Security halted a couple at the door for this key.
In one of the more bizarre gun-related incidents as of late, a Florida couple set to go on a cruise ended up almost having their vacation ruined thanks to a handgun-shaped house key.
Henry and Lisa Echevarria were all set to board their Carnival Cruise ship in Port Canaveral on January 15 when they ran into a problem.
Their unique, two-inch house key, which is shaped like a firearm, was pulled from their luggage by a security officer who then refused to let them board with it. A Pasco County sheriff's deputy, Henry told reporters he understands the importance of security, but he felt in this case, security personnel were being unreasonable.
"First of all, you can't even get your finger in the hole if it was a gun and you can barely get a finger around the grip," Echevarria told a local news station. "They say I can't have it. I can't get on the boat. I either need to get rid of it, take it back or not cruise."
"While our Prohibited Items Policy does prohibit "all firearms including replicas, imitations and their components," a house key shaped like a firearm is not what is meant by the term 'replica' and the key should not have been retained," Carnival's Vice President of Corporate Communications Jennifer De La Cruz said in a statement to Fox News.
Echevarria ultimately had his key put in the ship's safe for the cruise, but it seems it wasn't something he was entirely comfortable with.
"They [Carnival] have my address, they have my key, all they need to do is make a replica and next thing you know they could be at my house," Echevarria told reporters.
He also expressed frustrations to reporters that he was unable to get a straight explanation himself on the issue from Carnival.
"It was upsetting; it was comical because it's like, really, what am I going to do with that? You know they give you steak knives on the cruise," Echevarria told 10 News.
As strange as this incident is, it's actually the second one this month involving an object that looks like a firearm, but is actually not a weapon at all. A handgun-shaped cell phone case caused an hours-long police standoff by accident in California earlier this month.
NEXT: HANDGUN-SHAPED CELL PHONE CASE LEADS TO POLICE STANDOFF IN CALIFORNIA
