Tsongas Arena Security Fail

Amputee Marksman

NES Member
Joined
Jun 8, 2015
Messages
3,063
Likes
5,710
Location
Metrowest
Feedback: 26 / 0 / 0
Last night I went to the Tsongas Arena to attend my Granddaughter's HS graduation. I wasn't sure exactly what the security was going to be like but I knew better than to try and carry in my EDC and my knife so as much as it bothered me I went into the arena without them. Upon entrance I was greeted by your standard metal detectors and arena security. Put your cell phone, keys etc. in a basket and go through the metal detector. This is where I always inform the security person that I am going to set off the alarm because I have a prosthetic leg.

Usual procedure: I go through and set off the alarm. I get pulled aside and given the old magic wand and they look to see if I actually have a prosthetic leg and then they send me on my way.

Last night: I go through and set off the alarm. The guy hands me my basket of stuff and sends me on my way. Please note I was wearing long pants and not shorts so you could not see my prosthetic leg. I walk normal enough where most people don't know I have a prosthetic leg if I don't tell them.

With all the hype on school shootings you think that security, especially in Lowell, would have been on a higher alert. I very well could have had prohibited weapons on me. I don't necessarily agree with all the security BS at different venues but if your going to have metal detectors and screening then do it correctly. If you're going to have cheap help that sucks and can't do their job then save a bunch of money and time and don't have these so called security screenings that don't work.
 
That said maybe the security officer could tell you were a good red blooded American and key needed to look no further

This where I disagree. I don't like all the extra security BS but ...

Let's say I was a bad guy and I got in there and shot the place up. Once again it would be all about banning guns and guns bad etc. etc. etc. It wouldn't be about the minimum wage security guard who didn't do their job. It wouldn't be about we could have stopped this if we did our job and adhered to our policy.

Someone decided to implement a security protocol to potentially stop any problems before hand. If I am going to give up my rights and freedoms because of this policy then make it work. Otherwise let me exercise my right to carry and I'll protect myself when I get inside. Instead you strip me of my right to carry based on the premise that no one inside will have weapons (except the privileged) and then you do that in such a shoddy half assed manner as to allow weapons in.
 
This where I disagree. I don't like all the extra security BS but ...

Let's say I was a bad guy and I got in there and shot the place up. Once again it would be all about banning guns and guns bad etc. etc. etc. It wouldn't be about the minimum wage security guard who didn't do their job. It wouldn't be about we could have stopped this if we did our job and adhered to our policy.

Someone decided to implement a security protocol to potentially stop any problems before hand. If I am going to give up my rights and freedoms because of this policy then make it work. Otherwise let me exercise my right to carry and I'll protect myself when I get inside. Instead you strip me of my right to carry based on the premise that no one inside will have weapons (except the privileged) and then you do that in such a shoddy half assed manner as to allow weapons in.

Instead you strip me of my right to carry based on the premise that no one inside will have weapons (except the privileged) and then you do that in such a shoddy half assed manner as to allow weapons in

And when they do that - you take your weapon in.

In your specific case, I'd consider strapping a small semi to the upper part of your prosthesis, and lifting the pants leg to show the lower part of it when metal detector tripped.

It's akin to tucking a small semi behind a large belt buckle. Give the checker an obvious reason that their detector went off, and they move on.

Gregg Ellifritz has written some very good articles about this sort of misdirection.
 
Last night I went to the Tsongas Arena to attend my Granddaughter's HS graduation. I wasn't sure exactly what the security was going to be like but I knew better than to try and carry in my EDC and my knife so as much as it bothered me I went into the arena without them. Upon entrance I was greeted by your standard metal detectors and arena security. Put your cell phone, keys etc. in a basket and go through the metal detector. This is where I always inform the security person that I am going to set off the alarm because I have a prosthetic leg.

Usual procedure: I go through and set off the alarm. I get pulled aside and given the old magic wand and they look to see if I actually have a prosthetic leg and then they send me on my way.

Last night: I go through and set off the alarm. The guy hands me my basket of stuff and sends me on my way. Please note I was wearing long pants and not shorts so you could not see my prosthetic leg. I walk normal enough where most people don't know I have a prosthetic leg if I don't tell them.

With all the hype on school shootings you think that security, especially in Lowell, would have been on a higher alert. I very well could have had prohibited weapons on me. I don't necessarily agree with all the security BS at different venues but if your going to have metal detectors and screening then do it correctly. If you're going to have cheap help that sucks and can't do their job then save a bunch of money and time and don't have these so called security screenings that don't work

Dude, why don't you have a gun IN your prosthetic leg?

Some of them seem to be big enough toward the top to be able to conceal something.
 
remember the scene in the 2013 remake of The Lone Ranger when the woman with the prosthetic leg had a rifle built into it?

99% of all these "security" screenings are just there to make people think they are safe, and to make bad guys think they can't get a weapon past the screening area.

We all know both of those statements are false, if someone wants to get weapon in to a "secure" area, chances are they will find a way to do it.

How were they checking for ceramic blades?

Explosives?

Chemicals?

Items brought in before the event and hidden?
 
This where I disagree. I don't like all the extra security BS but ...

Let's say I was a bad guy and I got in there and shot the place up. Once again it would be all about banning guns and guns bad etc. etc. etc. It wouldn't be about the minimum wage security guard who didn't do their job. It wouldn't be about we could have stopped this if we did our job and adhered to our policy.

Someone decided to implement a security protocol to potentially stop any problems before hand. If I am going to give up my rights and freedoms because of this policy then make it work. Otherwise let me exercise my right to carry and I'll protect myself when I get inside. Instead you strip me of my right to carry based on the premise that no one inside will have weapons (except the privileged) and then you do that in such a shoddy half assed manner as to allow weapons in.

Let's be honest though, these people don't give a shit about security, but only the /appearance/ of security. Most of these things are not about creating real security but placating sheep
and morons.

Real security would involve scaring the shit out of the sheep. Guys kitted out with ARs, snipers, spotters, surveillance etc. Sheep dont want to see that, or pay for it. they want to "feel" safe thats good enough. [rofl]

I agree with your sentiment though. "Like Ok fine I agree I wont carry a gun in your building, but now you have assumed responsibility for my safety and if you can't handle that in some respectable way (for starters, having people with guns all over willing to protect me) then you shouldn't be taking my gun away. "

We all know that type of thing will never change though unless there was $$$$ involved.
 
Everyone says this but IMHO its bullshit. At a kids graduation? really? [rofl]

It's more likely about making some sheep "feel safe. "

Most of these things are all theater.

Exactly,

I always set off the detectors because of my aftermarket parts and do the same as the OP and they wand me.

If I don’t set off the detectors I know that it is security theater and that they have the sensitivity turned way down to speed up the processing of guests.
 
Similar experience at Syracuse graduation a coupe of weeks ago. had my pock knife clipped to my right pocket and after the long walk to the dome, I wasn't going back to the car. The detector never went off.

I also think that if you're going to disarm me, you had better take my (and my family's) security pretty seriously. I doubt that if any bad guys had infiltrated the event, the SU security detail could have done anything but make a phone call to local police.
 
I agree with your sentiment though. "Like Ok fine I agree I wont carry a gun in your building, but now you have assumed responsibility for my safety and if you can't handle that in some respectable way (for starters, having people with guns all over willing to protect me) then you shouldn't be taking my gun away. "

Exactly. You totally understand what I was trying to say.
 
Totally absent from this thread is the fun factoid that
(as musically asked in the #1 Similar Thread),
the Tsongas is a GFSZ.
School? [Just clicked the link. NO, ownership doesn't make it a school! Not a GFSZ.]

Ultimate security theater:

We flew out of TF Green to Seattle a month after 9/11. They had National Guard with empty assault rifles before the security checkpoint.

I walk thru the metal detector and over to our gate before I realize two things:

1. I had forgotten to put my badge case in the tray for x-ray, so I walked thru the metal detector with a full-size police badge in my pocket and it never went off.

2. Then I realize that as we stood in line waiting, I never saw/heard the metal detector go off on anyone. It was obviously turned off and just there for "show"!
 
So should I have carried into the hockey arena at BC for a graduation ceremony?
Not if it is on the educational campus. Plus, when a school is actually using a facility for any educational purpose, it is off-limits regardless of who owns it.

Buying naming rights to a commercial building however does not make it a school for GFSZ purposes, any more than a place like TD Garden would be a bank.

I will plead ignorance about the location of the Tsongas building however. No idea where it is physically located, so if it is physically located on an educational property, my prior statement would not be correct.
 
Everyone says this but IMHO its bullshit. At a kids graduation? really? [rofl]

It's more likely about making some sheep "feel safe. "

Most of these things are all theater.
Agreed. I go through event metal detectors (not airport) all the time with my EDC knife. If I see a metal detector at the door I just clip it to my underwear under my pants (behind my belt buckle). I set off the detector, they ask me to remove my belt and try again, it goes off again and they send me on my way.
 
Last night I went to the Tsongas Arena to attend my Granddaughter's HS graduation. I wasn't sure exactly what the security was going to be like but I knew better than to try and carry in my EDC and my knife so as much as it bothered me I went into the arena without them. Upon entrance I was greeted by your standard metal detectors and arena security. Put your cell phone, keys etc. in a basket and go through the metal detector. This is where I always inform the security person that I am going to set off the alarm because I have a prosthetic leg.

Usual procedure: I go through and set off the alarm. I get pulled aside and given the old magic wand and they look to see if I actually have a prosthetic leg and then they send me on my way.

Last night: I go through and set off the alarm. The guy hands me my basket of stuff and sends me on my way. Please note I was wearing long pants and not shorts so you could not see my prosthetic leg. I walk normal enough where most people don't know I have a prosthetic leg if I don't tell them.

With all the hype on school shootings you think that security, especially in Lowell, would have been on a higher alert. I very well could have had prohibited weapons on me. I don't necessarily agree with all the security BS at different venues but if your going to have metal detectors and screening then do it correctly. If you're going to have cheap help that sucks and can't do their job then save a bunch of money and time and don't have these so called security screenings that don't work.
The last time I served on a jury we all had to go thru the metal detectors and my knee replacement always set them off. I was on a jury for 7 days and after the first day they always just waved me thru with no lines or checks !
 
Back
Top Bottom