Gun detectors to get test at University of Wisconsin-Madison

Image by whitebullfilms from Pixabay

There are people who figure the best way to minimize the risk of violent crime is to keep guns away from certain places. In fairness, if there are no guns then no one can shoot another.

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So, they want things like gun detectors.

The problem is, keeping guns away isn’t realistic. Even with detectors meant to find weapons of various kinds. That’s not stopping one Wisconsin university from trying it anyway.

Threat deterrence system developer Liberty Defense has unveiled plans to beta test its latest product on the campus of a US university.

Liberty Defense’s HEXWAVE screening portal is said to be capable of detecting metal and non-metal weapons, including ‘ghost guns,’ unserialized firearms that can be 3D printed or bought and assembled at home. Following on from HEXWAVE tests at major airports and sports venues across the United States, the firm now plans to deploy it as part of a beta trial at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

“University campuses welcome thousands of students, staff, and visitors every single day, and play host to a wide array of educational, social, sporting, and other events on a regular basis,” said Bill Frain, CEO of Liberty Defense. “HEXWAVE has the potential to fill an important gap for campus security teams providing a heightened level of security and an improved student or guest experience.”

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Their confidence is oh-so-adorable. First, being forcibly disarmed isn’t going to heighten my guest experience literally anywhere. Let’s just get that on the table here and now. Further, it’s unlikely that a gun detector can tell if it’s a “ghost gun” or not since it’s unlikely to look for a serial number, for crying out loud.

Next, let’s assume these work as advertised. So what?

Look, these gun detectors are free-standing devices that appear to remain outdoors well away from the access point at various buildings. It’s not difficult to just, you know, go around them. You don’t even have to trip over yourself to bypass them, based on the photos used.

It’s really not that difficult to gain access to a school, even one with a reason for heightened security. Take the fact that the Uvalde school system failed a security check after the mass shooting there. If someone who doesn’t belong at a school can get into one there, do you really think gun detectors are really doing to do much in Wisconsin?

Especially when the problem isn’t that people might have guns but that good people can’t have them.

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See, the gun detectors and laws only dissuade the law-abiding good guys from carrying a gun into one of the buildings there on campus. A criminal won’t care, and since they’re easily bypassed, it means that good guys will find themselves at a disadvantage should a bad guy decide to open fire.

This isn’t rocket science, after all.

Unfortunately, some will be lulled into a false sense of safety with these things in place. So long as no one does anything violent, it’s unlikely that sense will be shattered.

But when it is, expect the fallout to these folks’ psyche to be catastrophic.

Meanwhile, the people who could have stopped it in the first place will be rendered unable to do so. Gun detectors aren’t a safety measure, they’re security theater.

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