health related issues.
- Almost got struck but lightning would have died, only thing that saved me was an old TV Antenna grounding so that got hit instead.
- Almost got run over by a pizza driver in a parking lot talking on their cellphone.
- If I did not stop to make a phone call to a family member I would have likely been hit by two cars at a 4 way crossing who ran into each-other (Both lived thankfully) but had those events not have taken place I would likely not be here today.
And I know Pax is doing everything in their power to keep everyone safe, but safety is everyone's responsibility as well, if you see something that seems off you need to say something, or notify security, and there should actually be a phone number the public can user disclosed where people can report incidents or security risks to pax over the phone especially since it's so big.
Additionally, it made me think of a space to meet up with my family (we often go separate ways) should something go wrong. This doesn't necessarily mean an act of violence. It could also be, for example, in the event of an earthquake. It felt good to think of a contingency plan like that because we all know that cell/text reception at PAX is sketchy, at best.