Poor planning, but not as radical as some of the news reports make out, since they left out important details on purpose to help scare people, and we shouldn't help them do that, should we? Let's include a few more relevant details.
The gun had a toy designating
orange tip (probably airsoft, perhaps a partially
clear gun, see photo and quotes) and I gather that the man was not a loner showing up suddenly to terrify people in front of the big screen as a shock stunt, he was part of a cosplay group doing their thing in a nonthreatening, probably yawn-inducing, way in the lobby. The theater owner said this group had showed up for many openings, and indeed I can see that the group has web sites that show they do many types of venues in many types of costume.
Really this was a fairly routine type of promotion in previous years. It became an incident only because of people being jittery this year from media hype, and planners failing to consider how the actor might look out of context on the way to his group. He should have been with other members of the group and some group signage when entering, or had some of his gear out of sight on the way in and geared up in-context.
Here's a photo that might help to understand what people really saw:
http://i.imgur.com/gAcRt9l.jpg
And more details:
http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/2013/05/iron_man_goodrich_capital_theaters_911_call.php
In context (in the lobby, group of actors dressed up in movie theme) it's very clear what's going on and you'd have to be a real nut to get excited about it.
Out of context (such as parking lot, one actor entering with gear, maybe poor lighting, bad eyesight or what have you) someone who missed the big orange tip could obviously get the wrong idea and call 911. The veteran interviewed had PTSD, and was in the parking lot, but it was someone else who actually called 911 and I'm not sure where they were when they saw the man and why they didn't see or understand the blazing orange tip and possibly transparent and cheap toy nature of the weapon.
Cosplay groups and venues are going to have to rethink how things are done and avoid any chance of misunderstanding, now that people are jumpy about shootings from the current gun control media blitz. Indeed they are lucky that no one got hurt.
But if everyone and his dog is now justified in taking down orange-tipped airsoft "active shooters", then I guess we'll start seeing reports of "justifiable" shootings in the parking lots of department stores adjacent to airsoft and laser tag venues. Clueless shopper sees a gangly preteen exit Mom's van with a toy gun, fails to notice AirSoft World next door, and tells 911 that a gunman is heading toward Macy's. That's the whole point of the orange tips being mandated.
This mishap was poor judgment in today's environment and it could have been easily avoided, but it's also the result of a society being conditioned by an activist media, and you are going to see what's considered "good judgment" get smaller and smaller over time, until there may not be much elbow room. Remember, kids are also getting in trouble for drawing pictures or writing essays about guns in school.
If God forbid we have a wacko shooting someday at an outdoor mall venue or a restaurant or outdoors store from someone in normal clothes and unthreatening who enters the area wearing a holstered sidearm, and a prolonged media hype about it, then suddenly people will consider that venue and that appearance dangerous and irresponsible. If a shooter wears a purple baseball cap then that will become off limits too. People doing dumb things or making mistakes make it easy for the media, but the media will create anti-gun news either way.
Hope this event doesn't hurt the current 2A/OC efforts!
When I was a kid, preteen or very early teen, I was playing with a cap gun in my living room when a police officer snuck in the back screen door with his gun drawn and pointed upwards. That was before any toys had orange tips, so the gun may have looked semi realistic. I was terrified to see an armed officer enter without warning. The police officer was at the wrong house due to a mistake in routing the officer to a completely unrelated call at another location. "Doh! Wrong house, sorry." Luckily the officer wasn't afraid of his shadow. I certainly wasn't doing anything wrong, but it was a somewhat dangerous situation and I'm very glad it happened back then instead of now. I was tall enough to possibly be seen as a threat, and the officer was responding to a call about some type of intruder, probably armed, so he was expecting to see someone with a gun upon entering the house and I could see him size me up. Rational heads are needed when evaluating any situation, and details are important.
