Walt Disney World is an incredibly crowded place full of people. While this makes the lines for everything long, it's also got to be something of a security nightmare. Keeping everybody in one of the biggest tourist attractions on the planet safe is a full-time job, but we rarely here about much of anything really being a problem there. Which is why the report of a gun being found be resort security is more than a little surprising.
What's even more surprising is the reason that the gun was apparently found. Nathan Polit of Boyton Beach, Florida was the owner of the 9mm Smith and Wesson handgun that was found in his bag on Sunday morning when he was going through security bag check at Disney's Animal Kingdom. When asked, he reportedly stated that he simply forgot the gun was in the bag.
Apparently, the weapon had been in Polit's truck, but afraid that he might lose it in a break in, he moved it to his backpack. Unfortunately, he forgot to move it back before going to the theme park, leading to the situation he's now in, which is being charged with a third-degree felony, carrying a concealed firearm, and being issued a trespass warning at Walt Disney World, which means he's been banned from the park. Walt Disney World has banned people from the park for a lot less than that.
While it's entirely possible that Mr. Polit did simply forget that he was carrying a concealed weapon, which did include eight rounds of ammunition, Newsweek reports that Polit attempted to move through security through the "no bag" line, the always faster way to get through security if you can use it, even though he was carrying a backpack, which struck officials as suspicious.
This is hardly the first time that weapons have been found at security checkpoints at Walt Disney World. It's not even the first time that the explanation given was simply that they forgot they were carrying it. It's entirely possible that's been true in every case. It doesn't appear that there's ever been evidence of anybody wanting to cause a major incident inside Walt Disney World.
In previous situations people found in possession of weapons have not always been charged by police, so there might be more going on in this particular case. If nothing else, Polit did not have a license to carry the concealed weapon. Some of the previous cases on Walt Disney World property have included situations where the weapon in question was legal to be carried concealed in Florida, but Walt Disney World rules do not allows guns on the premises even if they are otherwise within the law.
If nothing else, it's great to see security on top of these things. An incident at a place like Walt Disney World is certainly a worst case scenario for a lot of people, so guests want to be absolutely sure they're safe to have fun. There's enough going on in the park without weapons.
