A member of the U. Soldiers are carrying unconcealed machine guns in New Orleans this week. To be protected is nice. Dave Feschuk is a Toronto-based sports columnist for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: dfeschuk. A phalanx of police officers and a menacing armoured vehicle flanked the hotel. And just down Bourbon Street: a perpetual party. Nobody could go far without running into one of the ubiquitous patrols of camouflage-clad National Guard soldiers cradling machine guns.
Big sporting events have come with gargantuan security plans since Sept. National Guard, are at work here this week. The Big Easy has been transformed into what looks like an awfully hard target. These guys are lining the streets both ways, seven, eight lanes down, blocking off all the intersecting traffic.
They get us in pretty quickly. As Kristi Noem , the U. Still, nobody is taking any chances. There are law-enforcement helicopters buzzing the skyline.
Local police are clopping the streets on horseback. The stretch of about two kilometres between the French Quarter and the Superdome is a maze of barricades and roadblocks and road closures. This city of parties is being thoroughly policed. The bombs did not go off, authorities have said, because the attacker used the wrong device to detonate the explosives. So, no coolers. What Louisiana state law does allow is for anyone over 18 to carry a legally owned concealed firearm into the enhanced security zone.
Which is perhaps part of the reason why the folks in camouflage are carrying unconcealed machine guns. More details. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy. Want more of the latest from the Star? Sign up for more at our newsletter page. Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password. An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the email address listed on your account.
