SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – An LGBTQ club in San Diego's Hillcrest neighborhood is stepping up security to make patrons and staff feel safer following last week’s deadly mass shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs.
“They’ve been really understanding and there’s been a lot of thank you’s,” said Wesley Bullen, the general manager of The Rail.
Bullen said that they’ve implemented a new day-to-day security measure.
“We’ve enacted something that’s not new to us. We have a security wand that we’ve been wanding everybody that’s come in the door to prevent any kind of weapons coming to the establishment to do any harm to our patrons, our staff,” Bullen said.
Hearing safety being top of mind and a top priority is welcomed for some.
“I think it was just a matter of time before it did start happening but, yeah, anything to make people feel safer,” patron Eily Irwin said.
“I mean, I don’t see what kind of backlash there could be from that. It’s not going to prevent people from getting in there any quicker, so it’s a good plan,” patron Justin Jore added.
Bullen’s been at The Rail, San Diego’s oldest LGBTQ bar, since 2019.
He told ABC 10News this practice with the security wand is something they use for big events like Pride and City Fest. And, now it’s day-to-day for the foreseeable future. It’s something he didn’t think the bar would have to do.
“It’s unfortunate, for sure, but it’s definitely something that we want to keep our patrons, our staff is number one priority of safety,” Bullen said. “And everybody that comes into the doors, comes into our doors to feel safe and not have to worry about the anticipation possibly of something like that happening in the bar.”
Bullen said he’s working with a couple of other bars in the area on having active shooter training with San Diego Police in the near future.
