Imaginary guns

Want some free money? Just go to a bank and slip the teller a note:

"We don't like the business plan that makes a bank look like a living room," Kelly said "We [advise] just some common sense provisions, such as so-called bandit barriers, so that tellers have some option to act when somebody puts a note in front of them."

In fact, bank robbers have simply handed tellers a note in a vast majority of hold-ups in New York. Kelly put the figure at 80 percent and added that although the rest of the robbers claimed to have a gun, many didn't actually show it.

Just say the word and today's scaredy cat bank tellers will hand over the cash. Their instructed to do this, of course, by the banks that they work for. Our society has grown spineless in the last fifty years or so.

But Kelly said it's not clear whether the bad economic times are fueling the unusual spike.

"People want to say... it's because of the economy. I think it's too early to make that statement," he said.

CNN security analyst Mike Brooks agreed, adding that although there are typically
many bank robberies during the holidays, there are no data to suggest that any recent spike was caused by the economy.

Another expert said it's possible that the difficulty of finding a job right now may be a factor, but he doubted that law-abiding citizens are turning to crime to make ends meet.

Whew! At least they didn't blame it on gun shows! Not that that matters since you only need an imaginary gun to steal. Perhaps there should be a law?