Loaded gun found in child's teddy bear at MCO..

[sgtdisney]

I am not sure if this has been posted here already or not, so if it has I appologize in advance.. Apparently they discovered a loaded gun in a child's teddy bear at MCO sometime last week. It seems that the child was given this teddy bear by a stranger at the family's hotel. That just strikes me as strange, why parents would allow a ten year old to accept a gift like that from a total stranger.. Here is the link to the story and the text as well...

http://news.airwise.com/display/story.html?name=2003/07/1058444398.html

Gun Found Hidden In Teddy Bear

Jul 17, 2003

A loaded handgun has been found hidden in a child's teddy bear at a US airport.

The discovery was made by security screeners at Orlando International Airport, Florida, last week.

The US Transportation Security Administration confirmed the find to CNN reporters and said the bear had been given to a 10-year-old boy by a stranger at the family's vacation hotel.

Screeners found the .22 caliber Derringer after an x-ray at a passenger checkpoint revealed a hole in the stuffed toy which aroused suspicions.

The TSA said that the gun had been reported stolen seven years ago in Barstow, California, after a residential burglary. "This underscores the need to screen everyone and everything," the TSA's Robert Johnson told the news organization.

The child's family were allowed to continue the journey to their home in Ohio.

 

[Miss Jasmine]

I saw that and thought how very strange. There are many other ways to dispose of a firearm that you don't want to keep around. And I question, too, why the parents would let the kid accept a teddy bear from a stranger.

 

[DebbieB]

When I was at Bradley Airport in Hartford in February, a little girl in front of me was having a tantrum because they had to put her large barney doll through the x-ray. I know they comfort the child to have them along but be sure to prepare them they will have to be checked.

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Originally posted by DebbieB
When I was at Bradley Airport in Hartford in February, a little girl in front of me was having a tantrum because they had to put her large barney doll through the x-ray. I know they comfort the child to have them along but be sure to prepare them they will have to be checked.

They should have put the little tantrum thrower through the scanner with the Barney. That would have shut her up.

 

[Feralpeg]

In defense of the parents that allowed their child to accept the bear from a stranger, I gave a bear I won at one of the AK games to a child the last time we were there. I didn't want it and I thought that the little girl might. The little girl and the parents were grateful. I don't see anything wrong with accepting something as long as the parents check it over before allowing the child to have it.

 

[CarolMN]

Originally posted by Feralpeg
In defense of the parents that allowed their child to accept the bear from a stranger, I gave a bear I won at one of the AK games to a child the last time we were there. I didn't want it and I thought that the little girl might. The little girl and the parents were grateful. I don't see anything wrong with accepting something as long as the parents check it over before allowing the child to have it.

I don't either, but I always either give the item to the parent(s) to give to the child or first discretely ask the parent(s) if it is OK to give the item to their child.

 

[WendyinNC]

Originally posted by GAIL HAYDEN
They should have put the little tantrum thrower through the scanner with the Barney. That would have shut her up.

Why would you say such a thing? I'm sure if you were a young child and a stranger tried to take your favorite stuffed animal away and put it through a strange machine you would ball your eyes out. Or maybe not since you seem to have a cold heart.

 

[CarolA]

What I find very strange about all of this is that supposedly the gift giver went to the family's room to give them this bear. WHAT? Did they know this person? It is one thing to give someone the prize you just won at the Boardwalk, a different one to go hiking around hotels knocking on doors to give away stuff.

As for Gail's comment, I have to admit there have been times I wanted to stick the kid on the scanner. More likely I want to stick the kid on the baggage claim belt and send them back. (I fail to understand why parents seem to think that belt is a toy provided for their child's enteretainment. Kids should be kept WELL away from it!) However, normally I think that if the parents had explained the situation in advance this could be avoided. (I have seen parents try to convince the screener that "baby" can carry something through. Maybe the TSA should just hand this ariticle out next time. )

 

[ls1222]

I too agree with Carol A- I think parents just need to explain to their child that it is very important for "Barney" to "get an exam". Its not like they are taking the toy for a long time. I really do not like to let my kids take anything from "strangers". Just the other day, a lady at the grocery store gave my kids candy out of her purse. We accepted said thank you and then threw it away. I told the kids "why we did this". Its just such a sick and scarey thing that we even need to worry about this stuff.

 

[WendyinNC]

Originally posted by CarolA
As for Gail's comment, I have to admit there have been times I wanted to stick the kid on the scanner. More likely I want to stick the kid on the baggage claim belt and send them back.

Who are you people? This is not what I expected out of people who love Disney World.

 

[Pumbaa_]

I don't know, I thought it was funny. I can't see either one of these ladies ACTUALLY doing it, but come on, can't you picture little Johnny with a luggage claim ticket sitting on the luggage carousel???? And just think how quiet the flights will be!!

Traveling is very stressful, it is the parents responsibility to talk with their children about what to expect and make them part of the experience.

Happy trails kids

 

[CarolA]

Everytime I fly I see kids at the baggage claim area using the belt as their personal jungle gym. That is VERY dangerous and also makes it hard for travelers to get their luggage off without slugging little Johnny in the head! Now I don't blame Johnny, but the kid was not hatched so where are his parents.

If you travel a lot you see a lot of kids that don't inspire any maternal instincts. Personally I try to figure that the kid was never taught how to behave. I flew a lot as a small child and I knew the rules. My brother's kids fly a lot and they know the rules. They don't run up and down the aisles when the seatbelt sign is on, bang on the seatbacks in front of them, throw things at passengers , climb on the baggage claim belts, pitch unrelenting fits for toys, etc... and they are fairly young. Sorry if my response to that behavior is not what you expect, but that behavior is not what I expect either.

 

[WendyinNC]

That is not the type of behavior that was being discussed. The comment was about a little girl having a tantrum because they had to put her Barney doll through the x-ray. I can understand how frighting that might be to a child. I'm just shocked at the responses to this from you 'Women' (hopefully not 'Moms').

 

[ducklite]

Hmmm...I'm a mom and I tried to hand my firstborn over in lieu of payment for something I purcahsed at Home Depot this afternoon. Of course my first born's name is "Mud" right now. He's also 17, and made two mistakes, which made me miss a business appointment. The first mistake was answering my phone (he has his own and is not supposed to answer mine), the second was not giving me a message.

At any rate, I don't think anyone was being serious about putting the kid through the x-ray machine, just venting. It seems lately that I've seen a lot of parents letting their kids get away with murder rather than discipline them for unacceptable behaviour, including throwing a hissy fit because they had to take a toy away from the child for it to be scanned so they could pay for it in the toy store. Had my son done that the toy would have gone back to the shelf and he would have left empty handed.

If the parents were so stupid that thye didn't talk to their kids about what to expect at the airport and on the plane, maybe it's the PARENTS that should be sent through the machine for a little electric shock therapy.

Anne

 

[LTGRAMPS]

One of the biggest problems today is the lack of respect taught to children. I am from the old school and lament the days of old, when little jack did some thing wrong? and was brought home by the ear from the Police Officer on the local beat. Don't know what was worse, that or having my Dad answer the door. Sometimes I just think the old days were better.

 

[CarolA]

Anne,
I assume Home Depot made you take the firstborn home. LOL!

Personally I don't believe that you can judge anyone from things they post on these boards. It is WAY too easy for someone to read things into written posts. I happen to know that I have a great relationship with 99.9% of the kids I meet and don't really worry that some people now think I am not qualified as a parent.

I still think that I would think it was VERY strange if someone I did not know knocked on my hotel room door to give my kid a teddy bear. I do wonder if we are getting all the facts here.

 

[ducklite]

LOL Jack! You're funny!

My DS says that if he ever gets in trouble like that, he'd BEG the police to not bring him home, because it would be far worse than anything they'd do to him!

But I agree. This "Child Abuse" thing has gone too far. I'm certainly not advocating true abuse, but IMHO there's nothing wrong with dishing out punishment for inappropriate behaviour. Not sure if parents have gotten lazy about parenting, or are too afraid of upsetting their children. Children need to learn that they can't have everything they want, and that there is certain behaviour which is acceptable and certain behaviour which isn't. If they don't learn, they'll have a very difficult time functioning as adults in this world. It's much more difficult to instill this as a child gets older if it hasn't been taught from the beginning.

Of course when they find the person who handed the bear to the kid, in court he'll try to get off with a slap based on something that happened in his childhood

Anne

 

[disneyberry]

okay, i have a confession to make.

my dbf bought me the most adorable stuffed Eeyore (12" size) a few years ago.

everytime we go to WDW, i have to bring Eeyore. he sure gets squished in my suitcase. LOL.

anyway, for some reason, i've always had this fear that when they do random luggage searches, they will see Eeyore, and think it's suspicious that an adult is carrying around a stuffed animal.
and then they'll suspect that there's something hidden inside Eeyore.

and then they'll rip him open just to make sure there's nothing hidden inside!!!! aaarrgghh!!! nooooo!!! Eeyore!

.... yeah.... that's the nightmare that i have about my Eeyore stuffed animal.
this story about a gun found insde a teddy bear just makes me worry about it more.

ok, so i have a weird attachment to a stuffed animal.
and i can completely understand why a child would be scared that the airport screeners were taking away her Barney.
however it's true, her parents should've prepared her. it's a shame that they didn't, since all the onlookers were subjected to a tantrum instead. *sigh*
(btw, CarolA, "If you travel a lot you see a lot of kids that don't inspire any maternal instincts."
i totally know what you mean by this. LOL)

 

[ducklite]

Originally posted by CarolA
Anne,
I assume Home Depot made you take the firstborn home. LOL!

Regretfully yes. Why, so you want him? LOL!

Anne

 

[wkid87]

I was there just around the time it happen, last Saturday. There was so many security officers there. It was nothing but confusing there. The security line was very very long. We was coming in, they was telling onlookers to keep on going. Some of the students was looking, but we keep on to baggage claim, which we have to wait for our luggage, because of a code red due to lighting.