The Happiest Place on Earth...

...for criminals, anyway.

Two 20-year-old tourists from Connecticut are kidnapped at gunpoint from a parking lot at Disney World by two men pretending to ask for directions. The tourists are robbed and beaten, and are then dropped off at a remote landfill site, Sopranos-style. Luckily, they just have some bumps and bruises and a couple of cuts from being pistol-whipped. This could easily have been a whole lot worse.

Florida has an excellent shall-issue handgun carry permit system in place, and issues those same permits to non-residents who qualify. I have one myself, as it allows me to carry in far more states than my Minnesota permit, although the number of reciprocal states that accept Minnesota's permit continues to grow.

Disney World, in its infinite wisdom, chooses to deprive people of their right to self-defense, negating the benefits of their patrons' carry permits. The park bans legal carry of handguns, and searches the bags and fanny packs of every "guest"(apparently Disney-speak for "potential victim") that passes through its gates. This serves to provide a smorgasbord of opportunities for criminals to ply their trade on people that are unable to do anything about it except call security once the crime is over, if they're still alive.

"Disney spokeswoman Zoraya Suarez confirmed that the abduction took place on Disney property and said the company was cooperating with authorities in the investigation.
"No one should have to go through an experience like this," said Suarez. 'We are cooperating fully with law enforcement with its investigation ... and have offered assistance to our guests.'"

How about not disarming your patrons, so that they can walk to a darkened Lot ZZ at the end of the day knowing that they have the means to defend against predators such as this? That way, they can "assist" themselves when it's most needed, while the crime is taking place. Wow, what a concept.