Weapons Policy

[TaikoMoon]

Last year was real upsetting and almost ridiculous when it came to the weapons policy. I remember back in 2004 where the weapons policy were decent but now things seem ridiculous and blow out of proportion.

Myself and my sister (including her friends) were a group of Anbu. We had our little plastic swords zip-tied shut, than zip tied to our costumes. This took the fun out of a lot of posing and what not. I understand why there must be a policy however I would rather not have to have swords, stuff animals, mini kunai, and gun zip tied to myself. It limits poses and can be an inconvenience to the cosplayer.

I heard rumors of a proper weapons class or something where the cosplayer can attend a class or something become 'certified' to handle their weapons and allowed to carry it after being checked. Is there any way we can get that to happen?

Zip tying kunai/stuff animals to people's wrists and all that is really not a whole lot of fun. Those responsible enough with their 'weapons' should be allowed to carry them around and strut their stuff!

[Runewitt]

it's not just how responsible you are with your props, it's aslo about the people around you.
sure, you may be competent and able to carry a sword around without letting it touch anyone, but what about that one person who'll run up and try to grab it and swing it around? or the cop who sees someone posing with a gun and thinks it's real?

[~~Loktera~~]

It when things like this happen, that you need to do a little improvisational work with your cosplay props. They may be zip-tied, but how can you work around that?

Be witty.

[TaikoMoon]

That is true however it is still maddening to a degree. Compared to 2003 and 2004 things have gotten a bit extreme. (Not to mention one time when my younger sister was exiting the dealer's room a guy stopped her and scolded her for her paper parasol umbrella that she had just purchased. Apparently he though that there was a sword hidden in it. I found it odd that the person didn't know what was in the dealer's room. It was a plain paper parasol but he inspected it, demanded it get checked, and said something else and handed it back to her looking at my sister suspiciously.) I thought I would mention it since I had this same discussion with a girl and several others at the weapons check. She was the one who suggested that I post the suggestion in the forums. Hence why I am doing a such.

I mean honestly, the guy who played howl from howl's moving castle had to get his wings checked. Isn't there another convention who does something similar to a training session elsewhere? I can't recall on it now, I am going to say AX though that probably is entirely wrong, who allowed weapons that met their standards. I have even heard metal was alright in some situations.

To be honest I have never seen a person run up to someone else and take their weapon prop and swing it around. Couldn't it be that the holder authorized to use the prop must be the sole person who holds the weapon? And if that person let someone else hold it or whatever can be held accountable? I am not trying to butt heads or anything but I would really like to see alternate ways that the policy can be either revised or handled.

As for the guns, I believe no metallic or airsoft guns are allowed. Please correct me if I am wrong. Or something like that. If they are airsoft, the orange art can't be spray painted or something. I'm sorry I can't remember right now. But I do understand the paranoia about guns. Even than it would be nice if something could be worked out-even with the police department. (I worked with officers for about two years so again I can understand the concern with guns which is why I am not going to touch that heh ^^; ).

Please don't misinterpret what I am saying. I enjoy Fanime, and considered being a translator this year. (However, working for my university's housing conflicted with that and am unable to). Cosplaying was a lot of fun, least it was several years ago. I am merely looking into alternate ways the weapons policy could be handled if that. I would be more than happy to talk to people in the upper ups to figure something, if anything out. And I am sure several other cosplayers would too.

[Akito Starwind]

Not to mention one time when my younger sister was exiting the dealer's room a guy stopped her and scolded her for her paper parasol umbrella that she had just purchased. Apparently he though that there was a sword hidden in it. I found it odd that the person didn't know what was in the dealer's room. It was a plain paper parasol but he inspected it, demanded it get checked, and said something else and handed it back to her looking at my sister suspiciously.)

I am sorry for that happing to you in the dealers hall at the exit. I say that because I am Part of Dealers staff and such. needless weapon checks serve no purpose. I believe I know a bit about the exit weapons checks. I am sad to say that allot of the times staff has its hands full and we really have a need for Vol's that can help out with things like Door duty and badge checks, but unfortunately we discovered that some one sold a weapon to a under age Fan, so a vol and a staffer where put to check the exit and check age of a weapon holder. "was not a fun job to card Fans".... all this to find a kid with a weapon just so we can ask where did you buy it... " Amazing how many "I forgot" answers we got." So I bet when the Vol was alone at some point He or she may have gotten a little power happy and just went to far. :(  again On part of the Dealers room Im sorry. 

[luckyends]

i understand how you guys feel because i am a fan and cosplayer to and i have just finished creating 2 plywood swords they are both a little bit chunky and not very realistic and i realy hope that they dont make me peace tie them to my costume because honestly i dont know where i would put them (its a yukata and i only have an obi so i duno). but i am just woried if they try and peace tie them to my obi it will rip my yukata and i am also going there with a school group so i wont have any place to put them if they deny me.
to a certain extent it seems silly how strict they have gotten there are some i understand where the weapons look so life like that if some one didnt know it was a con they would be scare and then its funny cause at like great america you can runn around with those plastic samurai swords and they wont even care so yeah it does seem a little bit messed up

heres kinda one thought on a different subject
do you think con ops would have a place to hold your weapon for you if you didnt have a place to put it and they denied you holding it? because for the first half of the day i wont have any place to put them if they say you cant carry those

sry this post is kinda rambaly >_<

[PassingTheBuck]

Okay, now think about this from FanimeCon's stand point.

The parents of a child who get struck by two kids who are dueling in the Dealers with their newly purchased wooden swords decide to sue who?  The kids, probably, Fanime, oh yeah, the convention center, probably, the dealer, maybe.

What is the possibility of two kids really dueling in the dealer's room with newly purchase wooden swords.  Been there, seen it and it's not the first time its happened.  How about the drunk guy, who at 2:00am is practicing his sword play when Rovers asks them to cease his active and when he didn't they attempted to disable him and he attacked them with it, thank god it was only a wood sword.  I've lost count of how many times I've seen someone buy a sword, knives or sharpened object in the dealer's room, walk outside of it, pull it out and start swinging it around, while a dozen attendees are walking around them, not aware of what is happening.  Heck, I've seen a guy purchase a new knives in the dealers room at another convention and hand it to a friend just outside the dealers rooms, only to slice open his friends hand, right across the palm, neat trick, huh, dozens of stitches later, a EMT crew and a trip to the hospital, we heard rumors that the parents were going to sue us, why?, because its our event and we didn't take enough precautions.  Nice, really nice and you wondering why we get cranky.

We are not the only convention that has to restrict weapons, because of a few dumb, stupid, jerks that make it impossible for the rest of us.

Craige...

[Shi_Musouka]

And it's not only the liability issue to consider either. There's also state and local laws to take into consideration when it comes to brandishing a weapon in public. More likely than not, SJPD will be on the premises in some way and Safety(formerly Rovers) takes these precautions when drafting the weapons policy since they know it would suck if someone was being shot at or assaulted wrongly because SJPD simply interpreted that person to be a threat to the con.

I was going to say more, but I forgot the rest... I'll get back to this when I remember it @____@...

heres kinda one thought on a different subject
do you think con ops would have a place to hold your weapon for you if you didnt have a place to put it and they denied you holding it? because for the first half of the day i wont have any place to put them if they say you cant carry those

sry this post is kinda rambaly >_<

Wow... Good question... I'll try and get an answer from Safety at some point before the con >>. I think it's something that they should be taking into consideration along with the Weapons Policy...

[PassingTheBuck]

And it's not only the liability issue to consider either. There's also state and local laws to take into consideration when it comes to brandishing a weapon in public. More likely than not, SJPD will be on the premises in some way and Safety(formerly Rovers) takes these precautions when drafting the weapons policy since they know it would suck if someone was being shot at or assaulted wrongly because SJPD simply interpreted that person to be a threat to the con.

Police!?!    ;)

Yeah, that's right, San Jose Police Officers will be on site, starting Wednesday night going through Monday afternoon with at least two of them on the concourse as a minimum and as many as a half a dozen during the night roaming around.   :D

If you think they give a sh*t about your right to bear arms in public, let me weave you a tale of what will happen when you pull out our Ninja swords or fake gun (for all you want-to-be soldiers), telling everyone that it's your right to bear arms and your right to express yourself as the Constitution states (Freedom of Speech), because you are CosPlaying. 

Once the officers get tired of you waving those guns or the sharpened swords around (you will warned to drop it, I'm sure several times and than) they will taser your a** to the ground (good and hard to the cement floor of the SJCCF), take away your fracking gun or swords, cuff your numb hands behind your back and drag your silly, little a** off to jail.  I'm sure the judge will be delighted to hear you tell him all about your Constitutional rights in his court room too.   ;D

All I ask is that if you are dumb enough to be a player in this story, I just want advance notice, so that I can get my video recorder and digital camera ready.  Great material for YouTube!

Craige...

[Jeanne]

heres kinda one thought on a different subject
do you think con ops would have a place to hold your weapon for you if you didnt have a place to put it and they denied you holding it? because for the first half of the day i wont have any place to put them if they say you cant carry those

I was trying to stay out of this one, since Safety owns the weapons policy and enforcement these days...

Con-ops does not provide a coat check / weapons check service.  I'm very sorry, but we just don't have the space, and personally I don't want to be liable if someone's beautiful prop accidentally got damaged in storage (piles of fragile props in boxes = something WILL get damaged).  We barely have room for the lost and found, let alone stuff with identified owners.

My recommendation to prop owners every year is to check with the concierge desks at the hotels.  Even if you're not a guest of the hotel, you can sometimes talk them into letting you check your props there.  It's not guaranteed, it's not officially sanctioned Fanime anything, but it's something I've seen some folks at that desk do on occasion, if folks ask nicely.

Wish I had better news for you.

-Jeanne
Con Ops Head
Fanime Con 2008