By: Benjamin He

I don’t think that buying things is a bad thing, whether you’re a normal person or a conspiracy theorist. I mean, it’s your money, and I do believe you should decide how to spend…well…your money. However, sometimes, it just gets a bit ridiculous. A doomsday prepper buying up on canned food to fill the bunker in his bag yard? Sure. A conspiracy theorist buying up paintball guns because one day the government will attack? Okay? Families purchasing gates and security cameras, worried for their safety, even when crime in their area is rapidly decreasing?

All of these are definitely happening. But the last one is maybe the most worrying. Here’s the difference: The doomsday preppers are preparing for an attack which they believe will happen. The conspiracy theorist believes that the government takeover will happen. But the last one is a normal (although there’s a lot of them) regular citizen.

Huge numbers of Americans across the U.S. are literally locking down their homes with defenses. Motion sensors, security cameras, guards…all are being either bought up or hired.

“Some people put in the minimal system,” says Tony Thurman, the owner and lead salesman at Shield Security Systems of Kansas City. “Some people put in Fort Knox.”

Everyone seems to be at least a bit more paranoid lately. Ever since the pandemic hit, Thurman’s sales have rocketed. The technology might have gotten cheaper, but that isn’t the main reason why. Recently, all Americans seem to have a new fascination with deadly threats and crimes.

Newfound interest in burglars, gangs, and child predators have caused paranoia to run wild. Even in places where the crime rates are literally decreasing, people still think that crime is up and at ‘em.

“I’m still paranoid,” says local Dan O’Dell. This, coming from a man who lives in one of Kansas City’s safest suburbs. And he knows it too. “I live in this overdone gate community…maybe one of the safest places ever.”

Of course, people spending money on cameras isn’t really a problem for anyone but themselves. But this form of paranoia can have deadly consequences. “People with their fingers already on the trigger,” Thurman said.

One such instance is when an 84-year-old White man shot a Black teenager one April evening in Kansas City after the boy rang his doorbell by mistake. Four “wrong turn” shootings that month made national headlines.

Thurman has felt that apprehension while visiting new clients, who sometimes forget they’ve booked an appointment. For a few tense seconds as he approaches their door, Thurman is just a stranger.

“I had a guy knock on my door at 3 a.m.,” O’Dell tells Thurman. This was at his first house, one not fortified by protective steel gates. O’Dell had walked to the front door in his underwear and saw an elderly man who appeared to be disoriented. He called the police.

At first (AKA before/at the start of the paranoia running rampant), Thurman, 59, attempted to tell his clients that they didn’t need Fort Knox. It lost him some sales, but it caused trust, which then led to referrals later on.

But then everything went down. Paranoia rampaged. Trust in the government and the media thinned. t. A New York woman was shot dead when she pulled into the wrong driveway. Two Texas cheerleaders were shot after one got into the wrong car in a supermarket parking lot. The Kansas City teen was shot after mixing up NE 115th Street and NE 115th Terrace, and the homeowner who was charged, Andrew Lester, told police he’d been “scared to death” despite having surveillance cameras.