Pictures help understand and differentiate fact from rabid hype.
White House Ellipse
Look at the Washington Monument and its huge open space area, of nine square blocks in the middle of a metropolis. Nine square blocks of grass, no trees, and little to no people in a wide open park setting perfect for flying toys like kites, frisbees, and model planes bought from the Smithsonian museum nearby.
Look at the map and labeled landmarks.
The guy was flying his frisbee-sized $50 toy in the park, just south of the German-American friendship garden. It weighs 6.2 oz, has no FPV, can't carry anything. Range of 100' or so. ATTI only. Guy got it turned around or in wind--wind is hard on the little quads. Tried to make it come back, went the wrong way over Constitution Ave. Guy chopped power so it didn't fly away in DC.
Bird landed 75 ft away the other side of Constitution in a grassy area near the Haupt Fountains.
At this point, the frisbee sized, 6 oz toy is 5 city blocks away from the White House south lawn.
City blocks aren't uniform, but average about 300 feet. The toy landed in the south of the Ellipse park, roughly 1600 feet (more than 10 times its flight range) from the White House and about 35 feet from Constitution Ave. To use recognizable distances, the average NFL punter would require 11 consecutive kicks to reach the White House from the Haupt Fountains where the bird landed.
2015 NFL Team Punting Stats - National Football League - ESPN
Most owners of 4 inch long toys with a 5 minute flying span and a 150 foot range don't think of them as drones, threats to aviation, or public dangers. Beach kites weigh as much as the toy. Most toy owners never think to consult FAA regulations or measure proximity to Reagan National airport, and if the laws remotely followed common sense, there wouldn't be a need to.
Someone drops a six pound DJI Inspire with FPV and payload capability on the White House South Lawn, that's one thing. That's clearly stupid in a no-stupid zone. Piddly toys the size of a dessert plate and the weight of a nerf ball should not be confused with "DRONES".
I bet most of the people tossing words back and forth about this never looked at a map, or distances, or details on the $40 F182 quadcopter the guy was flying.
JJRC F182 2.4GHz 6 Axis Gyro RC Quadcopter UFO with LED Light
This was not a case of colossal stupidity by the toy owner. It was a case of zealous overreaction nurtured and fed by a sensationalistic anxiety-creating media fighting for market share in a salacious echo chamber.