Yet Another Piece Of The Genteel Past Dies -- Get Ready For Metal Detectors At The State Capitol

Photo courtesy wikimedia commons

​You knew it was coming after that idiot fired some shots around the Capitol grounds in January -- heavy-duty security is being installed.

Gone are the days when you could stroll around the Capitol and casually walk in to see what your elected officials were or were not up to. Now it will be metal detectors.

Tela Mange, spokeswoman for the Department of Public Safety, says the State Preservation Board has approved a plan for detectors and other security measures.

DPS director Steven McCraw says the measures won't hamper the ability of the public to "timely access the State Capitol building."

"As long as you don't get stuck behind some third-grade class trip," he didn't add. "We have to make damn sure those kids ain't carrying."

Among the other changes:

* Enhanced counter-surveillance teams
* Enhanced rapid tactical response teams
* Enhanced medical response training and capability
* Additional bomb-detection canines
* Increased trooper foot and street patrols
* Increased bike patrols
* Emergency mass notification system for the Capitol complex
* Technology upgrades and additional surveillance cameras
* Physical upgrades to include bollards

Governor Rick Perry, of course, has already gone on the record that manly men don't need metal detectors. Somehow the agencies involved overruled him, which happens all the freakin' time with Perry appointees. Or not.

So enjoy the bollards, x-rays and metal detectors. It's your Capitol!