Rights Violation or a Complete Jerk?

[Archon_Wing]

Red herring. Metal detectors are put in place to detect metal objects. Most commonly available weapons, including knives and guns, are made primarily of metal. Thus, a metal detector's main purpose is to detect weapons, thus ensuring our safety.

Checking our shopping bag to make sure we haven't stolen anything is not even in the same league as ensuring our safety, especially in a high-profile area such as a courthouse or an airport. If you're going to draw analogies to shoot holes in an argument, as least stay within reason. Otherwise, you're just confusing the issue.

I'm not arguing the point you're trying to make, even if I perchance don't agree with it. I'm arguing with what you're using to back up your argument. You can do much better, I'm sure.

K, I wasn't really thinking about safety, more of them both being security measures. Of course it might not work, but that is another issue. A security measure against theft or intrusion or whatever does not accuse of people of wrong doing.

Edit:
One question I have for you, which I keep forgetting to ask: what happens when ALL stores require these bag checks, as most of them already do? What recourse do we have? You keep touting "take your business elsewhere", and that's all well and good, but it doesn't work when everyone follows one another in practice. True, we do live in an electronic age where we can do virtually anything online, but should I be forced to do all my shopping online just to avoid the hassle of being searched every time I want to buy something? What if I was trying to compare products? What if I had questions? Am I to go to a brick 'n' mortar, gather all the information I need to make my purchasing decision, and then travel back home and purchase the item online instead, thereby wasting the store's time and money and ensuring that not only will their sales suffer, but their internal costs will be for naught? That, to me, is equally as ridiculous. What are your thoughts on that matter?

Oh it is ridiculous, but what else can you do when a policy offends you so strongly? I sure hope the stores would realize why they're losing money while their customers switch to online venues. The best you can do is get the message out that these measures don't really prevent theft, and perhaps some store will see it and have better sense.