Two Men Arrested for Bringing Guns to Pokemon World Finals

We may have avoided a gigantic tragedy at this year’s Pokémon TCG World Championships thanks to attentive police, security guards, and some obnoxious and possibly violent gun enthusiast's Facebook page.

So, here’s what went down: Kevin Norton, 18, and James Stumbo, 27, were both invited to attend the Pokemon World Championship in Boston over the weekend, under the Masters Division. They may have lost after the first round, or they may have won the whole thing—we’ll never know, because when they arrived they were identified by security and soon afterwards, detained. Why? Because before leaving, James Stumbo posted this on Facebook:
 


Now, that’s a classless thing to do in any situation, given America’s notoriously high rates of gun violence, but judging on the sticker on the back of his car, this could have just been a way to raise hype among his non-Pokémon playing yet gun-enthused friends. But things go from creepy to “possibly disaster-averting” when Police investigated the car they had driven to get to the event and found a 12 gauge shotgun, an AR-15 rifle and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, which you’ll recognize from the above picture.

Stumbo has since claimed the whole thing was taken out of context, but… it’s hard to imagine a context where taking two guns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition to a trading card game contest would be an appropriate thing to do.

The Pokémon Company International had this to say:
 

“Prior to the event this weekend, our community of players made us aware of a security issue. We gathered information and gave it as soon as possible to the authorities at the John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center who acted swiftly and spearheaded communication with the Boston Police Department. Due to quick action, the potential threat was resolved. The Pokémon Company International takes the safety of our fans seriously and will continue to ensure proper security measures are a priority.”

Now, are we certain they were going to go on a rampage? Thankfully, no—no shots were fired and the problem was resolved peacefully. But it’s scary to think the only thing standing between these two young men and what could have been a mass shooting was a revealing Facebook post. Still, all credit to where it was due for the police and security at the event for stopping this from being the most depressing article I’d ever write for this website.