Guns in WDW

[DonnaD]

Did anyone read the full article? Considering it was from the New York Post, it was actually quite balanced. A few important points that I thought off from personal experience before reading it:

Disney Springs now has sophisticated metal detector arches that ALL visitors walk through with their bags since reopening. There was NO screening there previously.

All the parks also now have these machines instead of the hand bag searches and random people being sent through arches WITHOUT their bags.

Of course they have found more guns as they are actually searching everyone in a more sophisticated way.

None of this takes away from the fact that many Americans in certain states do routinely carry guns ( not in Massachusetts where my mother lives for example). This feels really odd to me as well after 30 years in the UK. However, 4 years living here, I haven't actually seen one unless carried by a cop. Still, the "huge" increase of guns found per the story isn't surprising at all IMO.

[Claudette]

Originally Posted by Buffyp

I find that bizarre to be honest. Yes we do have a significant knife problem but how you can imply that is worse than the numerous school shootings not to mention other incidents is beyond me. Thankfully our gun laws will not change either.

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I do too. I cannot see how knife crime can be a bigger concern than gun crime. You have a fighting chance if faced with someone wielding a knife, wielding a gun not so much.

A very cursory look at some numbers indicates that the gun death rate in US is twenty times higher than knife death crime rate in the UK.

[salmim]

I agree with the poster re knife crime. Its shocking and frightening. There was an incident in Greenwich last week just down from my sons flat ( nice upmarket area) 3 or 4 youngsters fighting with huge machete's. That frightens me more than my trips to the USA.

[landandword17]

I said in a recent post that I'm not worried about covid in the US. I will be comfortable going to WDW, theatre, concerts etc maskless once I'm jabbed and I won't spend any time worrying it BUT gun crime is something that is always in the back of my mind over there. I don't let it ruin my holiday but I will admit it is often in my back of my mind and while we're chatting amongst ourselves here lol one thing I have noticed about the US is that there is a lot of ''crazy'' there and crazy with enough money to live well, financially donate to crackpots, stockpile weapons etc I have seen t-shirts and bumper stickers and tattoos that are such red flags for people who are unstable enough to be potential threats to public safety just because they have such easy access to weapons. Knife crime is a very serious problem here but as we have seen here, a loon with a knife can be overpowered by onlookers. A fella walks into Tesco with a knife and he cannot wipe out 20 people while everyone is cowering for their lives. He can be overpowered easily enough. Domestic knife crime (the kind most common in my neck of the woods) happens at house parties, between lovers and over drug debt. Terrible but again strangers doing their shopping and children in their desks are not targeted.

The culture wars in the US have left a country so divided and it is downright tragic to see people with so much fear and hatred of their fellow citizens. I once had a guy in an elevator at the Contemporary tell me he wished a certain State and all in it would fall into the ocean. I just find that so, so sad and the end point will either be that they will have to unify or descend into the wild wild west where everyone is armed and you go to scratch your behind in Walmart and you get shot because some guy thought you looked dodgy. I don't agree with all of my fellow citizens, I don't like some of them, I find some people's beliefs to be reprehensible but have never wanted to harm anyone or force them out of the country and I don't fear any of them. I honestly don't know how you handle the kind of person who brings that kind of weaponry to Disney World. It seems to me that he has been 'brainwashed' and any action you take could send him further down the pit of believing that 'they' are out to get him.

It's very unfortunate because as a visitor to the US I find them to be great people by and large and it's a real pity that they can't have exposure therapy! Have a 'god, guns, football' person meet an atheist from New England, a San Francisco liberal sit down with a Texas conservative and have them shake hands and discuss their families and see each others humanity. I bet the fear and hatred would disappear and a lot of it is fear of the unknown being stoked by media outlets as it helps win elections and line the pockets of the wealthy.

[levtweeney]

Originally Posted by cornishfrogboy

Firearms in the hands of the vast majority of people are not an issue.
Firearms in the hands of the wrong people most certainly are and that is why the ‘right people’ feel obliged to carry firearms for personal protection.

As Goldie looking chain famously sang (of sorts), “guns don’t kill people, Rappers do”.

We’re gun control introduced in the USA along U.K. lines, then other than those firearms actually registered, few would ever be handed in, such is the fear of gun crime.

I fully understand the concerns of U.K. residents, who have grown up in a culture where possession of anything more than a low powered air rifle is largely unlawful and for those who possess S1 firearms, control is rather harsh.

The USA is the USA, a different culture and if people are really worried about these firearms, then perhaps they are vacationing in the wrong place. It ain’t going to change greatly anytime soon and if it did, the ‘wrong uns’ are hardly going to hand in.

I often wonder how many unlawful high powered weapons and their ammunition are present in the U.K. right now.. far more than most people suspect and mainly hidden.. just in case.

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Your right, I do question each and every time I go to the U.S. whether I can ensure my families safety while there due to gun crime. Just watching the news on an evening in Florida is like watching highlights of the Wild West with this shoot out and that gun fight. I guess I’m fine with the idea of the Disney bubble and the main holiday areas but I get really concerned moving out of these areas and so to be frank We don’t much.

I don’t buy this idea that they can’t change gun laws in the U.S. because people will not react well or won’t hand in guns. That may be correct in the short term but long term they would have a much safer society for everyone. Most countries on the planet do not have access to guns like the U.S. and most countries are much safer for it.

[Mr Tom Morrow]

My view is simplistic. Their Country, their culture, their laws and rules and finally nothing to do with me.

I have holidayed in America multiple times per annum since 1976 and only once have I had an issue and that was when a State Trooper way back in 1979 pointed his handgun through my drivers window at the scene of the breakdown I was at as I failed to put my hands on the dashboard as he approached the car.

Totally understandable and we ended up nattering until I got towed off the Interstate.

Their Society is so different to ours I don't make comparisons as they are meaningless.

[CarolynU]

My friend was an entertainer at Hollywood Studios for donkeys years. He owned guns as did his wife. In fact they both taught David Blane the secrets of The Bullet Catch.
My friend was also held up at gunpoint at 7/11 at LBV shopping on his way home.
It didn’t phase him though and luckily he wasn’t shot. They were after cash at the register.
Me on the other hand would have been a quivering wreck!

[PoohBears#1fan]

Originally Posted by CarolynU

My friend was an entertainer at Hollywood Studios for donkeys years. He owned guns as did his wife. In fact they both taught David Blane the secrets of The Bullet Catch.
My friend was also held up at gunpoint at 7/11 at LBV shopping on his way home.
It didn’t phase him though and luckily he wasn’t shot. They were after cash at the register.
Me on the other hand would have been a quivering wreck!

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It's beyond me how you can be held up at gun point and not phased!

My brother was held up at gun point at work once (he lives in the US), he was very much phased by it!

[CarolynU]

Originally Posted by PoohBears#1fan

It's beyond me how you can be held up at gun point and not phased!

My brother was held up at gun point at work once (he lives in the US), he was very much phased by it!

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I have no idea either but he wasn’t in the slightest!
I suppose having been around guns all his life since he was a young child he judged the situation that the break in was all about the cash in the register and that if he was calm they would get in and out quickly once they got what they wanted. I also suppose if you catch bullets in your mouth for a living this puts a different perspective on it!
So robbery is a whole different crime to murder but in all honesty I never asked him. Being a Brit we kept off the subject.

[Jennywren]

I can't begin to understand the gun culture in the US, (nor many other things that happen there - politics, health care, etc etc). I love visiting but having thought about it often have decided I would never want to live there permanently.

I cannot comprehend why anyone might think they might need a weapon on holiday or at a Theme Park, if they genuinely think it's necessary surely they can't expect it will be a relaxing break and would want to go somewhere else that would be more relaxing anyway.

I was held up at gunpoint here in the UK, when I was working in an advice agency in London back in the 1980's. At the time it was truly terrifying. Sadly the culprit had just reached his wits end and was absolutely desperate for someone to just listen to him and hear about his problems, having been turned away everywhere he went for help, and finding us closed as well. He genuinely didn't want to hurt anyone but felt it was the only way to get some attention. I'm pleased to say over the coming days and weeks after things had calmed down a lot we did manage to help him resolve at least some of his problems.