Lawton City Hall Angers Citizens With New Security Measures. What Are They Afraid Of?

This past Tuesday (12-12-23), it was announced that Lawton City Hall had installed a new x-ray machine along with their security guards and metal detectors. It took zero time for the citizens of Lawton, Fort Sill to respond to the news. Once it was posted on the City of Lawton's official Facebook page Lawtonians began commenting, slamming the city and the new security measures. Scroll down to see some of the comments.

WHAT THE HELL ARE OUR CITY COUNCIL AND GOVERNMENT SO AFRAID OF?

For whatever reason, or at least no real reason was given, Lawton City Hall has become 1940s Nazi Germany, you better have your papers in order. Over the past several months it's gotten increasingly worse. The security they've installed is absolutely unnecessary and ridiculous at least in my opinion. We're all entitled to our opinions, or at least we used to be anyway. Needless to say the vast majority of Lawton disagrees with it.

"Sure funny spending money on a problem that didn't exist... Have they had a bunch of incidents with people causing such incidents? We drive on wagon trails but let's spend a few more hundred thousand dollars on useless things."

A while back I had to swing by the City Hall to pay my water bill and was shocked at all the security. I had to perform an EDC (Everyday Carry) pocket dump and walk through a metal detector just to pay my bill. I ended up having to return to my vehicle because I had a pocket knife. Yep, a pocket knife. What a joke! This thing is less than 3 inches long and is more of an apple peeler than a knife but nonetheless, I couldn't bring it in.

AT LEAST OUR ELECTED OFFICIALS FEEL SAFE NOW THAT'S THE MAIN THING

Luckily we can perform about 99.999% of our business with the City of Lawton online and avoid all the hassle and infringements of actually having to go in person. But not everybody is online or capable of paying their bills on the website. I feel bad for them. As bad a reputation as Lawton has this only confirms people's fear. Imagine if you just moved here and went to City Hall to get your utilities connected or something else and you walk through the door to be greeted by security, a metal detector, and an x-ray screening. You'll think, "The rumors must be true about Lawton. This place must be dangerous to require all this security, why the hell did I move here."  It's a bad look for sure and will only negatively impact our already damaged reputation.

Check out the comments on the City of Lawton's Facebook page below

Of course, those directly involved with this horrific and idiotic decision state it's for everyone's safety. That's laughable, you have to be a special kind of clueless to think that by making law-abiding citizens helpless, somehow it makes the lawless criminals harmless. The world these people live in is pure fantasy, and one I don't care to visit. But if it makes our elected officials feel all warm and fuzzy inside with a false sense of security then it's perfectly acceptable to harass and inconvenience "we the people." I don't think so. What a waste of our tax dollars and time. There's no telling what they paid for all this, I'm sure it wasn't cheap.

I GUESS IT'S MORE IMPORTANT TO FEEL SAFE THAN TO ACTUALLY BE SAFE

In my honest, humble, non-biased opinion with all the security and restrictions that are in place the City of Lawton should be 100% responsible for my safety while I'm at City Hall. They should also be 100% liable in the event injury or death occurs. And that goes for all places that disarm citizens of defensive tools. Just imagine if "Gun Free Zones" could be held criminally and civilly liable for injury or death. After all, they stripped you of your best options for self-defense and if God forbid something happens and you're incapable of defending yourself or others due to that policy it's 100% their fault. Only the law-abiding follow the law.

"While the City claims these security measures are for our safety, one can't help but wonder if such invasive screenings are a disproportionate response, raising concerns about privacy and trust in the city's intentions."

What's weird is I'm unaware of any real reason or incident that may have occurred that required the City of Lawton to go to such extremes with security at City Hall. I'm not saying something didn't happen, but even if it did why the knee-jerk reaction? Again, what are they so scared of? If you're so afraid of your constituents being an elected public official isn't the job for you. If you fear being confronted or of repercussions for your actions you might want to consider leaving city politics or pay more attention to the voice of the people.

 THANKS TO THE LAWTON CITY HALL FOR PROVING THE TRASH TALKERS RIGHT

I'm sure I'll face tons of criticism and hate for this article, but unlike the majority of our city council and government, I can take it. I won't be cowering behind security measures either. Earlier this week an Oklahoma Sub-Reddit thread was trashing Lawton, Fort Sill. You can click here to check it out. The recent actions by our non-leaders at City Hall certainly have added fuel to the fire. It's like they went out of their way to confirm all the negative things people are saying about our community. Well, if our elected officials are so scared they need to hide behind false security. Just imagine the fear they'll face when it's election time. We won't forget.