A few months ago I went to Phiadelphia and went in to see the Liberty Bell. This was my first trip tp Philly and it was toward the end of the day when I went to see the Bell. I was there with my wife. Outside of the building where the Bell is there was a sign that says no guns, knives, bombs and what have you. I wasn't carrying but I did have a folding knife in my pocket. I showed it to one of the loser Park Rangers there and he said I could not take it in. Since my wife had seen the Bell previously, she held he knife as I went in.
When I got in, they had metal detectors like an airport. However, at the Bell you had to take off your belt, your glasses your shoes and anything else with metal. I did all of this and was still beeping at the metal detector. They took me to a place where another Park Ranger waved me with a hand held wand. I still beeped when the wand passed over my hip area. He said I could go ahead through. After I got dressed again, and put on my glasses so I could see, I went and saw the Bell. I wondered why I was still beeping when the wand was run over me and why I was allowed to go through.
Later on that evening, I figured it out. I was wearing a pair of jeans that had a rivet at the hip pocket as do 99.9999% of jeans out there.
I'm not complaining but I wonder if this sort of thing is going on at all the national monuments. Seems like a bit of overkill but I don't make the rules. I know some idiot hit the Bell with a hammer a few years back but I think a hammer would have been detected at a level below the rivets in my jeans.
Also, there a disabled man in a battery powered wheel chair a few spots in front of me. They opened the gate for him and did not check anything on him or the chair. He could have had a fairly large bomb where the battery was on that chair and gone right through.
When I got in, they had metal detectors like an airport. However, at the Bell you had to take off your belt, your glasses your shoes and anything else with metal. I did all of this and was still beeping at the metal detector. They took me to a place where another Park Ranger waved me with a hand held wand. I still beeped when the wand passed over my hip area. He said I could go ahead through. After I got dressed again, and put on my glasses so I could see, I went and saw the Bell. I wondered why I was still beeping when the wand was run over me and why I was allowed to go through.
Later on that evening, I figured it out. I was wearing a pair of jeans that had a rivet at the hip pocket as do 99.9999% of jeans out there.
I'm not complaining but I wonder if this sort of thing is going on at all the national monuments. Seems like a bit of overkill but I don't make the rules. I know some idiot hit the Bell with a hammer a few years back but I think a hammer would have been detected at a level below the rivets in my jeans.
Also, there a disabled man in a battery powered wheel chair a few spots in front of me. They opened the gate for him and did not check anything on him or the chair. He could have had a fairly large bomb where the battery was on that chair and gone right through.
