Boy Suspended For 1-inch Toy Gun

[JohnRich 4]

In the news, paraphrased:

A third-grader was suspended from school for three days for bringing a one inch-long G.I. Joe toy gun to school. After three days, the boy was reinstated, after school officials decided the toy wasn't a violation of a zero-tolerance policy against weapons.

It took these idiots three days to figure out that a one-inch plastic toy wasn't a "weapon"? And these are the people educating our children?

Full Story Here

[quade 3]

Paraphrased! I'll say you paraphrased it!

Here's the lead graf from the real story.

Quote

The Associated Press
2/26/2004, 1:43 p.m. CT



BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) -- A third-grader suspended for bringing an inch-long, G.I. Joe toy gun to school was reinstated Thursday, after school officials decided the toy wasn't a violation of a zero-tolerance policy against weapons, the boy's grandmother said.

Emphasis mine.

Now, quit making mountains out of mole hills.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[Swoopyswoop 0]

Wouldnt it be easier to look at the one inch gun, see that it is not posing any threat, remove the toy from the child until after school, and then that be the end of it? It took them the time to expell the child, then decide whether or not the toy posed a threat? Anyone with half a brain can look at a 1 inch toy and obviously see thats its not a functioning weapon, and declare that its not a threat. I just dont understand the disfunction in the school systems anymore. It seems that they have become the problem and not part of the solution to educating our children. What you think quade?

"when I die, I want to go like my grandfather while im sleeping, not like the passengers riding in the car with me
Swoopster
A.S.S. #6 Future T.S.S holder

[quade 3]

I think you've missed the point of zero-tolerance rules.

True, they make people look silly every now and then, but it makes it much, much easier for the people trying to enforce rules. Absolutely no thought whatsoever is required.

The officials looked at the case, decided it was an unfair situation and reversed their decision.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[dropoutdave 0]

Zero tolerance or not, whatever happened to logic and common sense? There ought to be zero tolerance for people who don't have that.

------------------------------------------------------
May Contain Nut traces......

[JohnRich 4]

Quote

Paraphrased! I'll say you paraphrased it!

Here's the lead graf from the real story.

Quote

A third-grader suspended for bringing an inch-long, G.I. Joe toy gun to school was reinstated Thursday, after school officials decided the toy wasn't a violation of a zero-tolerance policy against weapons, the boy's grandmother said.

Emphasis mine.

Now, quit making mountains out of mole hills.

I don't understand your complaint. I said he was suspended - he was. I said he was reinstated - he was. So how the heck do you see me misrepresenting anything? I didn't omit any of the facts which you saw fit to highlight in bold.

[Swoopyswoop 0]

No I do undrstand zero tolerance and I do agree with a zero tolerance policy, I just think its a little overboard to suspend a child for a 1 inch toy gun. Jesus man when I was in grade school we brought G.I joe figures to school by the shoebox full, and at recess time, the battlefield broke out on the playground. We had ww3 going on for an hour each day and no harm was done. Point is I understand there are a lot of toy guns that can be very easily mistaken for the real thing, very authentic, but not a 1 inch gun.

"when I die, I want to go like my grandfather while im sleeping, not like the passengers riding in the car with me
Swoopster
A.S.S. #6 Future T.S.S holder

[turtlespeed 212]

Quote

Wouldnt it be easier to look at the one inch gun, see that it is not posing any threat, remove the toy from the child until after school, and then that be the end of it? It took them the time to expell the child, then decide whether or not the toy posed a threat? Anyone with half a brain can look at a 1 inch toy and obviously see thats its not a functioning weapon, and declare that its not a threat. I just dont understand the disfunction in the school systems anymore. It seems that they have become the problem and not part of the solution to educating our children. What you think quade?

Well, if he used the special ninja fighting stance, and he threw it at the teacher, then said "Hi-Ja" it could have been construed as a weapon. OH, yeah, it's still only an INCH long. It would seem the teacher should be taking lessons from the student. How much actual INTELLIGENCE does it take?

I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama
BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun

[quade 3]

Quote

Zero tolerance or not, whatever happened to logic and common sense? There ought to be zero tolerance for people who don't have that.

You can't lock up people for being stupid.

Who'd run the country?

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[WrongWay 0]

Quote

Quote

Zero tolerance or not, whatever happened to logic and common sense? There ought to be zero tolerance for people who don't have that.

You can't lock up people for being stupid.

Who'd run the country?

Certainly not anyone in the Bush family.....not only are they stupid, but they're horrible skydivers!!

Wrong Way
D #27371 Mal Manera Rodriguez Cajun Chicken Ø Hellfish #451
The wiser wolf prevails.

[b1jercat 0]

This goes right into my category of who gives a shit.

Honestly John your starting to worry me, bring up your bullshit because of a toy gun.

blues

jerry

[skydyvr 0]

Quote

I think you've missed the point of zero-tolerance rules.

True, they make people look silly every now and then, but it makes it much, much easier for the people trying to enforce rules. Absolutely no thought whatsoever is required.

Yea, policies that remove the need for teachers to think and use common sense are a really good thing . . . NOT!!

. . =(_8^(1)

[Jimbo 0]

Quote

This goes right into my category of who gives a shit.

Anyone that ever has to deal with these "Zero Tolerance" laws, that's who.

Quote

Honestly John your starting to worry me, bring up your bullshit because of a toy gun.

I don't see this as a gun issue, but rather as a "What the hell is going on in this country" issue. Zero Tolerance laws are not good for society. Removing the context in which a "crime" was committed before punishment is considered is dangerous.

-
Jim

"Like" - The modern day comma
Good bye, my friends. You are missed.

[kallend 1,679]

Quote

In the news, paraphrased:

A third-grader was suspended from school for three days for bringing a one inch-long G.I. Joe toy gun to school. After three days, the boy was reinstated, after school officials decided the toy wasn't a violation of a zero-tolerance policy against weapons.

It took these idiots three days to figure out that a one-inch plastic toy wasn't a "weapon"? And these are the people educating our children?

Full Story Here

School policy is made by the local school board - almost always elected members of the community supposed to reflect community values. Don't blame the teachers for idiotic rules.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[JohnRich 4]

Quote

This goes right into my category of who gives a shit.

Thank you for your deep concern over the injustice done against this young boy due to political correctness run amok.

Quote

Honestly John your starting to worry me, bring up your bullshit because of a toy gun.

Please explain what you think is "bullshit" about this topic.

[b1jercat 0]

Here you go, How many Columnbines is it going to take before you get the picture?

Which will come first, X-ray machines and metal detectors at the entrance of schools, or your right to own firearms infringed upon to the point of none.

And don't forget Springfield Oregon while your at it.

blues

jerry

[newsstand 0]

I realy hate to admint thins but for once I have to agree with JohnRich. This was stupid and zero-tolerence anything is stupid.

"Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch; nay, you may kick it about all day like a football, and it will be round and full at evening."
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes

[b1jercat 0]

I'm not disagreeing, but the writings on the wall.
There are just too many people out there with firearms that shouldn't have them.

blues

jerry

[jerm 0]

Quote

I'm not disagreeing, but the writings on the wall.
There are just too many people out there with firearms that shouldn't have them.

tthe last may or may not be true, however for someone who is bitching about someone wlse pushing an agenda, you're vertainly seem, in my opinion, to really be pushing back in the wrong spot.

This wasn't the kind fo toy gun you could wield, it was the kind of toy gun sized for a small gi-joe -- something so completely and obviously NOT a gun that the application of an anti-weapons policy was infuriatingly absurd.

whatever john's gun agenda may be, it wasn't present in this thread, and YOU axe to grind with him was as misapplied as the 3rd grader's punishment.

chill

Landing without injury is not necessarily evidence that you didn't fuck up... it just means you got away with it this time

[peacefuljeffrey 0]

Quote

I think you've missed the point of zero-tolerance rules.

True, they make people look silly every now and then, but it makes it much, much easier for the people trying to enforce rules. Absolutely no thought whatsoever is required.

The officials looked at the case, decided it was an unfair situation and reversed their decision.

I sure hope you're not speaking of this "no thought required" thing as a good thing... With you I never quite know...

You seem to be making light of this, though, as though you're being an apologist for authorities who took THREE DAYS to "look at the case, decide it was an unfair situation and reverse their decision."

What possible excuse can you make on their behalf for their failure to make a summary judgment in the child's favor as soon as the toy gun was discovered?! There is no excuse for the delay. Anyone with a brain should NEVER have even come close to suspending the boy for this kind of triviality.

But I would remind people that kids have been suspended for making a CHICKEN FINGER into a "pow-pow!" play gun, and one kid was suspended for drawing a picture of his father, who serves in the army, dressed in his uniform with a gun and grenades on his LBE. Yes, we've reached the point in politically-correct anti-gun idiocy where even PICTURES are reason to punish children. The anti-gun educational establishment is seeking to indoctrinate kids with the notion that all guns are bad, period, end of story, no other way to see it. Even freedom of expression has gone out the window in deference to the hysteria that spews from anti-gun mush-heads. A backlash has to come sooner or later.

-Jeffrey
"With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

[peacefuljeffrey 0]

Quote

No I do undrstand zero tolerance and I do agree with a zero tolerance policy, I just think its a little overboard to suspend a child for a 1 inch toy gun. Jesus man when I was in grade school we brought G.I joe figures to school by the shoebox full, and at recess time, the battlefield broke out on the playground. We had ww3 going on for an hour each day and no harm was done. Point is I understand there are a lot of toy guns that can be very easily mistaken for the real thing, very authentic, but not a 1 inch gun.

The point is, the schools think it is their prerogative to teach our children THEIR viewpoint on social and political things like gun ownership. THEY don't like the idea of kids playing in those aggressive, boy-type ways. They'd rather the boys joined the girls in the playhouse and pretend they're cooking or using condoms. They not only discourage the kind of play that comes naturally to boys, they banish it and demean the boys who try to play this way. They tell us that guns have no place in society, and when we send our kids into their care for the day, to learn OBJECTIVE things, they get their heads filled with, "If mommy and daddy keep guns in the house, they don't love you because it's dangerous to keep guns in the house and they're risking you getting hurt or killed!" They send kids home with questions about whether daddy is not, after all, a good person because daddy likes guns and takes me to the shooting range, but guns are bad and people who own them are bad... It's sickening, but they're poisoning kids' minds against their own parents. I've read first-hand accounts of this very thing happening.

-Jeffrey
"With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

[peacefuljeffrey 0]

Quote

Here you go, How many Columnbines is it going to take before you get the picture?

Which will come first, X-ray machines and metal detectors at the entrance of schools, or your right to own firearms infringed upon to the point of none.

And don't forget Springfield Oregon while your at it.

blues

jerry

OMFG this one really comes off as idiotic!! HOW CAN YOU POSSIBLY IMPLY THAT COLUMBINES HAPPEN BECAUSE 1-INCH PLASTIC G.I. JOE GUNS GET BROUGHT TO SCHOOL!?

I hope you're joking, but based on the context of your other posts, and calling John's topic choice "bullshit," I think it's far more likely that you're just thinking with the brown material that's stuffed into your colon.

"How many Columbines..."?! IT WAS A FUCKING ONE-INCH PLASTIC TOY GUN! Are you really suggesting that such toys are "the camel getting its nose into the tent"?!

-Jeffrey
"With tha thoughts of a militant mind... Hard line, hard line after hard line!"

[b1jercat 0]

Dude all I'm saying is people are getting tired of schools being turned into war zones.
The idea isn't 1-inch toy gun, it is what it represents, bring a gun to school.
You should be worried, its crap like this that indicates the future and direction society is starting to go in regards to guns.

blues

jerry

[Luv2Fall 0]

"Zero Tolerance" is the most idiotic concept to have ever crossed the so called educated mind. My son was caught on the receiving end of "ZT" wisdom, I fought it and won..................although my son still missed two days of school........much better than what was originally handed out. It's nothing more than a load of crap that the parents must go through as well. Sometimes I wonder how people without plain common sense survive. Premise upon which "ZT" was founded may have been a sincere one, but one that paved a way for stupidity.

[quade 3]

Quote

I sure hope you're not speaking of this "no thought required" thing as a good thing... With you I never quite know...

You seem to be making light of this, though, as though you're being an apologist for authorities who took THREE DAYS to "look at the case, decide it was an unfair situation and reverse their decision."

What possible excuse can you make on their behalf for their failure to make a summary judgment in the child's favor as soon as the toy gun was discovered?! There is no excuse for the delay. Anyone with a brain should NEVER have even come close to suspending the boy for this kind of triviality.

Have you ever personally done any work with the government?

Ever try to get say, permission to simply use a room in your home as an office? Well, I did. Lemme tell you, it wasn't pretty. Infuriating in fact. They had their rules and procedures for doing things and that was that.

Did I like it? No. But it makes their job easier so that's why they do it that way.

Same deal with zero tolerance rules in schools.

I admitted in the very passage you quoted that it makes people look silly every now and then. However, it DOES work.

In some cases, "no thought required" IS a good thing. If their rules say "no toy guns at school" then it's actually far more easy to deal with than if it says "no toys guns at school that can be perceived by a reasonable adult to possibly be dangerous".

Do you see the difference?

One requires an uneducated (in guns anyway) person to make a decision about the possibility that this might be a real gun or not.

I can conceive of a very small, single shot pistol that to most people would look like a toy gun and be thought to be so small by most people that it could not do any damage. My guess is that such a weapon could easily be brought to a school.

A weapon the size of a G.I. Joe pistol? Ok, you got me there, probably not, but certainly something as small as would be able to fit on a key ring and not look too out of place.

BTW, three days for a group of people to make a final decision -- big whooperdie-freekin-doo. My guess is that the decisions wasn't whether or not the gun was dangerous, but rather a discussion similar to the one we're having in this thread and look how long it's been going on.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver