Tourist brought AR-15, handgun to DisneyWorld
A South Florida man brought an AR-15 rifle and 9mmhandgun with him on his DisneyWorld vacation because he was worried about his family’s safety during the social justice protests in Central Florida last month, according to the Orange County Sheriff’sOffice.
The 43-year-old Palm Beach Gardens man checked into the Polynesian Village Resort with his guns in a tennis bag on Saturday of the Labor Day holidayweekend, according to anewly released sheriff’s incident report.
Themanhada concealed weapons permit and was not arrested, sothe Orlando Sentinel is not identifying him. Disney stored his guns for him until the end of his trip.
The bellman handling the bag to bring to the man’s roomwonderedwhy it was so heavy, made the discovery and reported it to his manager who then contacted the sheriff ’s office, the report said.
TheSheriff’sOfficequestioned the man who told them “he brought the rifle with him for their safety because of the riotsandcivil unrest goingondownsouth and in the Central Florida area,” the incident report said.
Protestors demonstrated regularly, including near DisneyWorld, after a deputy fatally shot 22-yearold Salaythis Melvin outside the Florida Mall on Aug. 7. And like in many cities across the nation, Orlando has had protests in support of Black Lives Matters downtown as well as nearUniversal and other surroundingareas throughout the summer.
In addition to the guns, the man brought three rifle magazines with 90 total roundsandtwo9mmmagazines with 20 rounds total.
The sheriff ’s office checked his concealed weapon permit. “We then gave [the man] back his firearms and told him we appreciated his cooperation,” the incident report said.
“No arrests were made because no laws were broken,” the sheriff’s office saidTuesdaywhenreached for comment.
Disney Security held onto his handgun in the hotel’s safe, andthe larger riflewas stored at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge.
The man did not return a voicemail left on his cellphone for comment.
Disney World policy bans visitors from bringing weapons on its property.
“Our policy is clear that guns or weapons of any kind are not allowed at our resort regardless of whether someone has a permit,” Disney spokeswoman Andrea Finger said in a statement.
In July, a Georgiawoman was arrested for leavingtwo guns in her child’s diaper bag as her family tried to enter Epcot. Yunique Smith, whodidn’thave a concealed firearms permit, pleaded no contest last month to possession of a concealed weapon andwas ordered to pay a $535 fine.