Matt Bors for March 20, 2013

I think Bors is right on with this one. Kids being sent home suspended because they played cowboys and indians and pointed their fingers made shooting noises is ridiculous. We are trying so hard to be politically correct it would probably be better to just home school our grammar school kids so they don’t make a childish mistake and say or do something that offends a teacher or a parent.

Think the kid, or the school read Zack Hill :p

[facepalm]

Gotta love zero tolerance accompanied with zero sense.Zero tolerance applied to children of that age still learning is usually nonsensical. It has to make you wonder about the teaching & school admin staff applying it. Would you want these people teaching your children “values”?

It was over ten years ago now, but a friend of mine who is an antique weapons collector and war reenactor helped his daughter with a display of the battlefield at Yorktown, Va. where the Revolutionary War ended. As markers for where unit were placed, tiny lead cannons and figurines of appropriately dressed and armed soldiers standing at attention, were set into the styrofoam base. The teacher sent the display home with instructions that the 1/8th of an inch long rifle and bayonet tips on the soldiers’ backs had to be cut off, not as a puncture hazard, but because they represented guns. The display was returned with paper markers and looked much less impressive than it had at first.The line separating intelligent caution and foolish over caution is not that narrow. A cap gun, or noise maker gun at school is not appropriate. A nerf gun and squirt gun is not appropriate in school settings. Pointing a finger and going “bang-bang”, or chewing a food item into a weapon shaped ‘toy’ does not warrant putting a child in the principal’s office or making a notation on a child’s permanent record. With all of the childish adults not willing to support Universal background checks, punishing children for being children is ridiculous and immature.Respectfully,C.

I read in today’s paper that a man in Virginia Beach faces a $2500 fine and five years in prison for wearing a clown mask while entering a movie theater.

Guns: no problem. Clown masks? Throw away the key.

What a country.

Hello Mechanic,There have been several stories over the last couple of years of children taking toy guns of various types to school in book bags and lunch boxes, many shown on tv by journalists reporting in a “what are these people thinking” way that I feel is warranted. Some of these first through third grade children were suspended for a week or more for not being able to make a mature judgement call.^ I Play One on TV’s story is also not a legend,http://www.wavy.com/dpp/news/crime/masked-men-arrested-for-theater-scare^If you read the story, you’ll see one of these silly young men were also charged with carrying a firearm – because under Virginia law, his knife could be considered a firearm. A knife.This young man is probably going to go to jail for being high, wearing a mask, and carrying a knife while being a jerk. If he had walked into the theater with a holstered 9mm, no one could have said a word.The gun show is March 22-24 in Hampton Roads. Come get your guns without background checks while you can.Sadly,C.(been reading you Mechanic. You’re doing better at resisting the dark side. May the force be with you…always. ;o) )

the radish is a little over-fertilized, the NRA does not want “nuts” shooting anyone. nice try, though.

No misunderstanding Mechanic,I had seen video news stories on the same kind of things and wanted to reinforce the point you were making. There has also been reports like the other one you mentioned, of young people giving over the counter drugs to friends who were feeling bad and who were suspended or worse for innocent act of kindness. And in so many cases, these things go into a child’s record, and in this day of computer records, it becomes permanent.You brought up valid points. While the gist of it was, “he brought a ‘gun’”, and "she was “dealing drugs”, the context properly used to explain content is a good thing.I appreciate your efforts, tone, and spirit.Sincerely,C.

This is so absurd. I grew up pretending to go to war with my best friend for years, and we were pretending to have AK-47s much less. But we both went on to be completely normal people. (This was in the ‘00s). Neither of us has ever contemplated killing anyone in our whole lives and we probably never will. Of course, thank God the school admins didn’t find out.

In all fairness, you know the education administrations doing this stuff all over the country are libs. Ha Ha, your team!