Would a firearm set off store security scanners?

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baddarryl

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At the entrance I noticed I have been tripping the anti theft things more recently. Only been carrying for a month or 2 so was just wondering. Can a concealed weapon trip those?
 
I doubt it either johnwilliamson, as every person with any metal(coins, keys,writing pens, money clips etc.) on their person would set scanner off.
 
I tripped one going in and out. The lady said it was likely my cell phone. Sorry no thefts on my part since I stole an 8 track of In Through the Out Door from Jefferson's Dept store in Boca Raton! Now that's going back a ways!
 
As noted, most stores don't use metal detectors, they use RFID scanners. A firearm would not set it off. If it would, newbies to concealed carry wouldn't be able to indulge in the "Wal-Mart Walk" (a first concealed carry excursion to the wild world of Wal-Mart shopping).

RFID chips can be funny, too. A few years ago my wife and I were visiting her family in her native country. We were Christmas shopping in a mall and had been in and out of several stores, large and small. As we were leaving one department store, through the same door we had entered, the alarm went off. Security stopped us and looked for anything we might be stealing. We hadn't bought anything, so there was just nothing to find. It helped that we had entered through the same door and the security guard remembered seeing us enter -- and not set off the alarm.

After much puzzlement, we emptied my wife's shoulder bag and discovered an RFID chip in the bottom -- from whatever store in the U.S. she had bought it. Nobody could figure out how we had been wandering in and out of stores for several hours with the chip in there, but didn't set off any alarms until this particular store -- on our SECOND pass through the detectors.
 
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My father once bought a pair of shoes that constantly set off those detectors because whoever sold them to him forgot to disable the anti-theft thingy. So have you bought any new shoes lately?
 
I work at Wal-Mart and the Sensormatic goes off all of the time for various reasons. You may have a security tag sewn into your holster that has not been deactivated.

Cell phones are a big false alarm.

Items purchased elsewhere and still have the tag which has not been deactivated.

Security tags sewn into articles. Purses are a biggie on this one.

If you have a tag in your wallet or purse which has a security tag which has not been deactivated the store can deactivate it for you. We had one woman whose purse always set off the Sensormatic. It turned out that she had a rebate card from some batteries in the purse which was the culprit.

We have also deactivated tags after the purse/wallet is completely emptied. You do not want to deactivate a tag with the credit cards, etc. still in it as they will also be deactivated.

You could simply take the holster, sans firearm, into the store and have them run it over the deactivator. That may solve the problem. It for sure is not the firearm which is setting it off.
 
Not unless your gun has an RFID tag attached to it.
Click to expand...

Don't get RFID technology confused with magnetic "Security Tags." Magnetic security tags are what 99.9% of the retail security 'scanners' detect. Only a tiny, miniscule fraction of them are set up to detect RFID (Radio Frequency Identification Device) chips, because those stores also use RFID checkout technology. Without the RFID checkout, using them for security purposes is a complete waste of time and money (because it's completely ineffective).

And.... the stores that do use RFID technology wouldn't recognize a foreign chip for security purposes, anyway. So, it wouldn't be setting off the detectors.
 
I set off some kind of detector last week at the library... I did have my j-frame in my pocket. I kept walking, and the workers at the front desk didn't seem too concerned. I wasn't returning any books, so that rules that out.
 
Buy any new shoes lately? I've had it happen twice now where the clerk didn't disarmed the security tags inside the shoes. Was setting off alarms everywhere I went until I went back and had them disarmed the $%$%^@! things.
 
FrankenMauser, that's interesting. I suppose people have taken to using RFID as a generic, like Polaroid or Xerox.

Thanks, I learned something today.
 
Actually my daughter had on new boots both times. Bet that is it as my cell nor my G26 are a new thing compared to that. Thanks all!
 
Wouldn't worry about it. Those things aren't metal detectors. And they're not some kind of reliable way to tell who's carrying. Or who stole something. Those detectors go off all the time for various reasons or no reason at all.

Even if you set it off it's not like they're going to pat you down and find your gun. Usually they just let me go, or at most look into any bag I have from the store and check it against the receipt. If they try looking into anything else I tell them to back off and walk out.

I notice some stores don't even have them plugged in anymore because they just keep going off all the time.
 
I have never had one set off when I was carrying so I don't think they can catch it. I have had shoes, and a handbag that had an additional security thing in them that kept setting the scanners off though.
 
Had a Columbia winter coat cause one to go off one time. Wasn't my first time wearing it and had never had any other experiences with it making scanners go off.
 
Those scanners pick up tags inserted into the products the store sells. Unless you just shop lifted your gun, it won't set off the alarm.
 
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