Regal Entertainment Group Safety at the Cost of Privacy

KENNETH HOU
MADELEINE PARAGAS
Staff Writers

Venturing to a theater to catch a movie is a fun and traditional way to spend a free day with family and friends. However, due to recent incidents of violence in movie theaters, there has been a wider concern for safety in public theaters. In Lafayette, Louisiana, a shooting during the movie “Trainwreck” earlier in July 2015 left two dead and nine wounded. Similarly, on July 20, 2012, a shooting during “The Dark Knight Rises” in Aurora, Colorado left 12 dead and 70 injured.

In response to these events, Regal Entertainment Group (REG), one of the leading cinema owners in the U.S., implemented a mandatory bag check policy for all moviegoers. According to National Public Radio (NPR), this new policy, which began on Aug. 19, 2015, requires that all persons must have their bags inspected in order to enter the movie theater. While this may be seen merely as an inconvenience, enforcing this new policy ultimately reduces the risk of an armed attack in a movie theater, thus creating a safer environment for staff and moviegoers.

Undoubtedly, customers with sensitive items in their bags may feel uncomfortable letting theater staff inspect it. Yet, REG’s new security protocol allows these individuals to receive a full refund, or have their bags held by a REG staff member during the movie. For this reason, there are little to no disadvantages to this new security system; it can only benefit moviegoers.

This new policy is past movie theater shooters were able to sneak fully automatic assault rifles into theaters. In a day and age where guns are as easy to assemble as they are to take apart, a simple glance into a bag may one day save dozens of lives.