Guns are bad. Especially 1″ long plastic ones.
Boys suspended for tiny G.I. Joe guns (no registration)
Toy guns get boys suspended (registration required)
Last updated 30 January
Three young boys (3rd grade) were suspended for bringing toy guns in to school. The forbidden items were the little plastic accessories for GI Joe action figures.
But the school district is standing by its zero-tolerance policy on weapons, which doesn’t specify size or type, school officials said.
That’s the nature of the beast though. A pencil is the same as a switchblade knife. Oh, wait. Pencils are allowed, aren’t they?
“Our children are in control of sharpened pencils every day, and that seems to me more of a threat than those toys,” Wilson-Spence [mother of one of the suspended boys] said.
But school officials don’t think so.
[Bemiss Principal Lorna] Spear said the three boys were making threatening actions while playing with the toys. That made other students feel unsafe, she said.
Threatening actions. With a miniature plastic GI Joe accessory. Take the cap off of a Bic pen. Look at it. Imagine it was a fraction of its size. Try to make it look threatening. Go up to your coworkers and see if you can make them feel unsafe with it.
This week is assessment testing at the school. Wilson-Spence said she worries her son is missing valuable class time.
She is also worried that what was intended as innocent play will follow her son through his school career and beyond.
“He’s just too young to have something like that on his record,” she said. “The paperwork just said that he brought toy guns to school, and that could mean anything.”
Sorry, ma’am. The rules are not there to promote children learning. They are there to keep order at any cost. No matter how ridiculous they are. Besides, this has been going on for a while, you should have known about the GI Joe gun problem long ago.
The Seattle School District suspended a 10-year-old boy in 1997 for bringing a replica of an Army-issue handgun to school. That inch-long plastic gun also belonged to G.I. Joe, an action figure that’s been a favorite of boys since 1964.
UPDATE: A scathing letter from the Second Amendment Foundation.
“Instead of an education, these kids got the inquisition,” [SAF founder Alan Gottlieb] concluded. “Principal Spear and Spokane school administrators need to stand in the corner until they grow up.”
(Hat tip to Best of the Web Today)
An inch-long plastic representation of a weapon is not a WEAPON. (Well, sure, if I could pin you down and shove it under a kid’s finger nail then yeah.) So, is it a ban on weapons, or a ban on the aknowledgement that weapons exist? Tyrants aren’t hard to figure out.
In this case they care only about the appearance of a classic weapon. Pencils and protractors are perfectly okay. I wonder what you’d get charged with if you jabbed somebody’s eye with a protractor there? “Inapropriate use of a scholastic item” no doubt.
My son is a student in this district & a board member is a law school classmate of mine. I wrote a letter on this, pointing just how puerile the district’s attitude on this is. No response, which is no surprise.
My nephew was also suspended for a “Toy Gun.” Here’s my letter to the Montgomery County Public Schools’ Ombudsman. They have since rescinded their decision and reprimanded the school’s principal and vice-principal. The superintendant agreed with us that their punishment was in violation of school policy for a kindergarten student.
April 1, 2004
Dear Mr. Ikheloa:
Yesterday, I was regretfully informed that my nephew, Nicholas Bulles, was given a suspension from school for 10 days for possession of a “toy gun” in school. Nicholas attends Gaithersburg Elementary School in the Kindergarten class. Last night, I spoke to his mother who told me that she was certain that he did not have the “toy” gun in his backpack when he left for school as she packs it for him each morning. He has since admitted bringing the toy to school but didn’t have any malicious intent. He only wanted to pretend he was a Power Ranger. A televsision show which contains adventures that many children act out on the playground. At 5 years of age, he is not able to underestand the consequences of his decision to bring the toy to school. He is of an age which is considered to young by courts of law to make informed decisions however the principal and vice-principal are punsihing him as if he is much older. The vice-principal threatened him by saying he would make it so he would never return to school again. They are also recommending expulsion from school entirely. Nicholas loves his school and is very upset by these actions
I understand the world we live with today. It’s a frightening time for parents and school officials alike. However, I do feel that the punishment Nicholas received does not fit the supposed crime. In fact, I cannot find any referrence in the Montgomery County Student Handbook to punishment involving “toy guns.” The weapons code only refers to weapons which can do bodily harm. There is a better way to handle this offense of school policy by simply calling his parents in for a discussion of what happened. This is a “first offense” by a kindergartner who is just starting to wet his feet in the conformed societal system. In my view, a warning would have been more appropriate. As a former student of Gaithersburg Elementary this would have been how my principal, Mr. John Roach, would have handled it.
If we are to teach our children good values and morals then I cannot fathom how suspension in this matter can coexist with such teaching. By suspending him, you are now teaching him that he is not cared for by his school teacher, administrators or other faculty members. I can only think that he is now labeled a “problem child” in the school eyes and, in the future, the school system will “treat” him as such.
Nicholas is a bright and caring boy who has shown great improvement in his learning this past year. Like most boys his age, he can be a rascal at times but this action in no way serves the higher purpose of educating him or correcting his bad behavior. I wouldn’t want to see him stifled by this event in any way. I hereby ask that you seek with swift regard to help rescind the suspension action against my nephew without further cause. Should this action not be taken then I will seek the counsel of our family’s attorney and proceed through all legal avenues of appeal. I will not let my nephew become another school system statistic without a fight.
Sincerely,
Andrew R. Bulles
20634 Piney Branch Way
Potomac Falls, VA 20165
Tel. 703-948-0887
Nicholas’s mother, Debbie Bulles, can be reached on her cell phone at 240-426-6485
Fantastic news, Andy. Congratulations!
Oh well… I came from Argentina two weeks ago. And I feel I’m living in an enchanted town. Everything is so suspiciously perfect in Puyallup. I’m typing this with a smile. My children are going to school for the first time today. I hope zero tolerance helps them appreciate freedom more. Argentina is chaotic in a way, I mean … how far can one’s freedom go?… But I want my children to be able to make good decisions for themselves, not just fit in the “ready made” perfect world.
What the hell do you expct form liberal assholes? they can not think for themselvs and spew what they were tought, shit, guns are bad mmkay? drugs are good mmkay? mmkay mr makey
Thank you Jim, not all Liberals are how would *you* put it….. “Can not think for themselves and spew what they were thought, shit, guns are bad”
I believe for the sake of child development and that they do not know any better that this is over punishment and these guys are cock bites. Id love to give each one of them a good square kick in the face.
toy guns make kids think that it is ok to use guns but in reality it’s not ok to use them.
That is one opinion, kaylynn. The second amendment assures us that the oposite opinion will also be respected.
Many parents and school adminstrators feel that guns are misrepresented to children. As adults, we can distinguish which guns are toys and which guns are weapons,however many children do not understand the difference. The administration is right for lawing that guns are not permitted in their schools because then they will not have to explain to every individual child throughly the difference between a toy gun and a real gun. It is not their job to do this; it is the parents job. Toy guns and knives should not be made anyways because many young children do not understand life and death and toys and guns. This idea must be considered before more children die from the lack of knowledge of their fellow classmates. It is the parent’s duty to teach children about safety and just simply kindness. It is not kind to point a gun at another person. I recommend teaching your child this because you could be the next parent with a dead child or facing a parent who lost their child because of your child’s ignorance and your lack of parenting.
Andrea, I agree with most of what you say here. Little kids do not have the experience to act maturely and they lack the knowledge of what is truly dangerous and what is not. Schools are well within their rights to prohibit guns and knives of any sort.
The problem comes in when the same punishment is meted out for possessing a dangerous item and for possessing a harmless toy. As adults the administration IS knowledgeable and experienced and are more than capable of differentiating the two.