How to Use "Gun Radar" on the Strip

Backscatter technology to detect guns in Las Vegas casinos is not the panacea it seems to be. The device works as basically radar that identifies “gun shape” signatures. We discussed this in an earlier post.

Scanning customers is fraught with business pitfalls. Just imagine the first time a high-roller with a CCW gets tackled and disarmed on the casino floor. He’s probably not coming back. Regular joes who carry for self-protection will likewise be alienated if they are treated like potential terrorists for simply wanting to be prepared for the ordinary mayhem that occurs on the Strip.

Casinos don’t care about your safety; they care about money and liability. Those security measures are not there for your protection. You can thank those billboard and TV commercial attorneys for their part of that. Mass shootings and robberies look bad, but are extraordinarily rare. One faces a greater chance of being raped, beaten, murdered, or robbed than killed or injured in a terrorist attack. Yet some executive who knows no one will mess with him for carrying is focused on the bottom line and share price.

There is a beneficial use to these devices that could improve safety without alienating the legally armed public or accidentally detaining or accosting a tourist because of a false positive.

Hotel security could benefit from using backscatter devices as a identification and surveillance tool. The manufacturer and the hotel probably has no clue how they are going to use it. We tend to think of weapon detection devices as screening tools to identify who is armed and to get the weapon (and person) out of the environment. Think of a gang member trying to get his pistol through a metal detector and into a rap concert. In upscale casinos where few are likely to start blasting, such an approach is generally unnecessary and has the pitfalls I’ve explained previously.

Imagine you really do have an effective radar scanning the crowd. Individuals could be identified and a realistic threat assessment made. A man in a suit who looks like a cop probably is one and the older guy in a Hawaiian shirt with a revolver on his hip headed for the high-limits table isn’t going to start shooting. But the drunk guy, stumbling in the door and yelling with a Glock in his pocket might warrant a security response. A potential terrorist or robber could be tailed or intercepted at this point. A security check and extra visits to the room could be made for the guy with the rifles who might be here for SHOT or might not be.

Fancy electronics that promise to be the answer to all crime and terror problems fail again and again. Human failures to properly respond to identified threats (or to identify them at all) plague TSA, which is almost entirely reliant on wonder-technology. Magic detectors can’t scan for intention or control what goes on beyond the detection perimeter. The Brussels airport attack concentrated on the passengers outside the security perimeter. How difficult would it be to simply walk down the Strip and start shooting outside the doors or shoot one’s way inside the hotel?

Yet even if a "smart" approach is used, the only persons who are safe to approach would be those legally armed citizens who are not going to use their weapons to begin with. A terrorist or dangerous criminal who is suddenly approached by security will likely react violently. Consequently, security will probably do nothing and call police, hoping they arrive before whatever unfolds. So, like all security theater and gun control, backscatter will target non-threats and disarm the honest.

Security’s options for deal with an “armed” subject are limited. Legally, they cannot detain you or put their hands on you for simply possibly having a gun. All they can do is ask something like “Do you have a firearm?” (or 20 AR-15s in your suitcases) You have no duty to answer or even stop. Assuming you tell them to pound sand, at that they can ask you to leave. If you fail to leave at that point, then you would be trespassing. And if you and they are cool about it, what are they going to do, ask you to check your gun? How will that make anyone safe?

Concealed carriers aren’t the type to worry about, but some idiot anti-gun executive is too stupid and unconcerned to know that. Last time I checked, there wasn’t an issue with people being shot on casino floors or in hotel rooms, especially by legally armed citizens. Rather it’s pimps and drug dealers getting into gun fights on the sidewalks and bridges or criminal victimizing unarmed citizens in parking garages or other dark places. If the person security detains doesn’t have a CCW, will they call Metro? I suspect it won’t even get that far before the crook either runs or shoots security.

And what exactly will hotel security do when/if they detect a terrorist with an AK under his jacket? I would be frankly shocked if any hotel has a security team that can credibly dispatch an actual terrorist threat. I know some crack security guards, but will they be on duty and able to respond in time—or allowed to? And let’s face it; given the events of October 1 no one should bet their lives on Metro’s SWAT team arriving in time or making tactically sound decisions.

There is always going to be a way to defeat or counter whatever security measures are in place. A layered, intelligent approach is better than a one-size-fits-all policy. Israeli airport security involves the human factor; does that passenger look and act like a threat, rather than the American, TSA style security theater of “Did that go ‘beep’ when he went through the machine?” Rather, our planes are safe, in part, because after 9/11, terrorists know the passengers and crew will beat you to death.

Casinos need to understand armed citizens are part of the solution to violence and terror, not a liability. On October 1, concertgoers tried to steal police shotguns to fight back. So to the gaming industry, give us a little credit and worry about the freaks, the pimps, and the drunks.

The Unsafe Strip

@carmenchan/Twitter

News outlets are calling this weekend “chaos on the Strip” in the wake of a burglary where burglars in pig masks terrorized Bellagio in a bizarre incident as they performed a heist at the Tesorini store. The burglary was originally thought to be a shooting as the noise from the glass being broken sounded like gunfire, however, no guns were found. Later that Saturday, a shooting in an RTC bus traveling along the Strip left a person dead and another injured.

One of Las Vegas’ biggest secrets is how fraught with violence the Strip really is. Granted, if you are sober and not engaged in criminal activity (namely pimping and drug dealing) or a gang member, you will probably be fine. However, tourism officials and the gaming industry would like you to think that the Strip is as safe as Disneyland with the addition of booze and skimpy clothing.

Ocean’s Eleven (the Steven Soderbergh version) recounted three supposedly unsuccessful casino robberies. Thieves often hold up casinos’ cages or sportsbooks. It’s no more unusual than a bank robbery. Casinos, downtown Las Vegas, and the resort corridor in Paradise have all fallen victim to these kinds of incidents over the years.

Many in the firearms community discount then need for a firearm while out on the town in Las Vegas. That it is unnecessary and potentially hazardous if you are drinking. Casinos and the other various business generally discourage firearms due to concerns about liability and drunks or a fear of frightening tourists from places where guns are uncommon and thus scaring away gaming dollars.

The reason so few casualties occurred in the bus shooting incident was because the shooter was on the second level of the double-decker bus towards the back. At midday during cool, Spring weather, buses are generally fairly empty. Many passengers were able to evacuate the bus to safety since the shooter was so isolated from other passengers and the exits. Had the shooter chosen the first level and near an exit, the bus passengers would have been trapped and shot like fish in a barrel.

One bus driver complained to KNTV “Who is going to protect the bus drivers?” Many bus drivers carry concealed weapons against policy. RTC and Metro cannot put armed guards or police officers on every bus. Why not empower drivers and passengers to defend themselves? Unfortunately, no one with the ability to affect widespread change will take any such steps. It would not be surprising at all to see the Democrat controlled legislature try to prohibit firearms on public buses. This is not a solution, but instead an expansion of victim disarmament zones.

Nevada law does not prohibit guns in casinos or tourist areas, either openly or concealed. All private property owners can do is trespass a citizen who refuses to disarm or leave. Essentially every casino and major tourist property prohibits firearms, requiring them to be checked with security. Open carriers find themselves bearing the brunt of this ban for obvious reasons. Concealed carriers and off-duty/retired cops are almost never detected or bothered. Most security officers practice a “see no evil” policy creating an environment where concealed carry is de facto permitted in casinos.

What police brass, politicians, and many gaming executives fail to understand is the only thing that will stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. The Westgate Las Vegas Resort, formerly the Las Vegas Hilton, will be purchasing and evaluating a microwave radar system that will scan guests for concealed firearms. The device, which looks like a small electronic box, can be mounted above entry doors and can see through clothing and people to identify those who are carrying a gun. The system is far more efficient than a metal detection system as it can scan entire crowds without creating a choke point as conventional security checkpoints do.

The Westgate is mum about how they will employ it. It’s hard to see them stopping every guest carrying a concealed pistol, especially if that person plans to lock it up in their room. Security officers intercepting a guest with such intentions would surely be alienating to customers. Unless casinos adopt a monolithic draconian anti-gun policy, individual casinos like the Westgate will likely face severe backlash from the gun community if gun owners who simply don’t want to become victims of Strip violence are accosted and disarmed by casino security.

What’s most likely is that the technology would be installed in specific area, such as the entrance to nightclubs and concert venues, where metal detectors and security are already present. These venues tend to attract certain people who, often aided by alcohol or drugs, are likely to engage in violence. This would create a less intrusive security screening checkpoint and move people in and out more efficiently.

Gamblers, shoppers, restaurant diners, casual drinkers, and tourists strolling the Strip are not a security threat. A Big Brother type system scanning bodies for concealed firearms will do nothing except offend legal citizens who want to spend money or create so many false positives that the system is useless. It does nothing in public areas, such as sidewalks, where no one can prohibit carrying a firearm even openly. Simply knowing someone is armed does no one any benefit. Real security, including allowing citizens to have the tools to react against a threat, will not only deter violence but save lives as well.

Armed casino security is not a panacea. Casino security staff ranges from highly competent officers at near police quality to rent a cops who have their guns stolen. Many security officers take their firearms training seriously and are true assets to the gun community. Generally, when security falls to the hands of individual officers, they operate with discretion. No doubt that these quality officers would, if they were in a position to do so, try to end a mass shooting. Yet just like police, security cannot be everywhere and there is often no security on the Strip itself, on buses, or when going to/coming from a casino.

Citizens and tourists should never be disarmed because a board room succumbs to anti-gun hysteria, conflating everyone who carries a gun with gun violence. Too many businesses post “no guns” signs or setup security theater, such as metal detectors with staff merely going through the motions, for reasons they cannot explain. Perhaps it is a notion of liability that our litigious society encourages or simply a business superstition that signs are some sort of talisman warding off crime. Tourists aren’t scared by armed citizens; many assume that since this is the United States or the West, that it is as common as seeing celebrities in Malibu. At the worst, they see it as boorish and unnecessary.

As this weekend has shown us, despite the 99% of the time everything is copacetic, 1% of the time a gun will be needed in the hands of a good guy to save the day. Casinos need to remember that concealed carry (and open carry as well) is harmless. It is the criminal, terrorist, or psychopath that you cannot deter or detect that is the threat. Make people feel safe on the Strip by letting them take their own defense into their own hands. Let terrorists, criminals, and would-be murderers know that any shooting spree in Las Vegas will be a short one.

The mundane aspects of security focus on drunk patrons behaving badly or the criminally inclined adhering to their criminal nature. At the more common extreme, gang members, drug dealers, and pimps causing violence on the Strip, like the shooting/car crash of several years ago. This weekend’s events were certainly uncommon, but it has happened before and will happen again. Instead of focusing closely on prohibiting guns as a panacea to violence, police and casinos need to focus on multivariate threats such as the car attacks that have become common in Europe. The tourist packed sidewalks are a repeat of the Nice tragedy waiting to happen.

So all tourists and visitors to the Strip are reminded that it isn’t a safe place. It’s not terribly dangerous either, but there is no reason to go there unarmed. Furthermore, the gaming industry should be on notice that disarming customers does not make anyone safety, it just makes it easier for a killer to take lives.