Two-year olds' Disney souvenir swords confiscated by French customs

Considering this IS the French we're talking about, I'm not surprised they'd view a plastic sword as a threat...it's not like they can defend themselves against two-year-olds thusly *armed*....;)

The customs officials had only two real choices...

Confiscate the "weapons", or, seeing this well uniformed and armed invading force (two year old twins in Peter Pan outfits brandishing palstic swords) ask what terms of surrender they were demanding of Paris.

I do believe that the lead custom's official is now up for France's top award for military valor... only third winner too... The first two being Napoleon Bonaparte and the agent who sank the unarmed Greenpeace ship a few years back.

*** This post was edited by SLFAKE 7/9/2004 10:45:01 AM ***

LOL French customs scared of a two year old with a plastic sword.... what next you can't use plastic ware in french airports?

Don't laugh--it's happened in this country too! Several years ago, a child in elementary school went to a class Halloween party dressed as a firefighter, complete with a small plastic axe. Not only was the axe confiscated, the child was suspended and counselled. What's this world coming to?

there was a pic in the story they were the close to real fake ones

"...it was particularly bad since we had a really bad time at Disney (Paris), which we thought was a total rip-off. "

"If we go again it will be to Disneyland (sic) in Florida."

"His amazement at the entire episode was underlined for Pete (the dad), when after the swords had been confiscated by the French "jobsworths" he saw vicious looking metal spikes for sale just yards away in the duty free shop."

Great stuff the author included... ;)

This crap has been going on for a couple years. I once read a news story that airport security had confiscated the gun from a 3 3/4" Star Wars Stormtrooper action figure. The gun was less than an inch long but it looked like a real laser gun.

"real laser gun"

there's real laser guns around???*** This post was edited by redman822 7/9/2004 2:58:13 PM ***

I thought this was kind of funny... although some of you may already know about this.

Go to http://www.google.com/ and type in "French Military Victories" and click on I'm feeling lucky. After the page has loaded proceed with the link that is provided.

Oh you want a real stupid "Zero-Tolerance" story?!?

Okay, a young child (5-7 I dont rememebr the exact age) was caught with a plastic knife in his bookbag. The explanation was that the kid wanted to take the knife home to show his parents that he learned how to butter his own bread during the school lunch.

The school administration promptly confiscated the knife and suspended the boy for one (or two) week(s), for possesion of a dangerous weapon on school grounds. But the story doesnt end there....

The parents, furious with the school administration argued their case that this was overkill (ya think!). The administration would not relent, so the parents decided to sue the school on the grounds that the school provided their son with a dangerous weapon.

Of course this all happened in the good ol' U S of A.

lata, jeremy

--who is not in the mood to join the French bashing

Jeremy, I'd love to see that news story...can you remember when/where it happened?

EDIT... Nevermind, I found it... http://www.channelcincinnati.com/education/2027051/detail.html

*** This post was edited by redman822 7/9/2004 4:36:44 PM ***

LOL, Jeremy...I sure didn't think I was "French-bashing"....It's not like I said they smell bad or were rude or anything...THOSE would be "French bashing". I mean, Lance Armstrong, an American, completely unarmed, rides his BICYCLE (with just a few friends) through the French countryside and takes over virtually unopposed. Oui surrendere! :)

Can you really "brandish" a weapon when you're two? Kids sure do grow up fast these days...;)

Zero-Tolerance takes over when common sense is no longer "common"...

Am I the only one who thinks "French-bashing" is redundant? ;)

wow, after reading all that, all I can say is can the human race get any dumber? I mean, there was not a single lagit threat with any of these stories! A platic buttering knife, a "realistic" laser gun on an action figure, so much trash getting thrown around when there really ARE stuff out there that do not get focused on. BUT, rollergator has a point:

Zero-Tolerance takes over when common sense is no longer "common"...

Thats is, there is no common sense anymore, its constantly being thrown away and dissapearing. I guess we almost "have" to do stupid stuff like this just so something serious doesn't happen down the road? I mean, that kid who wanted to show his parents he could butter his bread, perhaps in 10 years he takes home a scalpel from anatomy along with a cat carcass to show he can remove the liver? Ok, that was really stupidly far fetched and pointless, but still lolol, our world is dumbing, its only natural we see stuff like this happen. It doesn't have to, but look at all of the stupid criminal stuff that has also been happening...

I'm still amazed they just didn't surrender to the kid.

I know, It's cheap and easy shot, but I couldn't help myself.

I actually *did* remove a fetus from a cat in high school......

If this happened to an adult, it would be funny. Since it happened to children, it's just sad. Sorry Dad, but the toys swords should be put in checked luggage, not carry-on, and certainly not worn by the kids. I've had my plastic knife taken away when I took my bacon and eggs breakfast through security.

Another carry-on no-no is 2-way radios or walkie-talkies. They aren't allowed in carry-on, even without batteries. We negotiated with security to allow the flight attendants secure them until we arrived in Orlando. Now, we pack them in our checked luggage.

"real laser gun"

I remember reading some school banning Laser Pointers under their "Zero Tolerance Weapons Policy." Now not allowing kids to have Laser Pointers I can understand (they can get to be annoying), but to consider it part of their "Weapons Policy"?

Come on... use common sense. You want to ban them fine, just say "No Laser Pointers"... but as part of the "Weapons Policy"? For crying out loud... they are "harmless" pointers... not the main weapon of the Death Star.

Kids having them may do such things as shine them at other people... or, God forbid, shine them on at teacher's butt when they are up at the board. Since these are pointers and not weapons, the teacher may be embarassed... not vaporized.*** This post was edited by SLFAKE 7/12/2004 2:00:04 PM ***

This would be all solved if they put all the passengers under general anethesia during flights. Not only would they be more secure, but flights would be more tolerable. ;)*** This post was edited by janfrederick 7/12/2004 6:55:22 PM ***