Recent Mass Shootings Prompt Weapons Check At Sci-Fi Convention
IRVING (CBSDFW.COM) - The Comic Con Sci-fi Expo is coming to North Texas this weekend. But for any Sci-fi fans planning on going, be prepared to check your light saber at the door.
As a result of recent mass shootings across the country, Mark Walters, the event manager of the Expo (which will be held at the Irving Convention Center), says officers with the Irving Police Department will be performing weapons checks on anyone showing up in full costume.
"Anybody that comes through the door has to check in their weapons and make sure that everything is safe - that nothings going to hurt anybody," says Walters. "Because of all the stuff that's happened in the last year or so, people are obviously very sensitive to that sort of thing."
Mark Walters on KRLD
And for Star Trek fans, yes that applies to "Phasers" and "Klingon Bat'leths" too.
"In all honestly now a days, most people that come in costume, they don't bring a lot of weapons that look like real weapons. Most people bring things that look like a movie prop... but at the same time it is a sensitive time," says Walters.
The added security measure at a Sci-fi convention has some gun-rights activists clucking their tongues.
"I think it's pretty far out there, I don't know how you make everything totally safe. We are humans in a hi-tech world," says Jim Pruett, owner of Pruett's Guns N' Ammo.
But if you don't mind running the risk of being vaporized or having an arm hacked off by a light saber, the Sci-fi Expo looks to be a pretty fun event. Celebrities like Christopher Lloyd, Kevin Sorbo and even Billy Boyd, who played Pippin in Lord of the Rings, are expected to attend.
More information on the expo can be found on the event website.
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