How to pick up a friend at the airport.

[bedlamite]

http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news/ci_16181812?nclick_check=1

Apparently two guys dress all in black with rifles and park illegally to pick up someone at the airport.

That doesn't sound like the best idea to me, but not a single soul calls the cops. I would have thought in this day and age they would have called in reinforcements from the greater San Francisco area.

[lee n. field]

Open carry folks pushing the envelope?

Alas, no:

It turns out the men with the assault rifles were from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and were meeting another security staffer returning from assignment, lab spokesman Don Johnston said.

[vaskidmark]

The response, according to one of the volunteers: "Next time that happens, have one of them sit in the car while the other one comes in." The airport prohibits unattended cars at the curb, especially under the current orange alert level.

Seems the San Jose Chief was miffed that the Livermore boys did not call ahead to say they were going to be escorting one of theirs home.  A notification protocol was worked out.

stay safe.

[vaskidmark]

Open carry folks pushing the envelope?

Alas, no:

Seeing as how evil assault rifles are illegal and verboten for the common serf in Kalifornia?

And yes, I agree that even in those places where it is legal the drama of slung long guns does not do anything to help normalize the sight of peaceful law-abiding citizens openly carrying sidearms.

stay safe.

[Boomhauer]

That is one of the more bizzare articles I have read. No ID presented? No explanation? WTF? I mean, sure, they are picking up Gordon Freeman, but it is extremely odd how little disturbance occured or that nobody really questioned them.

[taurusowner]

And their task couldn't have been accomplished better by sending a few guys in suits with concealed weapons?  I'm not saying don't send and armed escort for important people, just there are better ways.  And PSD company or .gov agency tasked with escorting knows how to securely escort someone while not making a scene about it.  In fact, usually doing it sneakily and covertly is much better security than 10 guys with rifles.

[Jamisjockey]

But...but...we've got rifles and ninja suits! We should get to play with them! 

[taurusowner]

But...but...we've got rifles and ninja suits! We should get to play with them! 

Yep, and those work great for the guards at the laboratory itself, just like you would see at say, a nuclear power plant.  But when you're leaving the installation and going out in public, the operator looks become counterproductive.  I'm really surprised they didn't already have procedures in place for this sort of thing.  Competent PSD teams have been using the "blend into the crowd" technique pretty much since the advent of the PSD industry.

[MicroBalrog]

Yep, and those work great for the guards at the laboratory itself, just like you would see at say, a nuclear power plant.  But when you're leaving the installation and going out in public, the operator looks become counterproductive.  I'm really surprised they didn't already have procedures in place for this sort of thing.  Competent PSD teams have been using the "blend into the crowd" technique pretty much since the advent of the PSD industry.

You mean, "since tthe first tribal trader hired a bodyguard for a handful of seashells"?