The Las Vegas Shooting: Hero Jesus Camos, SPFPA, and the Question of Security Versus Privacy

The Las Vegas Shooting has sparked a flurry of grief, outrage, and inquiry revolving around the shooter, who appeared to be little more than somewhat of a wealthy hermit who liked to gamble a lot.  Despite a lack of political, ideological or any obvious motivation, many call the massacre, which ended the lives of 58 individuals and injured nearly 500, a terrorist attack.  The mental state of the gunman is a mystery, but the tragedy has already resulted in numerous calls for stricter gun laws, which could halt the push for the so-called silencer law in the US Congress, lead to further restrictions on “bump stocks,” and result in limits on "Tannerite" explosives.
 
There is, however, little attention being paid to heroes like Jesus Campos, the unarmed security guard who first discovered the location of the shooter, distracted him, thus saving countless lives, and alerted police.  One thing certainty absent from the conversation is the forthcoming push to arm and professionalize the security guards of hotels like the Mandalay Bay Hotel, which happens to be at the center of SPFPA’s effort to unionize the private security forces of Las Vegas.  The Las Vegas Shooting will be an invariable boon for those in the business of providing private security and arming security forces whose jobs now seem a lot more dangerous.

There are, of course, many questions, including how a man without military training was able to carryout an attack with the precision and speed of a paramilitary force as well as how someone could sneak an arsenal of at least 17 guns, thousands of rounds of ammunition, and other equipment into to a 32nd floor hotel room.  The answer these and other questions may well simply be a lack of security or a lack of skill and attentiveness on behalf on security guards.  At any rate, the Las Vegas Shooting will assuredly lead to greater and more powerful arms in the hands of private forces as well as the recruitment of professionals with military experiences.  In return, SPFPA, or the International Union, Security, Police, and Fire Professionals of America, will see its ranks and influence grow.
 
On the other hand, the general public might want to consider a counter argument.  The Mandalay Bay Hotel occurred, because people were not willing to give up their privacy for security.  An incident like the Las Vegas Shooting was inevitable.  Religious extremism and mental illness have been easy explanations for other tragedies, which have distracted from the debate on the need to balance privacy with security, but the lack of apparent motives in the Las Vegas shooting forces the American People to focus on that pivotal discussion.  Until this incident occurred, the easy answers was privacy over security.  Now, the easy answer is security over privacy.  The proper answer is, however, balance.
 
There are many possible motivations for the actions of the Las Vegas perpetrator(s).  It could have been the thrill of the kill, an unfulfilled son’s deserve to live out the glory of his infamous father, or a conspiracy motivated by the pursuit of money and power.  The truth may never be known.  The only thing that can be answered is how much of an impact this incident will be allowed to have on people.  People have to decide how much security they are willing to permit.  To a large degree, the answer to this question starts with the owners of the casinos and hotels in Las Vegas as well as the union that plans to represent members of the private security forces in Las Vegas.