Regal Cinemas at Bridgeport Village (katu.com)

Two men got into a scuffle inside a Tigard, OR movie theater recently, during which a nearby woman thought she heard the word “gun.” The woman, who has PTSD, shouted “gun,” starting a panic inside the theater and causing theatergoers to flee, and instigating a lockdown of businesses in the mall. Police responded, and say there was never a weapon. Tigard Police Department spokesman Jim Wolf said “This was a good dry run for a real theater shooting.” [h/t: Tom in Oregon] . . .

David B. asks: “Is the NICS system shut down for the shut down? It’s a federal agency, but doesn’t it fall under police jurisdiction and is technically funded?” The NSSF answered this yesterday in their weekly Bullet Points email: “In the event of a government shutdown on Tuesday, the FBI’s NICS Section would remain fully operational and maintain normal business hours.” So you can keep buying guns. As you should.

In a followup to yesterday’s post about bikers vs Range Rover, CNN had this: “Police say this same group of bikers descended on New York City and clogged up Times Square last year in what Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said is a ‘major stunt event.’ Authorities say they were able to prevent the group from entering Times Square this year. Police arrested 15 bikers in total Sunday, seized 55 bikes and wrote 68 summons for various violations.”

In response to a recent surge in prohibited items found at airports, the TSA is renewing the warning to leave it at home or surrender it. TSA spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said, “In most cases there is no malicious intent, but at the same time, you don’t know about the person sitting next to you, whether they see if there’s a knife available, they might decide to use it.” Really? Just “decide to” because it’s available? “Well, I wasn’t going to go on a murderous rampage, but since someone left this knife here…”

The school board in Gainesville, GA is discussing a plan to store Colt 6920 M4s in locked safes inside the school for use during a shooting incident. The plan was the idea of the Gainesville PD, who approached the board after Sandy Hook in April. The rifles (one per school) would be accessible via fingerprint recognition and only the school resource officer would have access. The guns would be locked in the SRO’s vehicle when school isn’t in session. Hopefully he’s not all the way across campus from the storage locker when the time comes.

Our favorite crazy German decides to tackle the problem everyone faces from time to time: You want to throw your panties at the rock star on stage, but your seats are too far back. Joerg being who he is, it’s only a matter of time before the expression of love is turned into an instrument of destruction. And embarrassment. Mobile users, if the video below doesn’t render, click here.

31 COMMENTS

    • That occurred to me too. Shout fire in a crowded theater and it’s a crime when the sheep stampede. A crime so well known, the anti-gun crowd loves to use it as an example of how the bill of rights is situational as the act isn’t covered by the 1st amendment.

      Shout “gun” in a crowded theater and cause a stampede? Here, have a pat on the head and a cookie.

    • Naw probably MDA rallies God knows they try to give everyone ptsd when it comes to g- words that rhyme with done.

    • Tigard is outside Portland Oregon, which has a lot of bat crazy liberals. I am not sure I believe the PTSD excuse. Many Portland folk are Obama true believers who believe everything Obama says like he is some sort of messiah. Many are living the 60’s hippy movement in all its glory – free sex, drugs, tie-dye t-shirts, and more – which is rather entertaining sometime. Anyhow, I can bet that this lady believes what Obama tells her to believe, that any sign of aggressive behavior is a prelude to a mass shooting, unless of course it is an SEIU rally.

      • That is just nuts, everyone knows PTSD didn’t exist until the 2nd Iraq war. Feinstein says so, its why vet’s can’t be trusted with firearms.

    • I just don’t like the idea of school resource officers to begin with. Google Officer Michael Hopton, he was a SRO who was caught with his pants down (literally) and his body was found later on in a park. Go figure.

      • SROs deter or stop thousands and thousands of crimes, including sexual assault, selling of hard core drugs, etc. without a doubt they do prevent murders as well.

        The test of whether they stop all of them is a red herring. It would mean the existence of crime proves we should not have cops and the existence of disease and mortality means we don’t need doctors.

        And one guy committing suicide with his gun (your example) is meaningless since the science shows that in 99% of cases he would have committed suicide by other means absent the availability of a firearm.

    • And let everyone know where the SROs keep them so they can get stolen… might as well shelve the idea… *facepalm*

      • true story. fingerprint readers are notoriously easy to fool, especially the bargain brands that a public school would use.

    • Use scotch tape to lift a print from their car door + pink eraser = much easier free M4. Depending on how cheap the reader is you might not even need to lift a print, just tape over the reader and use the last guys print.

      • Push-button combination lock would be much better. You can’t cut the combination off a dead guy. And what’s with moving it in and out twice a day? Guns are always safer when no one is touching them.

    • I made the same argument after 9/11 when biometrics was all the craze in computer security circles. After listening for an hour to all sorts of nonsense, I made a “gun” with my finger and thumb, pointed it at one egghead, and said “in this hand, I have a Glock. In the other, a KaBar. Either you or your finger are coming with me. You choose.”

      End of biometrics discussion.

  1. The rifles (one per school) would be accessible via fingerprint recognition and only the school resource officer would have access.

    Let’s ask Apple how secure fingerprint scanners are…

    “Mr. School Resource Officer, could you hold this firmly between your thumb and forefinger for a second?”
    < scan, process, print, bypass>
    “Hello free M4!”

  2. So people panicked from the mere word “gun,” wow. I know I wouldn’t panic just from someone crying “gun.” If I heard actual gunfire, I have no idea what I’d do, and if I was walking and a big rabid dog came at me, I’d probably panic to some degree and start sprinting, but just being in a theater, and hearing, “Gun!” I’m not going to start trying to run away and thus end up part of a stampede. Amazing how sheep-like people can be.

    • Funny you mention dogs. I walked around the back of my apartment yesterday only to find a large white pittie of some variety standing by the back fence. He just sorta stared at me too. No gun but I did have a knife on me. After an uneasy truce he walked along the fence with his tail straight up and marked the light pole then went around the corner to the neighbor’s yard. Wasn’t scared but definitely a bit uneasy. Most dogs either run or come greet you – this one did neither.

      PS: DO NOT RUN AWAY FROM A STRANGE DOG!!!

      Tom

      • It’s why I carry pepper spray on my walks. I’ve encountered stray pits more than once. I don’t condemn any breed but I want options when I meet a loose animal on the street.

  3. So schools are putting motorcycles into locked theaters and when a TSA person with PTSD shot her panties, NICS stayed open.

    Did I skim the article too quickly?

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