Metal detector mentality

When something goes wrong in everyday living, experience has taught us that that there is usually a quick fix. If your coffee tips over and sloshes out of the cup because the lid was loose, well, you'll probably make sure the lid is snapped on next time you're drinking a cup of coffee. We all understand and expect that such problems we encounter have simple solutions, and they usually do.

But this simplistic approach does not transfer well to larger, more complex problems -- societal problems, for example. The majority of the time, things that "go wrong" in the news will not be resolved by any amount of lid snapping, and it usually wasn't even our coffee cup that tipped. Unfortunately, however, this does not stop irrational members of the public, and even some authorities, from expecting -- even demanding -- instant remediation for such problems. One prime example of this irrationality can be observed in the public outcry for metal detectors in the wake of the recent Tacoma Mall shooting.

The story is tragic: A 20-year-old man walks into a crowded shopping mall and opens fire, shooting six completely innocent and unwitting shoppers. He proceeds to take four hostages and initiates a police standoff. His reason: More or less, payback for what the world has done to him.

This was an unsettling event from many angles, but it's difficult to sympathize with this nut-job, just as it has been difficult or impossible to sympathize with the other crazed gunmen we remember -- the Columbine shooters, the Washington, D.C. sniper and so on. They all have reasons for what they've done, certainly, but we don't understand them, and the fact that reasons exist doesn't make the acts acceptable by any stretch.

Unquestionably, though, the goal is to prevent these people from doing such things. Is it practical to attempt, as some have suggested, to prevent the actions by understanding "the mind" of psychopaths? Of course not. People make choices, and there will always be crazy people making crazy choices -- end of story. It seems the only way then is literal, direct and physical prevention.

The answer: metal detectors! Right? Wrong, and here's why. Metal detectors stop psychopaths who already have guns. It seems obvious once you read it, but many people don't think of it this way. Installing metal detectors has typically been hailed as a powerful security measure and a sure way to stop the crime before it starts. This is simply not the case, and this mentality is in fact part of the problem.

Let's say the Tacoma Mall does install the proposed metal detectors. Along comes the next crazed gunman, who, it should be noted, will probably never come along anyway, per the totally isolated and bizarre nature of the recent incident. This hypothetical gunman, though, is smart and notices the metal detectors. He turns around and instead goes to the Southcenter Mall where he sees no metal detectors. The same crime unfolds, it just happens in a different location.

I guess we should install metal detectors at Southcenter, then, and, oh yeah, every other public place anybody could conceivably become violent with a weapon. No -- in reality, people who plan violence plan it for places they know they can act it out, and those places will always exist.

Metal detectors have their purpose, of course, but installing new metal detectors everywhere a random violent incident occurs with no logical or systematic basis for doing so will not prove an effective solution to the larger problem, and it represents the "act now, think later" policy by which the law seems to be enforced during or after violent events. Anybody remember the WTO riots?

A completely effective solution to the crazed gunman problem would be to prevent crazed gunmen from getting guns in the first place. This is easier said than done, though, and it, like that of most any other societal problem, is not a "quick fix." But it's surely better to focus attention and resources on stopping this and similar problems at their root than squandering money and effort on halfway solutions. That's a senseless way to run a society, and it ensures more Tacoma Mall stories in the future.