It’s Not Paranoia if it’s Really Happening
Hidden away in “A Taste of Animethon’s” vendor package is the information that MacEwan University is no longer permitting weapon sales of any kind at the event. (Section 4.6 of the vendors kit) I could understand the implementation of this new policy by MacEwan if Animethon or its patrons were acting irresponsibly with weapons during the event, but Animethon had taken several measures ensure the safety of patrons at the event.
The policies Animethon had imposed on weapons was absolutely draconian. Any weapons bought at the event had to be checked in with the events red shirts, and anyone wanting to take their weapons out of weapon’s check would have to leave the event IMMEDIATELY with the weapon. Even if you had managed to sneak your weapon passed the first “red shirt” checkpoint, packs of them were roaming Animethon searching for weapons to confiscate. These red shirts weren’t being lax on the weapons they confiscated either. Most of the time I had to convince red shirts that doing things like taking an old man’s walking cane was excessive.
Animethon had also taken several preventative measures over the last two years to minimize any injures that could be caused at the event. Horseplay with weapons was strictly prohibited, Animethon offered free first aid training to their volunteers, Animethon had trained volunteer medical professionals available throughout, and the event hired scores of MacEwan’s own security guards to keep people at the event safe. Every effort had been made to on the part of Animethon to safeguard its patrons, but sadly this seems to not have been enough.
However I feel that I have to applaud MacEwan for being reasonable enough to just prohibit the sale of weapons at Animethon. They weren’t comfortable with people purchasing weapons at their event, and they’ve done the sensible thing of informing Animethon well in advance of this new policy before any vendor signed up for the event. And they have so far kept the ban to sales, not an outright elimination of things like replica weapons from their campus. It’s not like they banned all weapons, including replica and toy weapons. That honor goes to the University of Calgary.
Calgary Always Has to Out Do Edmonton
While MacEwan might be a little paranoid, The University of Calgary seems to have lost their marbles. The UofC has banned any weapons from Otafest including Replica Weapons, Prop Weapons, and even gun replica weapons have been banned from Otafest this year.
According to the FAQ on the Otafest msg boards, because of some kind of incident that occurred last year, the UofC decided it wasn’t comfortable with weapons being on its campus anymore. As for fake weapons, the UofC apparently feels that those weapons could be confused for real weapons — therefore it’s better to ban all weapons, period. Otafest has been trying for months now to negotiate something with the UofC, but even they admit that it’s unlikely the University will budge from their position.
Although I do not know the details of the incident that caused this, and I imagine it had to be bad, this new policy seems to be a very knee-jerk reaction to something that isn’t even traditionally a problem with at anime cons. In my experience in Anime Cons, people horsing around with weapons cause the least amount of injuries. In fact, the title holder for “causer of most injures” usually goes to the Animethon dance, which always seems to feature a few people passing out from exhaustion or from attempting to pull off some ridiculous dance move. Now people do injure themselves with weapons at anime cons, but these incidents do seem to be rare.
I can understand banning some weapons. No one should be walking around a University Campus with a real katana. But eliminating fake replica weapons from their campus is being excessive. There is an argument that it’s difficult to determine if something is a real or replica weapon, but it’s not like it is impossible. And I think most anime cons have demonstrated a willingness to invest the resources necessary to determine the difference between the two.
From My Cold Dead Hands
Every year there does seem to be some idiot that decides he wants to play “Samurai Duel” at an Anime Con, but these individuals are few. It’s easy to think that a bunch of sugar high teenagers running around with replica swords is a recipe for disaster, but I think it speaks volumes for the responsibility of patrons and the measures taken by events that these incidents are rare. Most of these events have been going on for decades with few or no incidents with weapons, and I imagine that should be proof enough that a full ban isn’t necessary.
The community as whole shouldn’t be punished for the actions of a few idiots.If there needs to be more enforcement of weapons at Anime Conventions, I think it is reasonable to punish the individuals involved in these incidents. If someone goes out of their way to subvert a cons weapons policy, well that isn’t the cons fault – it’s that persons fault and they should be banned. People who decided to engage in duels with bladed weapons can be banned as well. After all I don’t think cons want these people there anyways. I’d rather see things go in this direction then more and more places going to the extreme the University of Calgary has.
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Victor Vargas is the manager and editor of Anime-Alberta. He's the former chair of Animethon 16 & Animethon 15 as well as a former president of BAKA (The Banzai Anime Klub of Alberta)