Many Public Buildings Have Lax Security

July 24 -- It's the same metal detector that's been at New York's City Hall since 1998. The only difference is the mayor, the city councilors and their guests now have to actually use it before entering the building.

Two men died in a hail of gunfire Wednesday during a meeting of the New York City Council: Councilman James Davis, a former policeman who had crusaded against urban violence, and the gunman, Othniel Askew, a political opponent of Davis.

"Yesterday's tragedy reminds us," said New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, "if we had made people go through the metal detectors, yesterday's shootings could have been avoided."

Davis and Askew had arrived at City Hall together. It had been practice to let members of the City Council and their guests bypass screening by metal detectors.

But a survey by ABCNEWS reveals many government buildings across the country have lax security.

Seattle's new City Hall, due to open next month, will not even have metal detectors. They are forbidden under a state law that protects a person's right to bear arms in a public place.

"The fact that we have such an open public building with no metal detectors is just nuts," said Judy Nicastro, a member of the Seattle City Council.

Should There Be Restrictions at Public Buildings?

In Los Angeles County, metal detectors are rarely used in government buildings.

"The county government places a high premium on public access to the buildings," said John White, interim chief of police for the Office of Public Administration in Los Angeles County. "Things like New York's shooting are going to happen. If you have zero tolerance for that you won't have a democracy.

"We need to put incidents like what happened in New York City yesterday in context," White told ABCNEWS. "More people die from traffic accidents or the flu than die from these kinds of tragic incidents that may or may not have been prevented by passing through a metal detector."

At Chicago's City Hall, the only metal detector sits idle. It's only used when the full council is in session. And even then, aldermen and their guests are allowed to bypass the screening.