Yeah.... I'd say we're pretty far down that road already.
I don't know if the fear factor has worn off or not. Certainly NOW with these incidents it will heighten again.
I was speaking to my son who lives in NYC. He moved there after 911 so he doesn't know how it was when the World Trade Center was there. But i can't imagine how people who were there before can walk past that site every day and NOT remember what happened. Did they just block it out of their minds? Or do they remember?
I watched a movie that made me think of this. It's called "Reign Over Me". About a guy who lost his mind after losing his family on 911. If you're not familiar it stars Adam Sandler doing an excellent job in a serious role. And it made me think "how many people are walking around NY like this guy?". He lost everything, his family, his job, his mind. And wouldn't that make NY a much more dangerous place to be?