Loaded gun found on Animal Kingdom ride

[The Mom]

This thread is starting to get a little ugly. I think everyone agrees that this man was irresponsible, and the story might have had a tragic ending. Thank God it did not.

But this is a topic that sometimes results in heated exchanges, with insults flying, so please try to keep things polite.

 

[PhotoDave219]

I'm sorry I'm missing your point. Want to clarify?

 

[G00fyDad]

This is a great post, and part of my point. Just because someone else has a gun it doesn't mean they will even be able to stop the "bad guy".

THAT I can agree with. Although the silly statement made by the one you quoted about not being accurate is nonsense. People who carry a weapon might do more harm than good. Imagine if someone tried shooting back at an individual without regard to collateral damage. I hold marksmanship on several types of weapons and even I wouldn;t shoot at someone with other people that could get hit.

 

[bsiev1977]

I'm sorry I'm missing your point. Want to clarify?

WOLVERINES!!!!!!

 

[G00fyDad]

Well now...if he was really responsible he would have inquired about the policy and left his firearm at home to be in compliance with the policies of private property.

The truth!

 

[devoy1701]

I could care less if someone wants to own a gun... I grew up around them and was taught to respect them, but any brainiac should know the time and the place. Now tell me, did you think you were going to have to protect yourself at Disney? It is not the time or the place. Some people just don't use their brains.

As you can see in my avitar picture i have a small Eddie Bauer messanger/shoulder bag. I use it to put my SLR camera, tide pen, photopass and my eyeglass case. Almost every time I go through security, they always ask me what it is, and I have to tell them eyeglass case. So how one can go through with a gun in their pocket and someone behind not seeing it is crazy!

A very popular, highly traveled, icon of american culture where at any given time thousands upon thousands of people are gathered together with their guard down? Forgive me, but I could think of many other places where I would feel safer than at WDW. If anything, you have a false sense of security and safety at places like WDW.

 

[dadddio]

Anyone who is defending a person who carries a concealed effing FIREARM into an amusement park for any reason whatsoever is certifiably insane. I don't care how rude a statement that is. The fact people are calling THIS guy irresponsible but defending a responsible person to be able to "to protect them from bad guys" is legitimately insane.

I'll happily defend anyone's right to legally carry their weapon anywhere that he/she chooses. If there is a theme park that doesn't forbid concealed carry, then I will defend a person's right to legally carry there for any purpose.

Many people who have carry permits carry all the time, unless they are somewhere where carry is verboten. They don't only carry their weapons in those locations where it is likely that the weapon would be needed because a sane person would simply choose not to go to those locations.

This is not a political debate. There is under no circumstances a reason for an ordinary citizen to carry a gun in a family friendly vacation spot. The fact this has turned political and people genuinely defending a purpose to carry in a gun saddens me for society.

Methinks that your definition of when it is appropriate to carry a firearm differs from most every who has a concealed carry permit.

 

[Dukeblue1227]

The point we are trying to make, is that if this guy had been responsible with his handgun, nobody would have ever known that it was there in the first place. From the tone of your post, it seems you have what I would call an irrational dislike of firearms. Yes, a firearm is a tool, with a primary job to harm others. Yet, a gun is only as dangerous as the person carrying it. A gun all by itself never harmed anyone.

I get this point because it's the basis of every gun argument... People say "If a crazy person is willing to shoot someone with a gun, taking away the gun won't stop them from finding another way to hurt people"

So then should everyone have access to nuclear warheads? Nukes don't hurt people... Only those operating them do. Maybe wielding a machete in Disney world should be allowed. A machete cannot hurt someone, only a person can... So let's all just wield giant enormous dangerous machetes!

How about drugs, do drugs hurt people? Technically no... People who use them hurt themselves so let's just make drugs legal and have meth stands in all the parks....

Guns very much do harm people. "if this guy had been responsible no one would have known"

Okay... Well he wasn't responsible...

There is a word in the English dictionary... Accident... And it's in there for a reason. Responsible human beings of all ages and maturity make them.

(fyi if that last paragraph sounds condescending I apologize... Meant to be more emphatic than condescending... Just making a point everyone is responsible until they're not)

 

[NYwdwfan]

FACT: WDW is a no carry zone.
FACT: This person brought a loaded firearm into a no carry zone.

Ignorance of the rules on private property is not a defense against violating those rules.

This incident is exacerbated by the fact the individual in question not only brought a loaded firearm onto private property, but found himself in a situation where the loaded firearm was out of his possession. I am not familiar with Florida state law, but I would imagine if a person is carrying a loaded firearm they are responsible for properly maintaining possession of it at all times.

The 2nd amendment is not in question here.

 

[draybook]

There is no reason to carry a weapon into a movie theater or a high school, not even after events over the past fiew years. I have lived through a MS shooting and STILL think guns in schools is BAD, I wouldn't trust the majority of my children's teachers/administrationn to carry a weapon on campus and they do not have the necessary expertise to adaquetly control a gun, a simple two week classs is NOT a fix either.

Really? I'd rather die returning gunfire than taking a bullet to the back or huddled up on the floor wishing someone had a gun...

Of course I'm not the average citizen.

 

[Tim_4]

The argument that we should rely solely on the police and military for protection is the saddest one of all. What happens when bad people are in charge of those organizations? What's worse is that the argument usually comes from Europeans of all people. 1939 isn't that long ago in the course of human history.

 

[devoy1701]

In the very least we will likely see "No weapons allowed" signs all over the entrances to all parks now in an effort to circumvent this idiocy.

This is key. If this is an issue of guns absolutely not being allowed on property as a rule of Disney and he broke that rule, then there should be a punishment. But if it is a rule, there should be signs at the checkpoints, just like in any privately owned office complex that says I can't carry a gun on property. If it isn't a rule, then again the only issue was that he was careless and dropped it.

If I were carrying a gun in WDW, I wouldn't be able to help but feel for it multiple times, every time I sat down/stood up...I do it subconsciously anyway with my sunglasses, camera, phone, etc.

 

[dadddio]

I could care less if someone wants to own a gun... I grew up around them and was taught to respect them, but any brainiac should know the time and the place. Now tell me, did you think you were going to have to protect yourself at Disney? It is not the time or the place. Some people just don't use their brains.

It's the places that are believed to be 'safe' that you actually would need to have your firearm, since you would naturally avoid those places where you would definitely need to be armed.

As you can see in my avitar picture i have a small Eddie Bauer messanger/shoulder bag. I use it to put my SLR camera, tide pen, photopass and my eyeglass case. Almost every time I go through security, they always ask me what it is, and I have to tell them eyeglass case. So how one can go through with a gun in their pocket and someone behind not seeing it is crazy!

I'm thinking that if you went through security with your glasses in your back pocket, no one would question you about them. You are asked to open your bags, not empty your pockets, after all.

 

[EOD K9]

I used to carry my weapon in the parks all the time. Security never noticed as it was never in a pack but it was concealed and secure. I eventually stopped because it was too much of a hassle. However, it was still easy to gain access to the parks. While their security is good, and there is a lot we don't see, much of it is smoke and mirrors.

 

[nytimez]

...and we've reached the Godwin point.

 

[G00fyDad]

FACT: WDW is a no carry zone.
FACT: This person brought a loaded firearm into a no carry zone.

Ignorance of the rules on private property is not a defense against violating those rules.

This incident is exacerbated by the fact the individual in question not only brought a loaded firearm onto private property, but found himself in a situation where the loaded firearm was out of his possession. I am not familiar with Florida state law, but I would imagine if a person is carrying a loaded firearm they are responsible for properly maintaining possession of it at all times.

The 2nd amendment is not in question here.

That sums up my entire feelings about this.

If this person was a responsible CC permit holder then he would have known full well before going to WDW that it was forbidden. He knew, he still carried, and he even actively circumvented the security measures to evade detection. He's a moron.

 

[Tim_4]

The 2nd amendment is not in question here.

Those of us defending gun rights are NOT defending this man. He broke the rules and was irresponsible to boot. However, we ARE responding to those who are using this as an opportunity to speak out against firearms and responsible firearms owners.

 

[draybook]

I get this point because it's the basis of every gun argument... People say "If a crazy person is willing to shoot someone with a gun, taking away the gun won't stop them from finding another way to hurt people"

So then should everyone have access to nuclear warheads? Nukes don't hurt people... Only those operating them do. Maybe wielding a machete in Disney world should be allowed. A machete cannot hurt someone, only a person can... So let's all just wield giant enormous dangerous machetes!

How about drugs, do drugs hurt people? Technically no... People who use them hurt themselves so let's just make drugs legal and have meth stands in all the parks....

Guns very much do harm people. "if this guy had been responsible no one would have known"

Okay... Well he wasn't responsible...

There is a word in the English dictionary... Accident... And it's in there for a reason. Responsible human beings of all ages and maturity make them.

(fyi if that last paragraph sounds condescending I apologize... Meant to be more emphatic than condescending... Just making a point everyone is responsible until they're not)

This is the second time I've heard someone make the ridiculous comparison between nukes and firearms. Let me know when someone commits another Hiroshima using a conventional firearm and I'll answer the question of whether or not responsible people should be allowed to possess such an item.

 

[GrumpyFan]

That is true, guns don't shoot themselves. So we are settled then...guns are safe as long as no one is around them.

So, by that statement, can we assume the same for cars, knives, swords, rocks, ropes, electricity, gasoline, etc?
Think about this, whenever someone is killed in an auto accident, and the driver of the car that causes the accident was drunk, have you ever heard anybody jump on the "cars are dangerous because they kill people" bandwagon? No, they always, ALWAYS blame and prosecute the DRUNK DRIVER, not the car!

Guns are no more dangerous than anything else, but if you listen to all the hype, you might think otherwise. Sure, a gun in the hands of a child is a dangerous thing, but so is a knife or matches or a whole list of many other things, but smart people know well enough to keep those things away from children. This guy wasn't one of those smart people, luckily nobody lost any blood over it.

 

[c-one]

...and we've reached the Godwin point.

Time to shut it down, good talk everyone.