[Jav]

Hello,

As some of you may or may not of heard of but our sister Garrison in SoCal had an incident yesterday at a library troop. Thankfully the trooper is OK but we wanted to have a discussion on blasters here. Please read this all before making a comment. We are not here to take away your blaster, we want ALL of you safe. Here is the link and info that was shared.

Here is the info from SoCal concerning the incident.

Many of you may have heard about an incident Involving one of our troopers that occurred at the Silver Lake Library troop this morning.

In summary, a costumed Shore Trooper was posted outdoors at the library door in order to greet attendees as they entered the venue. A passer-by noticed the trooper who had his blaster and reported it to the police. Minutes later the SWAT team, including a helicopter, arrived at the library and instructed the trooper to put his blaster down and lie down. He was then handcuffed and questioned.

Eventually the trooper was released and the situation was diffused. Our trooper, while understandably a little shook up is fine. But, as you can imagine, things could have happened quite differently.

To be clear, the trooper didn’t do anything wrong at all. He wasn’t doing anything that every one of us hasn’t done a dozen or more times. Also, the police were doing their jobs as well and while we can see that it was unnecessary we also believe that they acted appropriately with the information they had at hand.

First and foremost the safety of our members is our TOP priority. Even so, we’re reluctant to impose any blaster ban even after such a close call and for now we are not going to go there. For transparency sake we are ARE, however, having a lot of discussions about how this can be avoided in the future. We don’t have any answers quite so soon but will be looking closely at how we communicate with our hosts to make sure they can work with us to help prevent this from happening again. We also encourage each of you to be careful and be mindful of your surroundings at events. If you find yourself outside of the context of the troop itself (especially alone) it is very likely that an outside observer could also find you out of place. The buddy system is your friend.

We are extremely thankful our trooper is safe and sound and also appreciate knowing that law enforcement is out there keeping us safe from genuine threats.

Stay safe and keep on trooping!

The current CS thinking is maybe limiting blasters to controlled events, and no blasters at out side events such as parks and parades. These are all just ideas and nothing is set in stone.

This will be a group decision if one is even made. Our priority is your safety and I don’t want to see any of you like that trooper yesterday laying face down on the ground in handcuffs. Please share your thoughts and ideas and please be respectful.

Thank you,

Jav

[Keith]

I like that our current Event Request page allows for people to indicate whether blasters are ok or not during their events. I believe for schools we typically do not bring blasters and this makes sense to me.

I think this was a rare occurrence and don’t know if we need to modify our policy much at this time, but I agree that when we are more visible to the public (example- at a park) we should have a heightened awareness of the image we are projecting and the context of the setting we are in. One shoretrooper by himself at a park may not be immediately recognizable to the public (especially when viewed at a distance) as a Star Wars character, while a larger group trooping together presents a different, more easily recognizable and non-threatening image to the public. Similarly, a group of characters trooping inside a building with Star Wars banners or backdrops helps the public recognize us in a non-threatening context, while one trooper in a random environment doesn’t provide the same helpful context to the public. To that end, I believe when we are trooping with blasters we should do our best to trooper with a buddy or buddies, and hopefully some easily identifiable handlers as well. Garrison/squad/legion flags and Star Wars backdrops could also help provide context (especially in an outdoor environment) if there isn’t any Star Wars signage provided by the event requestor.

At a parade, the public is expecting to see various organized groups including military and law enforcement, so I don’t think a blaster ban here would be necessary since seeing a group of Star Wars characters would make sense in that context.

Those are my thoughts so far. I look forward to seeing what others think.

[Batlord77]

I think Keith took the words out of my mouth.
The situation in the news story seems like a very rare and extreme circumstance. Just think how many troops we do a year and we’ve never had a situation like that. For that matter how many troops worldwide, and that doesn’t happen.
But I’m fine whatever the group decides I just think it seems like a extreme decision based on 1 crazy incident.

[Charlie Wilkes]

Thanks Jav for fixing the thread.

I agree with Keith and Craig. I think this event was a total anomaly. That said, it would be prudent to remind members how they should react if confronted by police/armed security: Never raise the weapon or point it anywhere near the officers. Follow commands slowly and precisely and you’ll be fine like the shoretrooper in that story.

[23Vince23]

In the Most recent times of our Stand Down’s came out of respect and response to Tragedy.

I think GGG should start to looking at more events that may need weapons holstered or Zero weapons.

Unfortunately,we live in a time now that Prop Blasters could and maybe being mistake for Real One, we should start to be aware that it will occur.

I for one have not holstered pistols in Wolffe for over a year now, so much easier not to worry about holding or guarding my weapons and just be able to High Five or Fist bump some kids & adults.

[Sha Sha Chu]

Whether or not any official policy change comes from this, I think a good action item from command staff would be some additional recommendations for situations when we might want to holster weapons before, during, and after troops, regardless of what the ER says. Such as:
– When walking to and from the troop venue
– When trooping in public open areas (sidewalks, parks)
– When trooping alone or away from the group

We could incorporate it into Handler training as well.

[Robert Stevenson]

I’m with Keith, Craig, and Charlie. One rare event doesn’t really sway my opinion toward any modifications of our current policies. Let the event requestors and our members decide their comfort with blasters/weapons, follow the garrison weapons policy, and be cognizant of your surroundings.

[Alex]

Agreed, I don’t think our weapons policy should change, but it might be a good idea that troopers with weapons move together in groups (or at least pairs). A single character standing outside with a weapon can look odd when not part of a group. Maybe handlers should escort characters with blasters who plan to stand outside of a public building (ex: when we stand in front of a library for pictures or to greet people, especially if the entrance can be seen from a busy street). It helps to have that extra set of eyes for safety and to show that the character(s) does not pose a threat.

[Lebo]

The image mostly shown from the Library news stories is a Clone Trooper holding a heavy cannon of sorts, standing in front of the library, It is my understanding the actual trooper was the Shore Trooper attached to my post. As you can see he is NOT holding his blaster in a friendly non-threatening manner. I always felt that the GGG had a strong solid weapons policy. Don’t point your blasters at anybody. Keep fingers off the trigger. I think that policy should remain the same.

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[kimncris]

In these times I feel that the problem is just going to get worse. I’d kinda like to see the GGG lead by example and just say no weapons in public spaces.

[Jav]

Good Afternoon GGG,
I want to thank everyone who took a moment and gave opinions on the whole blaster discussion. We have heard and discussed this over and over. At this time we feel our P&P is pretty good and strong so at this time no changes will be put in place. For those that are new or don’t know please take a look at all of our P&P on the forums. Link below. And again if you have any questions or concerns please reach out to your SL or to CS, we are here for you and your safety is our top priority.

P&P Link

Thank you and have a great weekend!

Jav

• This reply was modified 5 years, 6 months ago by Jav.