Another attack by radical islam in the UK got me thinking about Michigan stadium. It just seems like such a prime target with such high density of people and lack of armed presence on a given Saturday.
Now don’t get me wrong, you are definitely more likely to get struck by some msu hooligan after their loss than being a victim of a terrorist attack, but I wonder how equipped Michigan Stadium would fare if you get a Stade de Franc type of attack where you have heavily armed group of radical islamists running amok.
Unlike in NYC, London or Paris where you have militarized cops with assault rifles every 10 feet, you basically have suburb cops with hand guns mostly focused on diverting traffic and managing crowd flow. If 9 armed men can kill 130 people in major city like Paris where you have heavily armed police everywhere that can arrive at a single spot within seconds, i just can’t help but wonder what would happen with an Ann Arbor with 100k+ in one spot without the city security infrastructure.
thoughts?
I believe they have snipers posted at the very top of the stadium, I think they mentioned that at Amaizin Blue Preview this year.
Unlike the UK much of the US population is armed, and Michigan is a right to carry state (through not legally in the stadium)
If you are that concerned watch the games on TV.
I personally don’t think Ann Arbor is known on a global scale the way Paris is that would make it susceptible to an event like that.
I also have to wonder that with everything going on this summer throughout the world and with the given political climate if there will be increased security checks/police arms/police presence.
I lived among Muslims for 40+ years, and never have I, or any other fellow Christians in my acquaintance, ever felt unsafe, or even unwelcome, in a predominantly Muslim country.
Countries like Belgium, France and the UK have millions of maladjusted, disenfranchised, low income immigrant children, most of which are from Muslim families. Sadly, most of those children are vulnerable to suggestion, and lacking the necessary understanding of the Arabic language, are unable to properly interpret the exact meaning of their religion. They have no understanding of their culture of origin. Unable to fit in their new home, they latch on to the little they know of their origins. In most cases, this exploration leads to innocent coming-of-age outcomes, but it can obviously go spectacularly wrong as it has in several occasions in recent years. However, it is unfair to connect those horrific attacks to Islam.
Thankfully, immigrants in the US are better integrated than those in Europe for several reasons. That does not mean that there is no risk of attacks, but they are less likely. In fact, I would be more concerned will homegrown violence than with anything else. This year alone, there have been several multiple homicides in the US, and none of them were committed by Muslims or immigrants. Gunmen have murdered 5 or more people in isolated incidents in Florida and Mississippi in the last 10 days.
That being said, major venues, like the Big House, should be treated as high risk, and security should be tight. Don’t all spectators go through security before entering the stadium? That was the case when I went to games back in 2009 and 2010.
Terrorism is always an unfortunate possibility. However, the security at Michigan stadium is a collaborative effort among multiple law enforcement agencies and is very good at its job.