The annual State Fair of Texas is currently under way at Fair Park fairgrounds just east of Dallas. It’s big — as you’d expect the Texas state fair to be — with lots to see and do and the event attracts thousands every year. Saturday night was no exception as the park was packed when a shooting took place, prompting crowds to scurry.

Three people were wounded and the shooter, 22-year-old Cameron Turner was apprehended by police after fleeing the scene. According to fox4news.com, the shooting was the result of a dispute among people who were previously acquainted. Turner is claiming self-defense.

According to the arrest affidavit, video shows the man, later identified as Turner, at a concession stand inside the food court buying a water bottle away from his family when a group of males approached him.

When Turner tried to turn to leave, words were exchanged between Turner and one of the victims.

Police say that Turner then pulled out a handgun and began shooting.

The report says that the victim had nothing in his hands at the time.

He’s facing three charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Bail has been set at $1.5 million.

The State Fair of Texas allows licensed concealed carriers to be armed while on the grounds. Turner, however, reportedly does not haver a Texas CHL.

The park is using a new OPENGATE electro-magnetic detection security system this year that’s designed to detect firearms as fair-goers enter and allow security staff to ensure the carrier has a permit.

opengate gun detection security system
OPENGATE security system (image courtesy CEIA)

From WFAA . . .

Italian security giant CEIA manufactures these ‘OpenGate’ towers, which stand about 6 feet tall. The company says its machines can identify threats inside purses or bags.

“You can keep your bag on, you can keep your phone in your pocket and walk through it,” Karissa Condoianis, the fair’s senior vice president for public relations, told WFAA in September.

That convenience has made the technology attractive to concert venues, arenas and school districts. In theory, such devices can find weapons without delaying egress like a traditional metal detector and x-ray apparatus would.

In theory. Like virtually every security measures that’s used anywhere, the OPENGATE system is less than 100% foolproof. The combination of whiz-bang technology and human operators means OPENGATE is only as good as the people who run it.

“If you increase the sensitivity, you’ll decrease the possibility of missing a weapon,” [Yale researcher Nikita] Ermolaev said. “However, the false alarms will increase significantly.”

Ermolaev said there is no evidence CEIA’s OpenGate has ever failed to identify a handgun or rifle.

But critics worry false alarms lead to alarm fatigue, leading operators to ignore actual threats. They’ve coined the term ‘security theater’ to describe systems less effective than advertised which may create a sense of security.

“We believe that, in some cases, installing weapons detectors is more of a political decision,” he said.

You don’t say.  In other words, these systems are there as much to make people feel safe as they are there to ensure bad guys with guns don’t actually get in. Which in this case, at least one didn’t.

Fair officials are trying to determine how Turner managed to get his gun inside the park through their expensive security apparatus. Good luck with that.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

49 COMMENTS

  1. I’ve been there and done that. It’s a larger version of the Texas Ren Fest, once you’ve done it a few times it loses it’s appeal.

    Just make the place 30.07/30.05 and move on. If they are going to do this then what’s the point on carrying concealed? This is just more uselessness.

    • How about a huge magnet? Which the chip in your super duper elite permission card turns off…

      No chip? Then your gat is ripped off your person and smashes itself against the magnet.

      Heh. Just kidding.

  2. “If you increase the sensitivity, you’ll decrease the possibility of missing a weapon,” [Yale researcher Nikita] Ermolaev said. “However, the false alarms will increase significantly.”

    Like many folks, my key ring has a lot more keys on it than when I was in my 20s. Couple that with my larger-than-standard belt buckle being metal, my cell phone having a substantial volume of metal in it, I could toss my NAA Mini-Revolver in there and the machine would be completely oblivious…

    • “If you increase the sensitivity, you’ll decrease the possibility of missing a weapon,” [Yale researcher Nikita] Ermolaev said. “However, the false alarms will increase significantly.”

      So, then, because they “missed” this gun, then what ELSE got through? And, given this, er, demonstration of it’s capabilities, utility, and value, how are they worth the money and privacy intrusion (like any company or gubmint gives a damn about that)?

      And, did they really inadvertently “miss” the gun, or was it overlooked deliberately? Beto the fake Hispanic claims to be a Texan, and he’s coming for their guns…

      • “And, did they really inadvertently “miss” the gun, or was it overlooked deliberately?”

        Your guess is as good as mine.

        Something tells me when they were setting it up, they got tired of a lot false detections, so they cranked the sensitivity settings down.

        It’s kind of a dammed if they do (false detections eating up a lot of time with manual searches, creating long lines to get in, making visitors angry), and dammed if they don’t (someone getting in with a gun and shooting who they shouldn’t)…

  3. I’d drive the security folks nuts. There are enough metal replacement parts in me to set off detectors at airports and courthouses around the world. You should have seen the reaction I caused going through security at Reagan INTL. in DC last year. Just a domestic business trip, but DC was the closest available airport.

    • “There are enough metal replacement parts in me to set off detectors at airports and courthouses around the world.”

      Same here. Even though there’s less than there were from 5 years back (Yay!), the metal rod in my shin is permanently a part of me now, with all the fun at TSA security lines that goes with it…

    • My cousin has a couple of screws in his arm resulting from a surgery to repair a bad injury a ways back. He has to carry and present a card (given to him by his physician for this very purpose) because the hardware really does set off detectors and scanners. He hates the TSA and the hassle they give him, regardless of the card he shows.

      Let’s put up all the kabuki theater for schools, fairgrounds, and airports, but let’s also give $80 billion of weaponry and gear to the Taliban.

      Yup, makes sense. [/sarc]

      • “My cousin has a couple of screws in his arm resulting from a surgery to repair a bad injury a ways back.”

        He should be a good candidate for surgical hardware removal. Not exactly cheap (mine was 12 grand) but it became affordable due to the payout from the insurance company that insured her.

        They were likely trying to do anything they could to keep the testimony by the driver car following hers that clearly showed she could have seen me with plenty of time to stop…

  4. allow security staff to ensure the carrier has a permit.

    What permit? Thought Texas was “constitutional carry”, no permit for concealed or open carry…

    • You can still voluntarily obtain one, but the only real benefit is for inter-state reciprocity, or nonsense like this.

    • What Texas has is not ‘constitutional carry’. It’s really a permitless carry. Anyone that can legally posses a firearm can legally carry it.

      Like Anderson said, Reciprocity is a reason to still get the license. But that license also allows you to bypass NICS when buying a gun. That license is the user being registered rather than the firearm.

      • In Florida we still have a background check for gun purchases/transfers even if a person has a concealed permit. Bypasses the 3 day wait period, though.
        Different states, different rules.

        • Yeah, but one thing remains the same, all these things are infringements, and 2A applies to EVERY state.

  5. This article doesn’t give me enough information to have a feeling for whether the shooter (Turner) had justification or not for allegedly using the firearm for self-defense. It infers he is a “bad guy”, but nothing is clear here.

  6. “dispute among people who were previously acquainted” lol recognize that newspeak from my local paper. Translation is gang related.

  9. A school up north put in a new electronic firearms detection system, inside the school. Thinking they were going to make it safe and keep guns out of the school. The problem they created is just as bad as the problem they had before, only worse. The atrium before you pass through the detectors is where up to 1000 kids wait to pass through to enter the main school area. Which takes 30 to 45 minutes. With no security on the outer doors. Turning the entire atrium area into a enclosed target rich environment for whatever scumbag decides to shoot the place up. They have only 1 resource officer to watch over the area and none of the employees are armed. This is another of example of ‘Doing Something’ and wasting a lot of $$$ ($42,000). That stops nothing.

    • It gets even more worse, though… All the kids, and whoever’s manning & herding them through that system, are getting elevated doses of EMF radiation & magnetic fields DAILY… Yes, that is soooo much better, though, than the miniscule chance of someone actually bringing a gun, and even more miniscule chance of their actually using it.

      • And still more worse… 1) Illegals are pouring across the border, completely unchecked, yet fairgoers are forced to be subjected to essentially a body scan. 2) This is “legally” (though dubious in that respect) creating kill zones of mostly disarmed civilians. 3) This is “legally” (though dubious in that respect) destroying personal privacy and other legal and constitutional norms and rights, and setting the precedent for it to happen elsewhere. 4) This is yet more snowflake BS that only results in destruction of yet more rights, and creation of more tyranny and more dystopia. 5) This is Texas’ initial demonstration of 15-minute cities, or “smart” cities… And, last but not least, 6) Just like the old saying, of “good fences make good neighbors,” when everyone is (non-concealed carry) armed everyone is usually safer.

    • I just take my Glock 7. No problemo on the metal detectors.

      Your Glock “7” got a super-secret plastic slide and barrel? Special non-metalic ammo?
      Where can get that stuff for my G29? Or is that just something specific to that “7”?…

  11. Every single kid that grew up in South Dallas knows that you can just walk into the fair grounds without paying or going through security by walkimg in through the 8ft tall storm drains that discharge about a mile from Fair Park. There are several to pick from.

    • Plus, it’s a fair. If it’s like the fairs here, then that means acres of livestock along with all the associated feed and bedding. They got guys with bayonets checking all the trucks, trailers, sacks, and bales? If they can sneak in hip flasks, they can sneak in other stuff.

  12. “Fair officials are trying to determine how Turner managed to get his gun inside the park through their expensive security apparatus”

    did he even go through it?

  13. According to defendant Cameron Turner, he went into “survival mode” and then began shooting. He also made a statement about protecting his “family” which it turns out were not present at the fairgrounds.

    We have another case of the usual suspects doing what they usually do.

  15. It’s basically a glorified metal detector… Turn it up and a bobby pin will set it off, so not really a “dedicated” gun finder…

  16. A metal detector is a mechanical device which is subject to the interpretation of the person operating that machine. It is supposed to assist in the screening, but it is not the do all and end all.

    Nothing can match a good operator of the machine who does not solely depend of a machine to do his/her job.

  17. So your article is saying Turner is a “bad guy” or what?
    Oh I know, we are all guilty until proven innocent.
    Texas the constitutional state, uh huh, you just got to have the government permission slip to go certain places. WTF
    But its Texas

  18. It’s not necessarily true that the new security broke down. I was at the fair the day before this shooting, and I always carry at the fair because they’ve always been friendly to concealed carriers. The guy could have gone in exactly like I did – approach a cop at the gate (because the fair people working security have no idea how to handle someone with a firearm, legal or otherwise.) I show the cop my LTC, I say – where do you want me to go? Sometimes they take me in right there, sometimes they make me go through the detectors. The other day the cop sent me through the detector. I have no idea if mine set off this new one, I don’t know how it works. All I know is that there is a lot about this we don’t know, except I’m skeptical the shooter had a valid claim of self defense. But again, there’s a lot we don’t know. If the evidence shows otherwise, fine. But damn, where he shot those people is always crowded as hell. Did he really have no other choice?

    This is why you have a to have a GD plan ahead of time when you are out. Just because you carry doesn’t automatically mean that’s your only option.

    Anyway, there is a lot here we still don’t know about.

  19. I have a flag pin on my cowboy hat, anytime I go into our local courthouse, it sets off their machine..

  20. Same thing happened to security at Boston airport that caused 9/11. It is just not dependable with humans involved. They get tired of routine.

    • At the time, knives were allowed. Security used to hassle me every time about a tanto-pointed pocket knife that was just under the 4-inch limit on blade length, but eventuslly admitted that it was legal. Box cutter would look even less worrisome.

  24. WFAA:

    In theory, such devices can find weapons without delaying egress like a traditional metal detector and x-ray apparatus would.

    I don’t think anybody bothers checking egressing people for weapons.

  25. The implication of the opening comment is — So lets blame a TECHNICAL FAILURE instead of the bloody shooter. Typical

    The undoubted fact is that there is NO BLOODY DEFENCE against a determined and intelligent shooter in these circumstances where, it’s obvious to me, that trouble was expected and no guarantee against technical failure! Come to the UK where these types of events are Common and I can guarantee that you will NOT BE SHOT. You will not be searched and you will not be subject to AIRLINE type detectors.
    THe whole Idea is frankly ridiculous here inthe UK and indeed in most of nhe Civilised World.

    Having siad that in cedrtain circumstance you may be asked to declare bag contents at some enclosed venues. in the UK

    • Albert. Please do everyone here a BIG FAVOR. Stay in the UK. We have enough dummies here.

Comments are closed.