Tag: Security Theater

Stop Me if You’ve Heard This Before

If I had a dime for every time I’ve heard somebody start a statement with, “I’m a gun owner but…” I’d probably be very wealthy. I’ve never actually heard anything intelligent comes after that well-known opener either and this is no exception:

I am about as pro-firearms as they come; I am an NRA member, target shooter and hunter, and speaking as a student with a concealed firearm permit, I still believe this campus is not the place to be carrying. There is absolutely no reason to carry a concealed firearm

on-campus.

His argument? Well… it’s downright idiotic:

The one thing no one should ever sacrifice is safety. Events such as the shootings at Virginia Tech and Penn State are very rare. But they arose, because people did not follow university rules and precautions.

That’s right, Virginia Tech and Penn State were results of people not following university rules and precautions. If only the murdering sons of bitches would have obeyed the rules and not brought guns onto campus everything would have been swell those days. Maybe the murderers didn’t know they weren’t supposed to bring guns on campus; I’m sure they would have returned home upon seeing a sign informing them that the campuses were gun-free zones.

Idiot, dumb ass, retard, moron, and fucking dip ship all seem inadequate to explain the level of stupidity this person’s statement emanates. Were that the only statement he made it wouldn’t be so bad but he keeps piling on the stupid:

One point to think about is if, and a very big if at that, permits were to be issued specific to University Park grounds and a situation occurred in which there was a shooting on campus the campus would turn into the Wild West. Practice is one thing that many amateur shooters lack and a crowded campus where all hell breaks loose would be a time when every inch of accuracy matters.

The problem with the “Wild” West is that it wasn’t very wild. I would also submit the fact that no shootout would likely occur for two reasons: dead people don’t shoot and most of the bastards who’ve shot up schools ended up offing themselves the second resistance arrived. Were a person with a carry permit able to shoot the murderous gunman the situation would be concluded in short order and if the permit holder was unable to get a clean shot the situation would likely be concluded shortly anyways as the murderous gunman took his own life in an act of sheer cowardice. Obviously logic wasn’t the strong suit of the person who wrote this article though.

But to ensure further protection. I think anyone wishing to carry a concealed firearm should be required to pass a vision and shooting test. The shooting test should include both moving and stationary targets. Through these added precautions, we could be assured that we are placing firearms in skilled hands.

What the author is really saying is that those with poor vision should be prohibited from defending themselves. It seems the author believes people with poor vision should be removed from the gene pool less they breed and are able to pass their genetics of poor vision onto their offspring. Maybe the author was a fan of eugenics. Furthermore he believes everybody should be required to receive training for unlikely scenarios before they are granted the privilege of exercising one of their supposedly Constitutionally guaranteed rights. Why do I say training for situations involved stationary and moving targets is an unlikely scenario? Because a large majority (83.5%) of self-defense situations involving a firearm require only the presentation of the weapon [PDF]. It’s good to be training in handling a vast number of potential scenarios but such training should not be mandatory.

If a situation would arise on campus when students had the right to hold concealed weapon it would be absolute nightmare. But the people to bring calm to a situation like this shouldn’t be students or staff members — the people to calm the situation would be the emergency responders.

Yes the emergency responders should be the ones to bring calm to the situation, you know when they get there anywhere between 10 and 30 minutes after somebody makes the initial call to 911. The reason body counts get so high at many of these shootings is due to the amount of time it takes emergency responders to actually respond. What the author doesn’t realize is that instant teleportation technology is not something we have access to yet so anybody wanting to get from one point to another (let’s say from a police station to a college campus) have to physically make the trip. Usually this involves hopping into a car and driving there but one could also walk if they so chose.

We have emergency responders for a reason: protection and safety. It is their job and we have to stand behind them. At any point a responder could lose their life. Each one knows the risk, but they accept it because they have taken an oath to protect the citizens.

Emphasis mine. It seems that while the author realizes emergency responders may lose their life at any point college students and faculty members will remain entirely unharmed.

No matter what form of emergency the first step is to size up the problem; the better the size up of the problem faster the emergency will get solved. If the responders can not figure out who and what the problem is ultimately a life of Penn Stater might be lost.

If the responder can figure out who and what the problem is ultimately a life of a student or faculty member might be lost. Emergency responders usually don’t respond until there has been an emergency meaning it’s likely somebody has already been shot before 911 is even called. The sooner the situation is dealt with the smaller the window of opportunity for the murder. Allowing faculty members and students to legally carry firearms can drop the response time of mass shootings dramatically as there are personell on campus capable of ending the situation.

Steven Marsh is a junior majoring in agricultural systems management. He is a member of the National Rifle Association and a volunteer firefighter and emergency medical technician. Email him at sfm5089@psu.edu.

What that footnote should have said is, “Steven Marsh is a junior majoring in a career track that doesn’t study self-defense situations in any sense. He is a member of the National Rifle Association and a volunteer in two types of emergency response that don’t directly deal with ending mass shooting scenarios. Basically he may be very intelligent in agriculture systems management, firefighting, and emergency medical fields but he knows little, if anything, about self-defense scenarios. Email him at sfm5089@psu.edu.”

There is nothing wrong with being ignorant on a subject but there is much wrong with being ignorant on a subject and having a strong opinion regarding it.

More Dictator Behavior

For a country that founded itself on tossing out a tyrannical jackass of a king we sure are in a hurry lately to establish the President as a new dictator. Not only can the man in the Oval Office declare war willy nilly on any nation we no longer aprove of but now he has the power to overtake all media:

It’s the first-ever nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS), which hopes to provide key information immediately to all Americans in the event of a truly national emergency. This national system will look and sound much like the current (and local) emergency warnings often seen on TV or heard on radio, but the scope is larger and it can be put under the direct control of the President. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and the National Weather Service (NWS) will all coordinate the test, but it’s FEMA that actually transmits the alert code.

Emphasis mine. So are there any other systems that we can just toss under the control of the President? Perhaps the President should be allowed to kill the Internet whenever he pleases… oh wait, they’re already working on that. Why not give the President exclusive deciding power on launching our nuclear arsenal while we’re at it?

Currently the government is slated to run a test of this system on Wednesday at 13:00 but they’re trying to figure out how to ensure the test doesn’t panic people:

Concerned that such a test might alarm people, the agencies are going to extraordinary lengths to provide a heads-up. I first heard about the test in an e-mail newsletter from my city government, which told residents last week, “Do not be alarmed when an emergency message will take over the airways… this is only a test.” The test will display a warning message on TV screens, though as my city helpfully noted, “Due to some technical limitations, a visual message indicating that ‘this is a test’ may not pop up on every TV channel, especially where people use cable to receive their television stations.”

Instead of spending buckets of money trying to alert everybody of the test I have a very cheap means of preventing panic; perform the test early in the morning, let’s say around 3:00. As a much smaller percentage of the populace is awake watching television and listening to the radio at that hour there will be a far smaller chance of creating widespread panic. I did it again, I came up with an effective way to save the government a ton of money so why haven’t I been hired as a financial consultant yet? Oh yeah, I refuse to work for the government.

Regardless of how this goes down those of us who are creeped out by the government’s constant grabs for power are going to be freaked out by this test no matter what propaganda we’re fed.

Now I Know Why SWAT Members Have a Propensity for Killing Household Pets

There is a connection between SWAT raids and dead pets. I could never figured out the precise reason SWAT members always sought out household pets during raids and riddle them with bullets whether or not that animal posed a threat or was in a kennel minding its own business. My answer has been found:

The Army is redoubling its search for anyone who might have been bitten by a wild animal in Iraq or Afghanistan following the Aug. 31 death of a soldier from rabies, the service’s public health command stated Wednesday.

The Army is partnering with the other uniformed services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to find and treat servicemembers and civilians who were bitten by stray dogs and animals while deployed, according to a command news release.

I’m guessing one of those “other uniformed services” are domestic police forces. These guys even have propaganda posters punched up and everything:

There you have it, it’s safer to riddle pets with bullets than risk it biting you and contracting rabies… even if the animal is in a kenel, had all its rabie shots, and is unable to post a threat of any kind. Better safe than sorry and all that nonsense.

Also note I’m not saying this advice is poor for soldiers deployed overseas. This rant is entirely related to the rampant string of household pets murdered by police officers for not reason whatsoever.

Loaded Gun Makes it On a Plane

Congratulations Transportation Security Administration (TSA), your goal of ensuring no firearms make it onto the plane has failed spectacularly:

Airport security officials at Los Angeles International Airport failed to detect a loaded handgun that was contained in a traveler’s checked bag Sunday, according to several law enforcement sources.

An airport ramp crew discovered the loaded .38-caliber handgun Sunday after it tumbled from an unzipped compartment in a duffel bag they were loading onto Alaska Airlines Flight 563, according to the sources. The aircraft was leaving the terminal at LAX at 8:15 a.m. Sunday, bound for Portland, Ore.

Workers called Los Angeles Airport Police to report the discovery. The owner of the gun was questioned at the LAPD’s Pacific station and released and allowed to board a later flight to Portland. The gun was turned over to Los Angeles police, the source said.

Bang up job boys. Even with your metal detectors, luggage scanners, pat downs, naked body scanners, water bottle confiscators, and other pointless security theater you missed a loaded firearm that would set off any cheap metal detector. Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem with firearms being in airplanes and in fact I advocate pilots, at the bear minimum, be armed. But when your mandate is to prevent weapons from getting onto planes and you’re trying to further crawl up our asses by establishing checkpoints on highways I’m going to call you on being complete fuck ups.

By the way a tip of the old hat goes to Victoria for sending me this story.

Soviet Inspired Checkpoints Around the Corner

You know what this country needs? Another program that seems inspired by good old Mother Russia. Since we already have a Soviet approved central bank, public indoctrination education system, and rampant imperialism why not move on to establishing checkpoints:

If you thought the “Transportation Security Administration” would limit itself to conducting unconstitutional searches at airports, think again. The agency intends to assert jurisdiction over our nation’s highways, waterways, and railroads as well. TSA launched a new campaign of random checkpoints on Tennessee highways last week, complete with a sinister military-style acronym–VIP(E)R—as a name for the program.

As with TSA’s random searches at airports, these roadside searches are not based on any actual suspicion of criminal activity or any factual evidence of wrongdoing whatsoever by those detained. They are, in effect, completely random. So first we are told by the U.S. Supreme Court that American citizens have no 4th amendment protections at border crossings, even when standing on U.S. soil. Now TSA takes the next logical step and simply detains and searches U.S. citizens at wholly internal checkpoints.

Remember that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was originally restricted to airports, but now they’re moving into truck and bus stops. This is classic government agency creep; these agencies are generally started with a narrow mandate in mind and expand their powers to cover more and more previously mundane and well-running activities. If left unchecked, I wouldn’t be surprised if the TSA started doing random checkpoints when you try to travel from one state to another. I can see myself running into a random checkpoint on Interstate 90 when I cross from Minnesota into Wisconsin.

We aren’t on the road anymore to tyranny, we’ve reached the destination. Let’s go through the checklist shall we?

Attempts by the government to generate a strong sense of nationalism? Check.

A marriage between corporations and the state? Check.

An ever increasing authoritarian state? Check.

Government controlled checkpoints that hassle innocent travelers? Check.

Congratulations everybody, we’ve reached fascism!

Police Officer Removed from Obama Visit Because Guns are Apparently Scary

Before I make any comment on this story let me first point out a big of fear mongering performed by the article’s author:

THE US Secret Service removed a woman with a gun from the audience minutes before President Barack Obama was due to speak to a crowd at Greensville County High School in Virginia yesterday.

Oh my god! A woman with a gun near the President? Obviously she must have been a crazy tea party participant! It’s a good thing the Secret Service moved in to stop this obviously violent individual… wait what:

The woman was not considered a personal threat to the US President – she was a uniformed African-American police officer from the local Greensville County Sheriff’s office.

False alarm everybody, the woman was a cop and they’re good enough to carry a gun and not be scary. The reason she was removed makes no sense whatsoever:

But her presence as an audience member standing with friends close to the stage where Mr Obama would soon speak about his jobs plan was a serious security lapse following supposedly thorough crowd screening.

The risk for the Secret Service, which is responsible for protecting the President, was that another person could have grabbed the pistol from her belt holster.

Right… because a person couldn’t grab a gun from one of the Secret Service members? What they really meant to say is that they removed the woman from the audience because the Secret Service like to feel big and tough by claiming they’re the only ones qualified to protect the President. A simpleton police officer is obviously only good enough to protect the peasantry.

It’s good to see actors of the state are completely assholes to one another and not just us.

Man Punished for Accidentally Pointing Out TSA’s Security Theater

It is well established throughout the security industry that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is nothing but security theater. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anybody who has done even a little research into government provided “service.” While a private entity has to worry about being fired if they do a poor job the government has no such worry so they can continue to do a poor job and get away with it.

Thor help you though if you’re a person who accidentally got through the TSA theater and later try to turn over the goods that weren’t supposed to be in the airport “secure” area:

Most people are familiar with that moment of panic at an airport security checkpoint when they remember something that won’t pass a screening, but for one Minnesota man, telling the Transportation Security Agency that a live round passed through twice by mistake got him in trouble.

[…]

Yet, when a Rochester man was allowed to bring a live 9mm round through no fewer than two security checkpoints, he was interrogated when he innocently tried to turn it over.

[…]

After turning the bullet over to the TSA voluntarily, Koenig was pulled off his flight and questioned for nearly 30 minutes.

As for why the round was in his pocket at all, Koenig said he was at the pistol range for target shooting the last time he wore that jacket and simply forgot it was there.

This sounds like typical government thinking. First you put a security system that is designed improperly from the start, then somebody accidentally gets through the poorly designed security system carrying something that was on the verboten list, and finally the man realizes what has happened and goes to turn over the verboten good only to be punished by the government goons who fucked up in the first place.

Also let’s put this entire thing into perspective. The man managed to accidentally get through the TSA theater with a single round of live 9mm ammunition. He didn’t have a launching platform for that round on him so the cartridge was mostly harmless. Why a TSA agent didn’t just say, “Heh, we missed that, thanks for letting us know.” instead of interrogating an innocent man for half an hour is beyond my ability to comprehend. There again what else should we expect from a government agent? Innocent people are almost always the ones punished when government agents screw up.

More Delays Caused by TSA

At this point I almost feel bad picking on the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). It’s not because I feel sorry for them but because it’s so easy that it makes me feel lazy as a blogger. The TSA have become on of my personal punching bags because every program they implement in the name of security ends up causing further headaches for those flying while offering no additional security. Case in point their new profiling scheme which ended up causing a four hour backup at the Logan International Airport in Boston:

New security procedures being tested at Logan International Airport caused significant backups at security checkpoints Thursday, according to airlines.

Backups lasted for about four hours after the Transportation Security Administration began testing a procedure that requires more human interaction between security agents and passengers.

The process takes about 30 seconds, but it caused many passengers to be delayed. TSA agents engaged in “chat downs” while checking their IDs and boarding passes.

So now instead of arriving two hours early to make your way through airport security you’ll be expected to arrive four hours early. I’m seeing a market in the not too distant future for people with mobile cots. After a couple more TSA programs jack the wait time up to 24 hours you can rent out a mobile cot and pay an airport employee to push you through the security line while you sleep.

The funniest part of this story though is the fact that the TSA was happy with their performance:

An airline worker said the lines were the worst he had seen in 30 years, but the TSA said they were pleased with how the pilot program has gone over the last month and in time it will help them decide who needs more screening and who needs less.

I’m not surprised by this as the TSA is a government agency and thus doesn’t understand efficiency.

I Must Have Missed the Shooting at the Football Game

Apparently I’m quite oblivious to the news because I must have missed a recent shooting at some football game. At least that’s my guess because unless such an event occurred I can’t see any reason for the National Football League (NFL) to demand that every fan receive a full pat down before being let into games:

The NFL wants all fans patted down from the ankles up this season to improve fan safety.

Under the new “enhanced” pat-down procedures, the NFL wants all 32 clubs to search fans from the ankles to the knees as well as the waist up. Previously, security guards only patted down fans from the waist up while looking for booze, weapons or other banned items.

I must confess that I’m not a real American as I’ve never attended a professional sports game. After reading this story I’m quite happy about this fact because I won’t submit to a pat down just to enter some entertainment event. Yes it’s the right of private establishments to make such a requirement before allowing entry but it’s my right as a free individuals to take my money elsewhere.

The NFL apparently think they’re the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) considering the advice they’re giving to fans:

The NFL recommended the new guidelines before the kickoff of the 2011 season which coincided with the 10th anniversary of 9/11. The league hopes fans will be “patient,” says spokesman Brian McCarthy, and arrive earlier to games to avoid long, punishing lines.

Hear that? If you don’t like the idea of longer lines due to pointless security theater then you’ll just have to arrive earlier. On a related note, does it sicken anybody else that authoritarian mandate such as this are how 9/11 is remembered and recognized? Roughly 3,000 people died in the 9/11 attacks and instead of standing strong against authoritarian measures we’re implementing them. This is what admitting defeat looks like ladies and gentlemen and so long as we continue down this road to serfdom the terrorists are winning.

Fuck the NFL, if they had been receiving any of my money before they certainly wouldn’t be now. Then again I may not have a choice soon if the Vikings receive tax money to build their stupid stadium.

Defcon Attendees Set Record for Most Naked Body Scanner Opt-Outs in Las Vegas

I’ve been told some good news in regards to Defcon. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has announced that the record for naked body scanner opt-outs at the Las Vegas McCarran International Airport was set yesterday before noon. This record was shattered because yesterday was the last day of Defcon and a large chunk of the attendees were flying home.

Congratulations is in order for those who refused to submit to the TSA’s cancer machines.