Two more Disney guests caught trying to bring in loaded guns into Disney World on the same day

Two more Disney guests were arrested Monday trying to sneak in loaded concealed weapons into Disney theme parks
The Orange County Sheriff's office announced they arrested two Walt Disney World guests for trying to carry concealed loaded weapons into Disney Theme parks on the same day on Monday morning.

A Smith & Wesson .380 Bodyguard handgun was found on
Disney guest Michael Langston at Epcot Monday
The two incidents were apparently completely unrelated to one another, but the timing of the two arrests, a little over an hour of one another, may indicate the frequency with which Disney security comes across guns from visitors at its theme parks.

Michael C. Langston, 61, of Abita Springs, Louisiana was arrested at Epcot at 9:55 a.m., and Baleigh L. Turner, 23, of Mobile, Alabama was arrested at Disney's Animal Kingdom a little over an hour later at 11 a.m. on Monday.

Both suspects did not have valid permits to carry the weapons and face third-degree felony charges, according to Orange County Sheriffs office.

Arrest reports state Langston was randomly selected by Disney security to walk through a metal detector after successfully going through the bag check screening tents before entering the main gate, compelling Langston to finally disclose he had a gun on him.

Sheriff's deputies then uncovered a Smith & Wesson Bodyguard .380 caliber automatic handgun, loaded with six bullets and a seventh in the chamber, in a case concealed underneath a jacket tied around his waist. He did not have a valid permit to carry the weapon.



Disney employees found Turner's weapon—a purple and black .380 caliber Taurus pistol loaded with a six-round magazine—while security was routinely checking her backpack at the security bag check screening tents at the main gates. The gun was inside a holster in the backpack. Turner said she had a permit to carry the gun in Alabama, but the permit later was discovered to have expired in January.

A .380 Taurus pistol was found on Baleigh Turner at Disney's
Animal Kingdom on the same day
Langston told detectives that he realized too late that he had the gun in his backpack while he was riding a Disney World bus to Epcot, but didn't want to go back to his hotel room to put it away, so he put the gun between his back and pants.

Disney has had a longstanding ban of weapons from its parks, but they usually tells guests with weapons found on them to return their weapons, either to their cars or their hotel rooms, before coming back to the parks.

But a not-too-subtle policy change has occurred within the last year for situations they deemed to be "red flags" (e.g., gun owners not having valid carry-conceal weapons permits on them.)

Due to numerous near-miss incidents with guests discovered with deadly weapons on them coming into the parks and recent terrorist incidents occurring near Disney theme parks, Disney has had to reluctantly add metal detectors and added enhanced security measures to enforce its rules to protect the public.

Both Langston and Turner were charged by Orange County Sheriffs for carrying concealed weapons, posted bail of $2,000, released, and issued a trespass warning from all Disney theme parks.


All guests with bags are required to go through a bag check, but only randomly selected guests (e.g., one in seven guests) go through additional metal detectors, which begs the question to be asked: What if Langston was not selected to go through the metal detectors? It appears he most assuredly would have gotten through with a gun into Epcot, if he were not selected to go through the metal detectors.


It seems Disney should re-evaluate its security procedures once again.

Sources:

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