While American news media speculates about how much of Omar Mateen's motivation for his attack on a gay nightclub in Orlando was due to Muslim beliefs and how much was due to anti-gay sentiment, the ease with which someone can enter soft targets has renewed concern about the Euro 2016 soccer tournament in France, especially after the lack of domestic intelligence made it relatively easy for November’s terrorist attacks on the Stade de France and the January 2015 shootings at Charlie Hebdo.

Though the Orlando, Paris and Hebdo attacks were made using small arms, a popular strategy for terrorist groups because of the high number of casualties, in France there is greater likelihood of potential attacks by suicide bombers, like the one witnessed in Brussels earlier this year. These could be home-made bomb vests or vehicles with explosives. Rather than being a coordinated assault, Mateen's attack is more like the one at Leytonstone Tube station in December 2015 and in Munich last month, which is actually harder to detect.

David Lowe, Principal Lecturer in Law, Liverpool John Moores University, notes that France is deploying 90,000 police and security personnel to protect citizens. They are likely to be deployed at strategic locations, and no doubt briefed on what to look for. This can include potential terrorist suspects, which intelligence reports have highlighted as possible threats, or keeping an eye out for behavior that looks out of the ordinary. Security cordons will also be strategically placed to maximise safety and security.

The French have contingency plans based on the successful and failed responses during the Paris and Brussels attacks, tailored to the type of attacks that are likely to occur, and evacuation zones where the injured can be treated in the event of an attack.