This jewel courtesy of USA Today:
MOVIES
It's time to bolster movie theater security
Bryan Alexander and Jayme Deerwester, USA TODAY
Photo: Tony Gutierrez, AP
The deadly movie theater shooting in Lafayette, La., on Thursday night will bring the heated discussion of theater safety back into the national spotlight.
John Russell Houser, 59, opened fire with a .40-caliber handgun in the theater showing the comedy Trainwreck. Houser killed two people and wounded nine others, unloading at least 13 shots, before reloading his handgun and killing himself.
USA TODAY
Gunman opens fire in Lafayette, La. theater: 3 dead, 9 injured
The calls for increased security echo back to the 2012 mass shooting in a movie theater showing The Dark Knight in Aurora, Colo., which killed 12 and injured 70 others.
Two years later in Florida, a retired police captain fatally shot a fellow moviegoer after a confrontation about the latter's frequent texting.
"Theater security is going to be a hot-button issue for quite some time, especially after (another) major incident on Thursday night," says Jeff Bock, a box office analyst for the tracking service Exhibitor Relations. "That's a good thing. Safety is the number one concern for people at any audience event."
Lafayette Police Department Chief Jim Craft provides an update on Thursday's deadly shooting at the Grand Theater chain operators and their governing body, the National Association of Theater Owners, have declined to comment directly after the most recent shooting.
But Jim Davis, who served as executive director for the Colorado Department of Public Safety and a Homeland Security adviser to Gov. John Hickenlooper at the time of the 2012 Aurora shootings, believes there will have to be permanent security changes.
"There is no question in my mind that there are meetings going on as we speak, talking about improving security and associated liability. I think it will take time to happen," says Davis, who is currently a partner in Public Safety Ventures in Longmont, Colo. "By necessity now - from a liability standpoint, movie theaters are going to have to step up."
USA TODAY
Police: La. theater killer bought gun legally
Davis points to the enhanced screening at stadium venues where patrons must walk through metal detectors and have their bags searched before entering.
"(Stadium owners) have decided that people are willing to put up with that level of security to go see a game. The question for the movie theaters (or anyone else) is, where is that line?"
A small memorial has been created outside the Red Arrow, the shop owned by Jillian Johnson, one of the victims of Thursday's movie theater shooting.
The implications are huge for theater chain operators and theater owners with the potential cost security upgrades - with theaters being significantly smaller venues than stadiums with higher turnover. Walk-through metal detectors alone average $3,500 to $7,500 per unit. That's before the full cost of installing or manning them is factored in.
"Magnetometers (metal detectors) are expensive. You have to buy them, you have to install them, you have to train your employees to be able to use them and maintain them," says Davis. "You have to come up with new entry procedures so you don't have huge lines at the front of the theater that turn people off. There's a lot of expense and impact on the enjoyment of the event for folks."
Bock sees the cost alone for this procedure as "exorbitant... I don't think theater owners could shoulder that costs on their own."
In the end, Bock believes much broader, national discussions on issues such as gun safety are needed to truly tackle the issue.
"Some of these (security) solutions are just band-aids for the problem," says Bock. "Collectively, this is all part of a much bigger issue that we as Americans will have to deal with."
USA TODAY
Theater tragedy unlikely to hurt 'Trainwreck'
I'll save them all some money. Let one of their minimum-wage flunkies spend an hour scraping the NO WEAPONS signs off the doors. Problem solved for <$10. Look no further than the notebook of the Colorodo shooter to know why he targeted the particular theater he did.
MOVIES
It's time to bolster movie theater security
Bryan Alexander and Jayme Deerwester, USA TODAY
Photo: Tony Gutierrez, AP
The deadly movie theater shooting in Lafayette, La., on Thursday night will bring the heated discussion of theater safety back into the national spotlight.
John Russell Houser, 59, opened fire with a .40-caliber handgun in the theater showing the comedy Trainwreck. Houser killed two people and wounded nine others, unloading at least 13 shots, before reloading his handgun and killing himself.
USA TODAY
Gunman opens fire in Lafayette, La. theater: 3 dead, 9 injured
The calls for increased security echo back to the 2012 mass shooting in a movie theater showing The Dark Knight in Aurora, Colo., which killed 12 and injured 70 others.
Two years later in Florida, a retired police captain fatally shot a fellow moviegoer after a confrontation about the latter's frequent texting.
"Theater security is going to be a hot-button issue for quite some time, especially after (another) major incident on Thursday night," says Jeff Bock, a box office analyst for the tracking service Exhibitor Relations. "That's a good thing. Safety is the number one concern for people at any audience event."
Lafayette Police Department Chief Jim Craft provides an update on Thursday's deadly shooting at the Grand Theater chain operators and their governing body, the National Association of Theater Owners, have declined to comment directly after the most recent shooting.
But Jim Davis, who served as executive director for the Colorado Department of Public Safety and a Homeland Security adviser to Gov. John Hickenlooper at the time of the 2012 Aurora shootings, believes there will have to be permanent security changes.
"There is no question in my mind that there are meetings going on as we speak, talking about improving security and associated liability. I think it will take time to happen," says Davis, who is currently a partner in Public Safety Ventures in Longmont, Colo. "By necessity now - from a liability standpoint, movie theaters are going to have to step up."
USA TODAY
Police: La. theater killer bought gun legally
Davis points to the enhanced screening at stadium venues where patrons must walk through metal detectors and have their bags searched before entering.
"(Stadium owners) have decided that people are willing to put up with that level of security to go see a game. The question for the movie theaters (or anyone else) is, where is that line?"
A small memorial has been created outside the Red Arrow, the shop owned by Jillian Johnson, one of the victims of Thursday's movie theater shooting.
The implications are huge for theater chain operators and theater owners with the potential cost security upgrades - with theaters being significantly smaller venues than stadiums with higher turnover. Walk-through metal detectors alone average $3,500 to $7,500 per unit. That's before the full cost of installing or manning them is factored in.
"Magnetometers (metal detectors) are expensive. You have to buy them, you have to install them, you have to train your employees to be able to use them and maintain them," says Davis. "You have to come up with new entry procedures so you don't have huge lines at the front of the theater that turn people off. There's a lot of expense and impact on the enjoyment of the event for folks."
Bock sees the cost alone for this procedure as "exorbitant... I don't think theater owners could shoulder that costs on their own."
In the end, Bock believes much broader, national discussions on issues such as gun safety are needed to truly tackle the issue.
"Some of these (security) solutions are just band-aids for the problem," says Bock. "Collectively, this is all part of a much bigger issue that we as Americans will have to deal with."
USA TODAY
Theater tragedy unlikely to hurt 'Trainwreck'
I'll save them all some money. Let one of their minimum-wage flunkies spend an hour scraping the NO WEAPONS signs off the doors. Problem solved for <$10. Look no further than the notebook of the Colorodo shooter to know why he targeted the particular theater he did.
