“It’s a great day to get robbed” should be the Washington State Fair’s new motto after guns and weapons were banned from this year’s event.
Sadly, for Fair employees and guests, the criminals ignored the prohibition and plied their trade quite lucratively.
Armed robbers hold up three state fair workers in one night
PUYALLUP, Wash. (KOMO) — Puyallup police are beefing up patrols around the Washington State Fair after armed robbers hit three times over the weekend.
The police response wasn’t to encourage the State Fair to reconsider their simple-minded ban on guns in the hands of good guys, but this hand-wringing, limp-wristed comment:
“I’d say it was very bold to be doing this, especially this time of year with the fair going on and so many people being out and about,” said Capt. Ryan Portmann of the Puyallup Police Department.
Decisions have consequences.
Where is the security? Don’t they increase security if they prohibit people’s personal self defense tools?
Why would they increase security? It’s a gun free zone, how much safer can you get? Gun free zones are crime free zones. Right?
Obviously, not enough effort was made to promote the gun free state fair policy. Maybe a grant is available from the Department of Homeland Security to run some radio ads, TV ads, and place conspicuous banners at all entry points to the state fair to ensure that those committing these armed robberies are aware that the Washington State Fair is a gun free zone. We shouldn’t blame the policy. The policy is sound. Obviously, if the state fair is a gun free zone, then there can’t be any armed robbery. We just need to do a better job of communicating. As usual, we can solve this problem with more government money. We may need to install facial recognition scanners to identify and track all state fair attendees, and maybe install TSA checkpoints at all of the rides.