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Subscribe to RSSPolice charged a fifth grade student in Alexandria, Va., with brandishing a weapon during a bus ride home from Douglas MacArthur Elementary School on Monday.
The 10-year-old student apparently showed a phony weapon to his peers during the afternoon bus ride, which prompted an immediate investigation by school officials, Alexandria police said.
Alexandria police and school administrators stopped the student for questioning as he entered the school building on Tuesday morning. Officers discovered a toy replica weapon with an orange tip in the child's backpack, police said, and the student was immediately taken into custody. No students were harmed during the incident.
"The safety of our students is always our first concern,” said Superintendent Morton Sherman. “We appreciate the quick response and action by our police. The student is suspended from school. The school division will complete its investigation in cooperation with the police as we consider further disciplinary action, including expulsion. As always, we encourage direct communication from parents, including personal phone calls."
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We all understand the need for safety first but that doesn't mean we put sanity last.
I get what you're saying and I agree. However the flip side is what if someone else carrying a gun sees it and shoots the kid thinking they are preventing another mass shooting? The kid needs to learn a lesson for his own safety.
To clarify, I do not think charges should be pressed. Just give him a stern talking to, put some fear in him, and then let him turn on the sirens in the squad car since all kids love that.
What this story fails to mention is that He was taken into custody, transported to a juvenile detention center for booking and then released to his parents.
Now he has a criminal record.
http://washingtonexaminer.com/police-arrest-10-year-old-for-bringing-toy-gun-to-school/article/2520632
Bailey, beautifully put!
Zero tolerance policies leave no room for sanity.
@ Bailey Quarters
Seriously, how is this not insanity?
I am just a dumb farm boy, you know one of those redneck, gun loving, hicks from out here in fly over country, so maybe one of you 'Sophisticated' City Folks can explain something to me.
First;
{Brandish 1 : to shake or wave (as a weapon) menacingly 2 : to exhibit in an ostentatious or aggressive manner } How does that equate to "show"ing "to his peers"?
Secondly;
{Weapon 1 : something (as a club, knife, or gun) used to injure, defeat, or destroy}
How does one get charged with brandishing a "weapon" if it is a "phony" i.e. fake weapon? {1: something (as a fake club, fake knife, or fake gun) used to cause fake injure, fake defeat, or fake destruction}
Do we now start arresting Hollywood actors for the fake murders they represented in committing in the movies and on TV?
Should not one be only arrested for brandishing a "real" weapon?
And aren't all the kids guilty of carrying "weapons" to school? Don't know about you, but I think a back pack filled with 25 pounds of books makes a pretty good "blunt instrument" type weapon. And let us not forget the baseball bats and other sporting equipment (toys in most peoples opinion) used at schools for athletic purposes, should we not remove them from schools as they are indeed truly dangerous and potentially lethal weapons.
NO, this truly is an absurdity on the grandest level. Hey, if toy guns are a prohibited item, then charge him with bringing a prohibited item to school, but to charge him with "brandishing a weapon" is asinine.
30 years ago, I was in High School, 4A school, about 500 hundred students, with an attached Jr Hr, of about 250 more. You could walk across the street to the parking lot, at during the hunting seasons, and count perhaps a minimum of 100 .22s, Shotguns, High power Rifles, and Hand guns of various flavors. I usually had a .22 bolt action and a pump shotgun, or pump shotgun and pump .30-'06. And never once was any of them used for anything, but there intended purpose. Oh yeah, there were fist to cuffs, but no one ever contemplated going to their car or truck and getting a gun to settle an argument.
When I was 12 or 13, I routinely took my single shot .410 (on the bus, lived on a farm, Obviously) to school, and on a different bus, to a friends home. And I would spend a weekend with him, and we would go hunting.
WHAT HAS CHANGED IN 30 YEARS??!!
Haven't you heard?All the social experiments have come to fruition.Everythings' great.
That's what happens when parents buy their children "toy guns" (oxymoron)
Evidently, it does.
This asinine insanity is out of hand. It reminds me of the scene in the original "Footloose" movie where the fools were burning library books.
The only "moron" here is you. My entire generation played with toy guns, and with an extremely few exceptions, we are not the social problem children blowing people away.
And yes, I know about the Vietnam veteran in Alabama, and I acknowledge him. He is one of the very few exceptions to the age stipulation.
So ridiculous, what exactly is the charge. It is being blown WAY out of proportion.
wow i can not understand this stupid riverboy21, only a stupid moron would shoot a 10 year old, and a toy gun is a toy gun, next thing you know there are going to be laws prohibiting toy guns, and make boys play with dolls. this country is becoming so stupid and so analphabetically oriented.
Hey Mike, 2 days ago a 12 year old shot his teacher and the Teacher's assistant. I never said anything about limiting toy guns, I fish, I hunt, I am familiar with guns and I'm not some overly sensitive lib. But here's a reality check for you, "stupid morons" exist and the truth is children have been shot before for holding a toy gun. There was a very high profile case of NYPD shooting a kid with a toy gun in 1994 I believe.
They should throw the parents in jail for ten for ten years and place the kid in a reform scool until eighteen. That is a terrible crime..
Ban toys for they are too dangerous for kids but don't ban real guns for they are adult toys.
When my oldest boy was real young he got a cowboy outfit with two cap guns (no caps) .
The gun nuts has cause a big, big problem in this country and all they want is more guns to cause more problems.
Clayton...please. Right mouse click on those squiggly red and green lines and you'll help us all understand you easier.
But I get your point...irony, right?
Here's a story: When I was a kid, 45 years ago or so, growing up on the "mean streets" of suburban Denver, all the boys were consumed with the need to be the biggest badass. Toughest "gang"...getting in trouble...smoking pot...etc. Chains and bats and "rumbles" were the measure.
Now, it's guns! Bombs! Cold-blooded ferocity! Rambo takes out a whole town because of one, disrespectful jerk and he gets a sequel, (or five). You get a chance to come at this thought a little stronger, next time. :)
The way this story is written only perpetuates the madness. It talks about how the child was immediately "taken into custody" when the toy was discovered in his backpack and reassures us that "no students were harmed." Just as if the weapon had been real. However, they do point out that the toy had the obligatory bright orange tip, placed there so that police will know it is just a toy and not a real gun.
Taken into CUSTODY for possessing a toy??? WTF!!! Hysterical fools.
There are definitely symptoms of mass hysteria at play, here. Eventually, when the only thing one hears about is a certain subject, (gun violence), one begins to believe that it's the only thing going on. I don't think that kids are immune to the onslaught, in fact they may be more vulnerable. I admit a certain weakness for conspiracy theories and evil intent of insidious special interest groups, but I refuse to level barrels at the "liberal mass media agenda," (that's coming in this thread and you all know it).
Instead, I think that we are all babes in a brand new era of information....an era that may prove to be a minefield of unintended consequences. Most of us have strong feelings, beliefs, and personal experiences that were not formed in such exposed times as these. (This comment may follow me to my next job or promotion interview, for instance). We've been through such sea changes before, though, (prohibition, drunk driving, inter-racial marriage anyone?), and I think we'll get through this one, too. Especially if we remember about being a little nicer to folks.
This is just one of many reasons that I now homeschool my 10 year old son. The hysteria over toy guns is getting ridiculous. Are they even allowed to mention guns during the study of history? Won't that make little boys start acting out wars and battles on the playground? We can't have that!
I'm really glad I was a child in the 50s, a much better time to grow up, I had cap pistols BB guns and a 22 caliber rifle when I was 9 to hunt rabbits and squirrels. It was fun and I learned gun safety from my father , who loved and collected guns his whole life, guns that I now have. We played cowboys & indians I can remember taking a cap gun to school several times a lot of kids did. It's a shame that a kid can get arrested now for having a picture of a gun, I can't think of anything more ridiculous than that. What exactly is the message in that?
The system is trying to indoctrinate our kids at an early age that firearms are bad, evil, and need to be feared. Thing is, that only works up to a point until they get into their teens, when outside of school influences will completely expunge that.
If instead, people are taught firearms for what they truly are, dangerous weapons which need consideration and respect, along the lines of the firearm safety rules _every— responsible gun owner knows, accidents and immature decisions would be significantly reduced. We don't hear about kids stuffing fireworks and lighters/matches into their backpacks... guns shouldn't logically be any different.
If the Police can arrest this boy for carrying a "toy gun", are they allowed to arrest the legislators in the Senate, House of Representatives and the White House for impersonating intelligent people?
I can only imagine that if we played "guns" in my neighborhood like we did in the 80's, SWAT teams would be called out.
So, the cops verified the 'gun' was a toy, THEN took the kid into custody. Were they afraid the rest of the kids would pee their pants or something? Where is the sanity any more?
Have any of you seen a toy gun lately, I have a 10 year old, so yes, I know what is available. My father is also an outfitter in Montana, I grew up in North Idaho when everyone was allowed to bring their hunting rifles to school, so I am very obviously in favor of responsible gun ownership. While i agree that he shouldn't be charged with anything, how can we expect that he will be a responsible gun owner later, when he can even follow a simple rule right now. If you are going to own guns, everyone in the house has to respect them, toy or not.
I don't understand ARE President, Senators, schools, adults, & the police of America, now days since the Sandy Hook school shooting. A young man that had mental illiness and killed so many with guns...The gun did not shot all those children nor adults the young man illiness did....So the president, vice-president, senators and liberals all think they have to take all the guns from everyone. It ain't gonna work, because if your crazy and you haven't got a gun and you want to shoot up a school or kill someone else they are going to find any weapon, knives, swords, baseball bats, cast iron frying pans, hammers and so on...My aunt was stabbed 66X with a knife. So any weapon will do... It will still be done..............
Now my comments about what I have to say about the children that are being suspended, maybe up for expulsion, arrested being charged from a crime.....Isn't it funny that it isn't your middle or high school children getting in trouble two 5 years old & grade school.
1. 5 yr old took a loaded gun to school because he didn't want to die like the other kids did in Sandy Hook, was it wrong for him to bring the gun to school-YES, was the reason wrong NO, he didn't want to die....Did he know how to use the gun probably not but adults listening to news and so do children and alot of people said if one person would have had a loaded gun that day think of the lives that could have been saved. Now maybe that was what he was thinking...5 year old shouldn't think that way, so he was taken home and told he couldn't go to school the next day because he took a gun to school...Do you really think he understood why he was being punished???? Maybe, & maybe not.... Was it ever ask how he got the loaded gun in the first place.
2. A 5 year old points his finger to another student and says pow. This young boy was also suspended one day. Don't you think something is wrong here??? Is a finger gonna killed anyone I don't think so I am 63 & my husband is 65 & were still alive. No one died were all still living. What the child should have been told is we don't do this in school and your hear to learn. He might have understood that a whole lot easier then being suspendend......Don't ya think.....
3. Another young child was suspended for bringing a squirt gun to school. He received one day suspension. Did he understand why he couldn't go to school next day nope. Wouldn't it been smarter to ask for the squirt gun then tell all the children that play or real guns are not to be brought to school and to tell the child that she/he would keep it until the end of the day he could have it when school was over & send a note home to the parents....
4. Now we have the 5th grader that brought the play gun to school, this student is suspended from school, is juvenille dentention and the school is thinking of expulsion of this student.......... What would he had gotten if it was a real gun... A little steep on punishment............
What happen to using brains & common since in schools??? Instead of using STUPIDITY.........................