At least two movie theater chains in the United States have begun to use Israeli-style security measures to keep their guests safe.
The Regal Entertainment Group launched its policy of checking bags of guests as they enter its theaters around America this week.
The move comes in the wake of an attack this week in Nashville, Tennessee, when a man with a hatchet, pepper spray and a pellet gun attacked a family of three inside a movie theater before police arrived and finally shot him dead.
Two weeks ago, another man went on a rampage inside a movie theater in Lafayette, Louisiana. He shot and killed two people, wounded nine others and then turned the gun on himself during a screening of the film, “Trainwreck.”
Also this month, Colorado movie theater murderer James Holmes was sentenced by a jury to life in prison for slaughtering 12 people and wounding 70 others at a midnight premier three years ago.
Regal Entertainment Group acknowledged that checking the bags of its guests before they enter the theater is “not without its flaws” and inconvenient – but provides better security.
The Knoxville, Tennessee-based company operates 570 theaters around the United States.
Checking the bags of people entering a building is not new to Israelis – in fact, it has been a basic standard operating procedure in the life of the Jewish State for decades. Millions of lives have been saved as a result. Clearly that fact has begun to seep through the American consciousness.
A second theater firm, Northeast-based National Amusements Inc’s Showcase chain, has started a similar policy.
Showcase announced on its website this month that it will ban guests from bringing backpacks and packages into its theaters, and reserves the right to search bags and pocketbooks. The policy, which started August 7, will continue “for the time being.”