Darn Terrorist Tourists....

I was speaking to someone today who was with a group of camera folks in downtown Charlotte recently. They were there in the big pretty city to take some pictures, but were told by several cops that they had to put their cameras away – no photos, security.

I can understand restrictions on sensitive areas of military bases, random folks just wandering in for photos of the interior structural components of private buildings, doing a doubletake of Osama bin Laden walking down Tryon Street with a camera around his neck….

And I could attack restricting the public’s rights regarding public views on public lands and roads.

But how about this….

As someone who has a lot of experience with cameras of various sizes, and some experience getting shots rather inconspicuously, if I want to get a picture of something from public property, I will. With a camera under a jacket or a cell phone camera or a camera hidden in a tie pin, if someone really wants a picture of Main Street, USA, they’re going to get it and you’ll never know it happened.

So though I agree that we need to protect our homeland, cuffing every vacationer in Bermuda shorts taking a snapshot of the Mint Museum or the Golden Gate Bridge or the Empire State Building isn’t the way to do it. You’re not nailing the right people and by violating such basic rights you’re letting the terrorists win.

Of all the murders and rapes and chaos going on in Charlotte on any given day, the authorities are hunting tourists?

Wow. I feel safer.