Yet, more nutty zero tolerance over guns

From Princeton, NC (WTVD Raleigh-Durham, NC):

A Johnston County high school student has been expelled for bringing a gun onto school property, but the school's student body is coming to his defense.
David "Cole" Withrow is a senior at Princeton High School. He was set to graduate in just a few weeks, until his arrest Monday for bringing a gun to school.
Cole, who is an Eagle Scout and an honors student, said he forgot to take his gun out of his truck after skeet shooting. When he got to school and realized the gun was in his car, he went into school to call his mom so he could leave and take the gun home.
The school found out and Cole was arrested and expelled.
Now his classmates and members of the community are speaking out in his defense. . . .

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Zero tolerance destroys promising student's life: Science experiment "explosion" pops top off container creates smoke, girl arrested and expelled

The principal thought that nothing was intentional and that no harm was done.  So why didn't he prevent her from being arrested?  Regulations.  "Wilmot was arrested Monday morning and charged with possession/discharge of a weapon on school property and discharging a destructive device."  The "weapon" "caused the top [of a small plastic water bottle] to pop up."  Seriously?  That is it.  From the New Miami News:

Kiera Wilmot got good grades and had a perfect behavior record. She wasn't the kind of kid you'd expect to find hauled away in handcuffs and expelled from school, but that's exactly what happened after an attempt at a science project went horribly wrong. 

On 7 a.m. on Monday, the 16 year-old mixed some common household chemicals in a small 8 oz water bottle on the grounds of Bartow High School in Bartow, Florida. The reaction caused a small explosion that caused the top to pop up and produced some smoke. No one was hurt and no damage was caused. 

According to WTSP, Wilmot told police that she was merely conducting a science experiment. Though her teachers knew nothing of the specific project, her principal seems to agree. . . . 

After the explosion Wilmot was taken into custody by a school resources officer and charged with possession/discharge of a weapon on school grounds and discharging a destructive device. She will be tried as an adult. 

She was then taken to a juvenile assessment center. She was also expelled from school and will be forced to complete her diploma through an expulsion program. . . .

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West Virginia Boy returns to school after being arrested for wearing NRA t-shirt

Another bizarre zero tolerance example.  It seems clear that the point of terrorizing school children over guns is to traumatize them about guns.  From Fox News:

A West Virginia teenager who was arrested and suspended from school after he refused to remove an NRA T-shirt is back in class.
Fourteen-year-old Jared Marcum of Logan returned to Logan Middle School on Monday after serving a one-day suspension.
His father, Allen Lardieri, told 13 News that the situation was exaggerated and said, "I don't see how anybody would have an issue with a hunting rifle and NRA put on a T-shirt, especially when policy doesn’t forbid it."
The school district's dress code prohibits any profanity, violence, discriminatory messages, but the report noted that gun images are not on the list. . . .

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A University of Kentucky Professor on Zero Tolerance Policies at Schools

A professor of speech communication at Morehead State University in Kentucky has this discussion.  

Thanks to Mark Spurlin for this link.

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Public Elementary School confiscates birthday cupcakes with toy soldiers on them

Can't public school teachers differentiate between a real threat and a toy soldier?  Of course they can.  But the point here is to traumatize kids over anything that involves guns.  Toy soldiers were "insensitive"?  From CBS Detroit:

A 9-year-old boy’s birthday cupcakes sparked a school controversy that just keeps growing, with scores of people lining up against a school principal who found the cupcake’s topping “inappropriate.”
The boy was chided, and so were his parents, for cupcakes featuring little green Army men on the top.
Schall Elementary School principal Susan Wright called the parents at home and said the cupcakes were insensitive in the wake of the Sandy Hook school shooting. School staff pulled off the Army men before they were served. . . .

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More nutty zero tolerance policy in our public schools

More attempts by public schools to traumatize children about guns.  This story from an incident in Baltimore.

Josh said, "It was already a rectangle and I just kept on biting it and biting it and tore off the top and it kinda looked like a gun but it wasn't."  

Josh takes full responsibly for trying to shape his breakfast pastry, but admits it was in innocent fun. He told FOX45, "All I was trying to do was turn it into a mountain but, it didn't look like a mountain really and it turned out to be a gun kinda." 

When his teacher saw the strawberry tart he knew he was in trouble, he recalls, "She was pretty mad…and I think I was in big trouble." 

Josh's dad received a phone call from the school saying that Josh has been suspended for two days because he took his breakfast pastry and fashioned it into a gun. Josh's dad was astounded to learn the school chose such a harsh punishment, even after no one was hurt. 

Late Friday afternoon a letter went home with students explaining the incident saying, "A student used food to make an inappropriate gesture."  . . . .

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7 year old boy suspended for having shaping is food to look like a gun

More craziness is here:

Josh Welch is a seven-year-old-boy who attends Park Elementary School in Brooklyn Park. The Maryland school has a breakfast “snack time” and provided pastries on Friday. Josh was trying to turn his pastry into a shape. Josh chewed his breakfast pastry into the shape of a gun and was suspended for two days.
Josh had his parents called into the school after the teacher took away his half-eaten breakfast pastry. Josh told Fox Baltimore he was trying to shape the pastry into a mountain, but it looked more like a gun. Regardless of the shape the child was trying to make, the pastry was still simply food and could not actually harm anyone. . . . .

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Student threatened with suspension for wearing Marines T-shirt with picture of two rifles on it

Can't school officials differentiate a picture of a rifle on a T-shirt honoring the Marines and a real gun that threatens people?  Of course they can.  This is just an attempt to terrify students about guns.  From Fox News:

An Illinois father wants a school district to reconsider its dress code after his son was asked to remove a U.S. Marines T-shirt or be suspended, FoxNews.com has learned. 

Daniel McIntyre, 44, of Genoa, told FoxNews.com that his 14-year-old son, Michael, was asked to remove the T-shirt by eighth-grade teacher Karen Deverell during reading class at Genoa-Kingston Middle School on Monday. Deverell, citing the school’s dress code, said the garment’s interlocking rifles was problematic and had to be removed from sight, McIntyre said. 

“My son is very proud of the Marines, and, in fact, of all the services,” McIntyre said. “So he wears it with pride. There are two rifles crossed underneath the word ‘Marines’ on the shirt, but to me that should be overlooked. It’s more about the Marines instead of the rifles.” . . .

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Teacher outrageously gives zeros to students who wrote about hunting and a gun show

These teachers are just trying to traumatize students about guns.  From Fox News:

An English teacher at Denton High School in the Dallas-Fort Worth area allegedly refused to grade two student reports because they discussed guns. 

MyFoxDFW.com reports that the teacher, Dewey Christian, told his students to write a report on anything they wanted. 

Marshall Williams, one of Christian's students, told the station he chose to write about a Fort Worth gun show he had attended. He said Christian told him he would get a zero on the assignment because of the topic. 

Another student, Alex Wright, said Christian rejected his report because it mentioned hunting. 

After telling his mother, Kimberly Williams, about the incident, she and Marshall met with Christian, according to the report. 

Kimberly Williams' cell phone video recording of the meeting reportedly shows Christian explaining that he refused to grade the report because of concerns about school violence. . . . .

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Florence, Arizona: Student suspended for having picture of gun on his computer

Can't schools differentiate the picture of a gun from an actual threat?  From Florence, Arizona:

A high school student in Florence said he has been suspended because of a picture of a gun.
Daniel McClaine Jr., a freshman at Poston Butte High School, said he saved the picture as his desktop background on his school-issued computer.
A teacher noticed it and turned him in.
The picture shows an AK-47 on top of a flag.
McClaine said the school initially suspended him for three days Friday.
. . .  the district policy states students are prohibited from “sending or displaying offensive messages or pictures,” and cannot access, send, create or forward pictures that are considered “harassing, threatening, or illegal.”
McClaine said he read the guidelines but does not consider the picture threatening to anyone.
“This gun wallpaper does not show anything that’s violent. It's not showing anybody getting shot in any way. It's just a picture of a gun. It's nothing -- nobody getting shot, nobody getting it pointed at them, it's nothing,” said McClaine. . . .
“To me it's ridiculous. Three days for a picture? It wasn't like he was standing in front of the school holding the gun,” said Daniel McClaine Sr. [Daniel's father] “He should have got a warning. He shouldn't have ever been suspended. Not for something so frivolous.”

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More on that 5th grade girl who was brutalized by the public school for taking a paper "gun" to school

It is a real tragedy to have this young girl carrying a piece of paper (see below) is being taunted as "murderer" by her fellow students.  Is it necessary to do a search of the girl in front of her class because they want to see if she were carrying real weapons?  Seriously?  Here is a picture of the dangerous piece of paper that young 5th grade student Melody Valentin brought to school.

From FoxNews.com:

The School District of Philadelphia is defending its decision to scold and search an elementary school student who pulled out a paper gun in class.
A district spokesman said the school acted swiftly and appropriately when 5th grade student Melody Valentin allegedly told classmates she had a handgun on her, MyFoxPhilly.com reported.
Melody and her mother, Dianna Kelly, deny she ever used the word “handgun.”
According to Kelly, Melody realized she had the paper gun with her and put it on her desk while preparing to throw it away. Melody’s grandfather, a marine specializing in firearms reportedly gave it to her the day before.
A classmate spotted the piece of paper and contacted administrators.
"He yelled at me and said I shouldn't have brought the gun to school and I kept telling him it was a paper gun but he wouldn't listen," Melody told MyFoxPhilly.com. . . .

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Something to consider in the new federal push for gun registration

Presumably there are other crimes in DC that could have been stopped if it wasn't so difficult to legally obtain a gun.  This might be one person who wasn't stopped by the law and because he still got a gun he was able to save a young boy's life.  I would like to know this good samaritan's income. I have pointed out how registration doesn't help reduce crime, but, with the push for federal gun registration, just something to consider.

. . . The incident unfolded Sunday afternoon, after three pit bulls attacked an 11-year-old boy as he rode his bicycle through the Brightwood neighborhood of Northwest, according to a police report. 

When the man, a neighbor, saw the boy being mauled by the dogs, he went inside his home and got a gun. The man killed one of the dogs. The gunfire attracted the attention of a police officer in the area near Eighth and Sheridan streets, where the attack occurred. The officer responded and shot the other two pit bulls as they continued to attack the boy. 

The police report, which did not identify any of the people involved, said the boy suffered severe lacerations. The Washington Post, which first reported the details of the shooting, quoted the boy’s uncle as saying the boy was also shot in the foot. . . . 

While public opinion might be supportive of the man’s actions, he could still face significant charges depending on the outcome of the investigation, criminal defense attorney Daniel Gross said. . . . 

The man could face a host of charges depending on the specifics of the case, including whether the gun used is a registered firearm that the man was legally permitted to own, Mr. Gross said. Possession of an unregistered firearm or ammunition is punishable by up to one year in prison and a $1,000 fine, and determining whether the man legally possessed the gun used will likely have greater bearing on the way the case is handled, Mr. Gross said. . . . .

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More nutty zero tolerance at schools, the case of the paper gun

The public school officials don't feel that it is necessary to explain their actions to the public and refuse to return calls from the media, but somehow they think that it is OK to publicly humiliate this young girl.  The picture of the very sad girl in the story tells it all.

A Philadelphia elementary school student was scolded and searched by administrators in front of her entire class after she pulled out a paper gun in class last week, according to her mother. 

Melody Valentin's mother, Dianna Kelly, tells Fox 29 that school officials went too far when they reportedly punished her daughter for pulling out the gun, which she says looks like a folded sheet of paper. 

Fox 29 reports that one of the fifth grader's classmates reportedly saw the paper gun and notified administrators as she was going to throw it away. 

"He yelled at me and said I shouldn't have brought the gun to school and I kept telling him it was a paper gun but he wouldn't listen," Melody tells Fox 29. 

Kelly says school staff searched her daughter while other students watched. 

The gun was made by Melody's grandfather, according to Kelly, who says her daughter has suffered nightmares as a result of the incident. . . .

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"Nerf toy causes lockdown at Long Island school"

Does this look like a real gun?  Is it that difficult for school administrators to differentiate this gun from other weapons?  Here is a story from Long Island, NY:

A lime-green Nerf toy gun caused an hours-long lock-down at a Long Island school on Tuesday.
A 911 caller told Nassau County Police she saw a suspicious teen at about 7:38 a.m. Tuesday wearing a black jacket and carrying a black backpack at Elmont Memorial high School in Elmont.
The caller said he was also carrying a lime green gun.
A SWAT team searched the school room by room.  Parents were allowed to pick up their children early Tuesday afternoon. . . .

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"Parents Furious After Young Boys Suspended After Playing With Imaginary Weapon"

No sense of balance or just an attempt to scare young children when they are playing with imaginary guns so that they won't think that playing with guns is fun?  From Baltimore:

Some parents on the Eastern Shore say school officials there went too far in disciplining a couple of six-year-old boys. Derek Valcourt explains the boys got into trouble for bringing an imaginary weapon to school.
What started as a recess game of cops and robbers at a Talbot County school turned into a controversy after two six-year-old boys were suspended for using their fingers to make an imaginary gun.
Many say a suspension is going too far.
“It’s ridiculous,” said Julia Merchant.
And it’s not the first time. Earlier this month, six-year-old Rodney Lynch was suspended from his Montgomery County school after pretending to fire an imaginary gun more than once. . . .

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