Security and Shooting

Some time back, Big Mike attended a public event of some kind (maybe a hockey game, but who knows?) at a major stadium in Ohio (notice how vague I'm being - it's intentional).  The promoter of the event decided for reasons of sanity to shake everyone down with a metal detector prior to allowing them inside.  Any recreational substances or prohibited items found during said shakedown would become the property of the shakedown artist private security personnel.  Mike was carrying a nice, razor sharp Spyderco knife that he didn't feel like giving to some dumb rent-a-doughnut-muncher, so he cheated and smuggled it in.  I should note at this point that as a result of Mike's timely defeat of the so-called security system, nothing bad happened.  Well, who would have ever thunk it?


Somewhat nostalgically leafing through the old home town bird cage liner I discover, courtesy of the Associated Press and by way of the Toledo Blade, an article worth reading: Little Rock Police: 25 People Shot at Nightclub.  From the article:

Police said the shooting at Power Ultra Lounge was the result of a dispute among clubgoers and not an active shooter or terror-related incident. Little Rock police said Saturday that 25 people were shot and three others suffered unrelated injuries. All were expected to survive, police said.

Little Rock Police Chief Kenton Buckner told reporters that “some sort of dispute broke out between people inside” [well, no shit. MJ] the club and that there are “probably multiple shooting suspects.”

About a half-minute into a break in the raucous concert, several bursts of gunfire rang out — more than 24 shots in an 11-second period.

The Chief sounds like he's right on top of things.  So this wasn't a rag head with an AK and a mission from Allah - Ali Akbar! Die, Capitalist Godless Infidel!!.  This was likely several young men, race carefully non-specified, who are quite possibly members of two or more carefully organized coteries, said organizations having mutual, multiple, grievances with each other.  Again, from the article:

The shooting follows a week in which there have been about a dozen drive-by shootings in Little Rock, though there’s no indication the events are linked.

Get that?  One dozen drive by shootings in the last seven days.  And then, surprise-surprise, there's a shoot out during a rap concert with more than one shooter involved.  I have three immediate thoughts here.

What is the club doing for security?  Because whatever it is, clearly it didn't work the way it was supposed to.  I suppose you could argue that in this case something was a lot better than nothing, meaning that if club security didn't search everyone coming into the event for weapons, many more people would be packing heat and once the lead hit the air, there would be one whole helluva lot more of it.  Who am I kidding here?  If customers weren't searched, you could count the number of people not packing heat on one hand.  Just think about that gunfight for a minute.  Once it was over, spent brass would be a slip and fall hazard.

Is it possible that some of the shots fired came from the bodyguards of the lead rapper, Finese 2Tymes.  Would the bodyguards be armed?  Are you kidding?

If the local government is really concerned with keeping the peace, why would they allow this concert to take place at all?  Remember, there have been 12 (or more) drive-by shootings over the past seven days, or almost two drive-bys a day.  An event like this one is going to incite whatever, or whoever,  shows up; if not inside the venue, then in the parking lot and the streets after it lets out.

Now me, I'd be tempted to construct a Speedball field, reinforce the barriers to be bullet resistant, then let all interested parties field a team, and, well, let 'em go at it.  It's easy to tell the winners because they'll be the ones walking out.  I think Fox would pay big bucks to televise it.  I've suggested this before but my seemingly good idea hasn't garnered much support.

I carp about the commercial media more than most people, I think.  Reporters embellish the facts, and if that doesn't work they'll tell outright lies.  In this case, the media is failing to emphasize the obvious: This is not the first rodeo of the season.  There have been 12 shooting events in the past 7 days, and the government is collectively so incredibly stupid that they allow a rap concert to take place.  What kind of government do we have?