Where I grew up, it was not unusual to see a 12 year old, by himself, carrying a long gun and going up into the woods to do some shooting. I did it myself. Likewise, older teens occasionally carried handguns while hiking. Nobody though anything of it and nothing ever came of it.
I can also remember a boy bringing an old rifle for show-and-tell in third grade. The rifle got sent to the principal's office and the show-and-tell didn't happen. But the police never got called and nobody got expelled.
But what was described in the article just seems insane. The pistol is a pocket automatic. Not suitable for anything other than killing or wounding another human at close range, and not very good at that. His mother is criminally stupid if nothing else.
I would have to say that the mother seems incredibly stupid, especially in this day and age when there has been these terrible school shootings. I live in Alaska where kids used to bring their shotguns to school with ammo, keep them in their lockers all day, so that they could go straight to duck hunting immediately after school so as to capitalize on the limited winter sunlight in this state. But sadly, this can't happen anymore. I don't like it, but, with all of the fear from the insane school shootings, I guess they gotta do something. And because of this, I have made sure that my kids watch their mouths about our guns (no jokes about having them in school for instance), and don't take a pocket knife to school, etc.
And yet here is a teacher who doesn't take the precaution to make sure that little Jonny checked his gun at the door before he left home for school...
But I will agree that things concerning precautionary measures have spun out of control. We had this kid in Haines, Alaska who brought a plastic toy gun that spat out little rubber bouncy bb's, and when some girl ratted him out, the cops were called, the kid was arrested while in the middle of class, and he was taken to jail! Yeah, he spent the whole afternoon in jail until his Mom or Dad could be contacted.
There was a big old flap about it in town, and of course the "concerned ones" were the local Libs who insisted that the cops did the right thing by arresting this fifteen year old boy, because, they said, "We don't want another Colombine in this town and we have to have a zero tolerance attitude towards firearms and weapons!" Oh why oh why can't cops and people simply judge a situation as an individual situation and just act logically accordingly? But nooo, they had to follow the new "zero tolerance guidelines" and arrest this boy as a criminal. Hell, the kid was/is a friend of my daughter's and he is no more a criminal than my daughter. He was just being a highschool boy. Mis-guided in this case, now that we have the hind sight, but, now he has a criminal record because of a spring loaded pea-shooter? Man, what total and complete unadulterated bull s h it!
Unfortunately, this mom/teacher in this Pennsylvania case was unable to be wise with her son....
Sounds to me like the mom was called in to witness the interrogation and rather than see her son get hung out to dry with a permanent criminal record over a very foolish kidly mistake, stepped in with a little ad libbing. I don't know but I may have done the same thing, but hopefully would have come up with more cogent answers.
Sounds to me like the mom was called in to witness the interrogation and rather than see her son get hung out to dry with a permanent criminal record over a very foolish kidly mistake, stepped in with a little ad libbing. I don't know but I may have done the same thing, but hopefully would have come up with more cogent answers.
That's the way I read it. It looks like the mother choked on her foot, trying to protect her son.
... the mom should keep tabs with a pistol just like any other tool.
I agree with that characterization of a gun. It's a tool that can be used properly and responsibly or otherwise, like, for example, the pick a certain Texas woman whose execution was highly publicized used to kill another woman.
The school seems to have acted appropriately in this case, unlike some other cases that highlight the stupidity of "zero-tolerance" policies. In all cases, a bit of judgment would be appropriate. In 2001, my daughter (would have been valedictorian had she not received credit for extracurricular drama activities that were not weighted like advanced classes, and the extra non-weighted credits dropped her to third in her class, even though she had the best grades in both regular and advanced courses) had a weekend job as a cast member in a Renaissance fair. Part of her costume was a dagger. It was a cheap costume dagger, but it would still have been an effective weapon. One weekend, she forgot to take her costume out of her car and drove to school that Monday with the costume (and dagger) in plain sight in the back seat. She was called to the Asst. Principal's office, where she explained the situation and suggested that she give him the dagger and that he call me to come to school and pick it up. He said that wouldn't be necessary and told her to put the dagger in the glove compartment, where it would be out of sight, and to be careful not to bring it to school again. If he'd gone the "zero tolerance" route, I probably would have had my daughter drop out, take a GED, and go on to college a year early. She would have lost out on some financial aid but that probably would have been cheaper than suing the school, which would have been another option. Instead, the guy used good judgment, my daughter learned to be more careful and won several State awards her senior year, all of which reflect positively on the school, and I was spared the hassle and expense of dealing with stupidity. A good outcome all the way around, much better than the outcome of the near-concurrent outcome of a Fort Worth honor student who worked as a waitress in the Stockyard district, carried mace for her protection, and was found with iit in her purse at school. She was put in an alternative education program, which screwed up her chances to graduate with honors and several scholarship opportunities. (For way-brained folks, "opportunity" is a possitive, not a "problem.")
... the mom should keep tabs with a pistol just like any other tool.
I agree with that characterization of a gun. It's a tool that can be used properly and responsibly or otherwise, like, for example, the pick a certain Texas woman whose execution was highly publicized used to kill another woman.
The school seems to have acted appropriately in this case, unlike some other cases that highlight the stupidity of "zero-tolerance" policies. In all cases, a bit of judgment would be appropriate. My daughter's Asst. Principal exercised such judgment in 2001.
She had a weekend job as a cast member in a Renaissance fair. Part of her costume was a dagger. One weekend, she forgot to take her costume out of her car and drove to school that Monday with the costume (and dagger) in plain sight in the back seat. She was called to the Asst. Principal's office, where she explained the situation and suggested that she give him the dagger and that he call me to come to school and pick it up. He said that wouldn't be necessary and told her to put the dagger in the glove compartment, where it would be out of sight, and to be careful not to bring it to school again. If he'd gone the "zero tolerance" route, I probably would have had my daughter drop out, take a GED, and go on to college a year early. She would have lost out on some financial aid but that probably would have been cheaper than suing the school district, which would have been another option. Instead, the guy used good judgment, my daughter learned to be more careful, and I was spared the hassle and expense of dealing with stupidity. A good outcome all the way around, much better than the outcome of the near-concurrent outcome of a Fort Worth honor student who worked as a waitress in the Stockyard district, carried mace for her protection, and was found with iit in her purse at school. She was put in an alternative education program, which screwed up her chances to graduate with honors and several scholarship opportunities. (For way-brained folks, "opportunity" is a possitive, not a "problem.")
Instead of all the potential problems, the situation turned out well for everyone. My daughter went on to have the best grades in her class (would have been valedictorian had she not received credit for extracurricular drama activities that were not weighted like advanced classes, and the extra non-weighted credits dropped her to third in her class, even though she had the best grades in both regular and advanced courses).
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Shellon
Mark, what city/state is this story from?
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LG
How do you figure this is about "our public schools at work again?"
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markomalley
A township just outside of Wilkes-Barre PA.
Oh, btw, the url for the article is: http://www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/13411224.htm
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markomalley
LG, I don't...it's just another in a succession of bizarre things that we see in the public schools these days
e.g., banning Christmas.
e.g., female teachers who can't their hands off the kids (so commnplace that it will soon cease to be news anymore)
e.g., zero tolerance rules taken to ridiculous ends (kid expelled for weapons violation -- put earring in ear: http://www.wate.com/Global/story.asp?S=2579621)
e.g., note my comments at the bottom of this story: and she's a special ed teacher?
As I said, just more bizzareness!
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Jim
I agree. The dialog is surreal.
Where I grew up, it was not unusual to see a 12 year old, by himself, carrying a long gun and going up into the woods to do some shooting. I did it myself. Likewise, older teens occasionally carried handguns while hiking. Nobody though anything of it and nothing ever came of it.
I can also remember a boy bringing an old rifle for show-and-tell in third grade. The rifle got sent to the principal's office and the show-and-tell didn't happen. But the police never got called and nobody got expelled.
But what was described in the article just seems insane. The pistol is a pocket automatic. Not suitable for anything other than killing or wounding another human at close range, and not very good at that. His mother is criminally stupid if nothing else.
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J0nny Ling0
I would have to say that the mother seems incredibly stupid, especially in this day and age when there has been these terrible school shootings. I live in Alaska where kids used to bring their shotguns to school with ammo, keep them in their lockers all day, so that they could go straight to duck hunting immediately after school so as to capitalize on the limited winter sunlight in this state. But sadly, this can't happen anymore. I don't like it, but, with all of the fear from the insane school shootings, I guess they gotta do something. And because of this, I have made sure that my kids watch their mouths about our guns (no jokes about having them in school for instance), and don't take a pocket knife to school, etc.
And yet here is a teacher who doesn't take the precaution to make sure that little Jonny checked his gun at the door before he left home for school...
But I will agree that things concerning precautionary measures have spun out of control. We had this kid in Haines, Alaska who brought a plastic toy gun that spat out little rubber bouncy bb's, and when some girl ratted him out, the cops were called, the kid was arrested while in the middle of class, and he was taken to jail! Yeah, he spent the whole afternoon in jail until his Mom or Dad could be contacted.
There was a big old flap about it in town, and of course the "concerned ones" were the local Libs who insisted that the cops did the right thing by arresting this fifteen year old boy, because, they said, "We don't want another Colombine in this town and we have to have a zero tolerance attitude towards firearms and weapons!" Oh why oh why can't cops and people simply judge a situation as an individual situation and just act logically accordingly? But nooo, they had to follow the new "zero tolerance guidelines" and arrest this boy as a criminal. Hell, the kid was/is a friend of my daughter's and he is no more a criminal than my daughter. He was just being a highschool boy. Mis-guided in this case, now that we have the hind sight, but, now he has a criminal record because of a spring loaded pea-shooter? Man, what total and complete unadulterated bull s h it!
Unfortunately, this mom/teacher in this Pennsylvania case was unable to be wise with her son....
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coolchef1248 @adelphia.net
jonny
incredible stupid is right
by the way i cooked for the govener of maine tonie
cool
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Ron G.
Sounds to me like the mom was called in to witness the interrogation and rather than see her son get hung out to dry with a permanent criminal record over a very foolish kidly mistake, stepped in with a little ad libbing. I don't know but I may have done the same thing, but hopefully would have come up with more cogent answers.
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Pirate1974
Who would just give a 11-year old kid a handgun and then obviously have no idea what he's doing with it?
Moronic.
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LG
That's the way I read it. It looks like the mother choked on her foot, trying to protect her son.
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Ron G.
Pirate,
My 12 year old has a .22 similar to the one in the story that he carries when doing chores. Sometimes he carries the .38 spl.
So far he's killed 4 copperhead snakes and a couple of rabbits we had for dinner.
Teaching him proper use and safety has probably saved me several trips to the emergency room for snake bite treatment.
I do agree the mom should keep tabs with a pistol just like any other tool.
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LG
I agree with that characterization of a gun. It's a tool that can be used properly and responsibly or otherwise, like, for example, the pick a certain Texas woman whose execution was highly publicized used to kill another woman.
The school seems to have acted appropriately in this case, unlike some other cases that highlight the stupidity of "zero-tolerance" policies. In all cases, a bit of judgment would be appropriate. In 2001, my daughter (would have been valedictorian had she not received credit for extracurricular drama activities that were not weighted like advanced classes, and the extra non-weighted credits dropped her to third in her class, even though she had the best grades in both regular and advanced courses) had a weekend job as a cast member in a Renaissance fair. Part of her costume was a dagger. It was a cheap costume dagger, but it would still have been an effective weapon. One weekend, she forgot to take her costume out of her car and drove to school that Monday with the costume (and dagger) in plain sight in the back seat. She was called to the Asst. Principal's office, where she explained the situation and suggested that she give him the dagger and that he call me to come to school and pick it up. He said that wouldn't be necessary and told her to put the dagger in the glove compartment, where it would be out of sight, and to be careful not to bring it to school again. If he'd gone the "zero tolerance" route, I probably would have had my daughter drop out, take a GED, and go on to college a year early. She would have lost out on some financial aid but that probably would have been cheaper than suing the school, which would have been another option. Instead, the guy used good judgment, my daughter learned to be more careful and won several State awards her senior year, all of which reflect positively on the school, and I was spared the hassle and expense of dealing with stupidity. A good outcome all the way around, much better than the outcome of the near-concurrent outcome of a Fort Worth honor student who worked as a waitress in the Stockyard district, carried mace for her protection, and was found with iit in her purse at school. She was put in an alternative education program, which screwed up her chances to graduate with honors and several scholarship opportunities. (For way-brained folks, "opportunity" is a possitive, not a "problem.")
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LG
I agree with that characterization of a gun. It's a tool that can be used properly and responsibly or otherwise, like, for example, the pick a certain Texas woman whose execution was highly publicized used to kill another woman.
The school seems to have acted appropriately in this case, unlike some other cases that highlight the stupidity of "zero-tolerance" policies. In all cases, a bit of judgment would be appropriate. My daughter's Asst. Principal exercised such judgment in 2001.
She had a weekend job as a cast member in a Renaissance fair. Part of her costume was a dagger. One weekend, she forgot to take her costume out of her car and drove to school that Monday with the costume (and dagger) in plain sight in the back seat. She was called to the Asst. Principal's office, where she explained the situation and suggested that she give him the dagger and that he call me to come to school and pick it up. He said that wouldn't be necessary and told her to put the dagger in the glove compartment, where it would be out of sight, and to be careful not to bring it to school again. If he'd gone the "zero tolerance" route, I probably would have had my daughter drop out, take a GED, and go on to college a year early. She would have lost out on some financial aid but that probably would have been cheaper than suing the school district, which would have been another option. Instead, the guy used good judgment, my daughter learned to be more careful, and I was spared the hassle and expense of dealing with stupidity. A good outcome all the way around, much better than the outcome of the near-concurrent outcome of a Fort Worth honor student who worked as a waitress in the Stockyard district, carried mace for her protection, and was found with iit in her purse at school. She was put in an alternative education program, which screwed up her chances to graduate with honors and several scholarship opportunities. (For way-brained folks, "opportunity" is a possitive, not a "problem.")
Instead of all the potential problems, the situation turned out well for everyone. My daughter went on to have the best grades in her class (would have been valedictorian had she not received credit for extracurricular drama activities that were not weighted like advanced classes, and the extra non-weighted credits dropped her to third in her class, even though she had the best grades in both regular and advanced courses).
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