Costumed attendees of comic con and anime fests in Rosemont beware: You can wear your Stormtrooper armor to the convention hall, but leave the look-alike blaster rifles at home.
Real-life security forces — the Rosemont Public Safety Department — will be able to confiscate imitation weapons and issue fines under a new village ordinance prompted by security scares at recent shows.
“With unfortunately — I hate to call them out — the anime folks that come around with these things that look real, we need to have some ability to regulate these things,” said Mayor Brad Stephens.
The Northwest suburban town’s Donald E. Stephens Convention Center annually hosts popular fan gatherings where costumes and accessories are the norm. Police say they’ve gotten calls from people who mistake imitation weapons for the real thing in and around the facility.
“We have come across far too many times fake guns that look real even after close examination. Those are the threats we are trying to eliminate,” said Lt. Joe Balogh of the public safety department.
Under the rules approved last week by the village board, officers can confiscate “any device, object, toy … that a person could reasonably perceive as an actual firearm, gun, taser, stun-gun, bomb, grenade, or any other dangerous or deadly weapon.” If cited, violators would be subject to fines between $250 and $750 following an administrative hearing.
But Balogh said each particular instance will dictate the outcome.
“We are not looking to confiscate someone’s prop, but we may ask them to put it in their (hotel) room,” he said.
Cosplayers who attend shows in Rosemont are now barred from possessing imitation weapons on village property, under a new ordinance.
Joe Lewnard/jlewnard@dailyherald.com, 2019
Balogh said village officials will work with show organizers to inform patrons of the new rules.
Anime Midwest, which is scheduled July 4-6 at the convention center and neighboring Hyatt Regency O’Hare hotel, already lists on its website a weapons policy that forbids “guns that actually work, or have the potential to work, or might be mistaken by the public as real.”
But the policy also states that toy or fantasy guns that are “obviously fake” are permitted.
The Rosemont ordinance includes a similar exception, wherein such imitation weapons that commonly have a bright orange plug inserted in the barrel are allowed. Other exceptions can be made in writing by the mayor, police chief or convention center director.
“Toy guns that clearly look like a toy gun are not the intent of this ordinance,” Balogh said.
Though issues with imitation weapons have mostly been confined to the convention center area in the past, the ban is a blanket one across the village. The prohibition on “carrying, possession or use” of imitation weapons applies to all venues controlled by the village, including the Allstate Arena, other sports venues, the Rosemont Theatre, parks, parking lots, streets and rights of way.
“In our eyes, it is just as dangerous or even more so of an implied threat to the public as groups or individuals walk down the sidewalk with imitation weapons,” Balogh said.
