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9-Year-Old Massachusetts Boy Facing Charges for Bringing Toy Gun on School Bus
It's hard to argue that weapons have no place on a school bus, but not impossible
I make no secret of my immense dislike for guns, the Second Amendment be damned. Whether they’re real or fake, I think guns generally do more harm than good when in the hands of anyone but police officials and the military, and any gun around a child should be immediately confiscated and destroyed.
The other day my toddler was playing outside with some neighborhood kids when a 10-year-old neighbor brought out a toy gun that measured longer than he did from head to toe. It made me cringe and want to bring her inside. I get that mixing toy guns with kids is unavoidable to an extent, but I’ll keep trying my best anyway to keep weapons and the poisonous message I think they spread away from my kids nonetheless.
All that being said, I think it’s a little drastic that a 9-year-old boy in Palmer, Massachusetts, is being summoned to juvenile court to face charges for bringing a toy handgun on his school bus.
Guns of any variety — toy or real — don’t belong in school, particularly since so many fake ones can look so realistic. The chief of police said there was no indication, however, that the boy wanted to hurt anyone, but still the school’s superintendent said that appropriate action was taken “based on the policies and procedures” in place anway.
The kid told police that he forgot he had the gun in his jacket when he got on the bus. And because it was a toy that shoots soft plastic projectiles, it is considered a weapon, and there is a zero tolerance policy for weapons at the Old Mill Pond Elementary School where the boy is enrolled.
I can see suspending the kid for some amount of time to teach him a lesson and set a concrete example for others that there is no tolerance for weapons of any ilk, but sending him to juvenile court at the age of 9 to face real charges seems a little too harsh to me. And I hate guns.
Do you admire the school for sticking to their zero tolerance policy, or do you think they could have handled the issue within the school without bringing it to the police?
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5 Comments
Wayne commented on May 16 11 at 7:35 amMandatory sentencing came into being because people are too stupid to think for themselves. It’s ridiculous to punish a child for bringing a toy to school UNLESS that toy — whatever it is– is used to disrupt the learning process.
goddess commented on May 16 11 at 7:47 amZero-=tolerance policies generally equate to zero-intelligence policies, whether they are applied to weapons (suspensions for Nerf guns, gah), suspensions/expulsions for fighting (even being pummeled with no attempt at self-defence gets you suspended and a ride to the PD in our district), and drugs (an Advil gets the same expulsions as heroin).
A nerf gun. Get freaking real.
Patrick commented on May 16 11 at 7:50 amHi
Sadly it’s the very message of intolerance reflected in your post that allows such drastic over-reactions to occur in Massachusetts. It’s difficult to reconcile “any gun around a child should be immediately confiscated and destroyed” with “it’s a little drastic that a 9-year-old boy in Palmer, Massachusetts, is being summoned to juvenile court to face charges for bringing a toy handgun on his school bus.” After all “many fake ones can look so realistic” and “it is considered a weapon, and there is a zero tolerance policy for weapons”Until Massachusetts decides to embrace tolerance our children will be at risk of running into such zero tolerance outrages every day.
Amanda commented on May 16 11 at 11:55 amHow can somethhing that can’t really hurt anyone be considered a “weapon” anyway? It seems that in order to be a school administator these days, possessing common sense in not a requirement.
John K. commented on Oct 21 11 at 1:08 amI’ll second the “zero intelligence” comment from above. This is absolutely ridiculous.
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