A south Florida man brought an AR-15 rifle and 9mm handgun with him on his Disney World 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’s Office.
The 43-year-old Palm Beach Gardens man checked into the Polynesian Village Resort with his guns in a tennis bag on Saturday of Labor Day weekend, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
In addition to the guns, the man brought three rifle magazines with 90 total rounds and two 9mm magazines with 20 rounds total.
The man had a concealed weapons permit and was not arrested, so the Orlando Sentinel is not identifying him. Disney stored his guns for him until the end of his trip.
The weapons were found because the bellman handling the bag wondered why it was so heavy. He reported it to his manager who then contacted the sheriff’s office.
The Sheriff’s Office questioned the man who told them “he brought the rifle with him for their safety because of the riots and civil unrest going on down south and in the central Florida area.”
The sheriff’s office checked his concealed weapon permit and then gave [the man] back his firearms. “No arrests were made because no laws were broken,” the sheriff’s office said Tuesday when reached for comment.
Disney Security held onto his handgun in the hotel’s safe, and the larger rifle was stored at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge.
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.
