He had a small handgun and 14 "bullets." I highly doubt that. As @cranbiz pointed out, probably not newsworthy, really. All he has been charged with is carrying a concealed firearm, and he has already bonded out. I'm sure he would have been charged with more if there was any reason to believe he was intent on committing a crime using the firearm.
And that is a horse of a different color. Weapons of any kind are prohibited inside a Disney park. Mistake or not, getting caught by security with a firearm trying to enter the park is a no no.
Worth noting though? Disney Springs is not a WDW Park. No Security barriers.
When I was having my bag checked at the TTC last week, the security guard looked around to make sure no kids were listening, and said that they had just confiscated a taser and handcuffs from someone. I guess he was trying to justify the security measures slowing everybody down, but it was so weird that he just told a bunch of guests that on our way into the park.
The issue however is that DS is technically speaking an open-air shopping mall, and Disney rules notwithstanding, it is a grey area in the eyes of Florida state law. Because FL is a concealed-carry state, and due to DS being open access (ie no security checkpoints), Disney rules and state law seem to conflict, and because of a lack of signage, it's easy to violate the rule, while with the right permit, simultaneously complying with state law regarding concealed-carry.
I don't disagree with you. If they wish for DS to be a gun free zone (and we know that criminals all obey the law), they really need to post it accordingly. That's bad for business though as they don't want to offend anyone who may spend money there.
What open mall do you go into that has check points and metal detectors? Disney Springs is a shopping and dining plaza with many entrances and exits. It's not a theme park with one or maybe 2 ways in and out.
Well to be honest I'm not American so i6 don't know, but if I were I would probably want them even in general Malls! Anyway this is still within DW the ammount of people visiting everyday is huge, certainly nothing like my local mall. In my opinion doesn't make sense to have the metal detectors in the parks and not at DS, if someone wanted to do something would just do it at DS.
Fair enough I suppose. Though it's just not going to happen. First off, a terrorist attacking Disney World is going to be much more impactful in news and terror than one attacking a shopping mall, even one with Disney's name on it. Though obviously at least one terrorist has been documented having thought about it. Second, putting metal detectors at all the entrances and exits, and people to man them, would be prohibitively expensive. Third, it would be a hassle to shoppers. There are lots of places to shop and eat in Orlando that don't require entrance lines and metal detectors and the hassle. There aren't any amusement parks that work the same way. So there are different expectations and, therefore, different barriers to entry. I promise putting metal detectors and security on Disney Springs would dramatically lower traffic, lower traffic lessens the appeal to stores and restaurants, fewer stores and restaurants means less to draw the remaining people... and what you have is a death spiral.
