Protecting Visitors: Mall Of America's Newest Security Approach

Minnesota's "tourist attraction" has had its share of gun violence in the last few years. So have many other areas in Minneapolis area, and there are some things that are being done in an effort to make residents and visitors feel safe or at least safer.

Via youtube.com KSTP

The Mall of America does have many local shoppers as well as several tourists that come to see the nation's biggest mall. We, who live here don't really know why it's such a big tourist attraction, but there it is. On average, the mall attracts about 40 million people per year.

There is a great tool that is now being used at the Mall. They have now employed gun sniffing dogs. And not just one of them, there are 8 dogs for this mall alone. To give you an idea of how many that actually is, the Mayo Clinic has 8 dogs for all of those connected buildings, and there are 8 dogs just for the one building of the mall.

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The mall previously had bomb sniffing dogs, but these dogs are used to specifically sniff out any type of firearm. If you are wondering if they work.. they have found a couple of firearms on mall shoppers, but both of those people did have a conceal/carry license. But we know that the dogs are doing what they have been trained to do.

If you are worried about the dogs being at the mall while you are there too and what might happen to you if you do have a firearm... legally with a conceal/carry. know that the dogs will not attack.

From KSTP:

Kenny McDonough, the mall’s Canine Lt., says the dogs undergo an extensive eight-week training in-house. They learn to smell every component of a firearm to detect who may have a gun on them.
“None of our dogs do any kind of barking, any kind of bite work,” said McDonough. “They’re trained to pinpoint down to the actual person where that odor is coming from.”

If you are someone who does have a conceal/carry license, just be aware that the Mall of America does not allow firearms on site. The mall is still private property and can prohibit firearms of any kind on the premises.