Criminal Charges for a 7-Year-Old Who Brought a Nerf-Style Toy to Class
 Published 1, February 6, 2011
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger

[img_r]http://jonathanturley.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/nerf-n-strike-maverick.jpg?w=240&h=192[/img_r]The 7-year-old boy was a student at Hammonton Early Childhood Education Center in Hammonton, NJ. The police were called after a report of suspicious activity. The suspicious activity involved a $5 toy gun, similar to a Nerf toy gun, that the child brought to school. The boy was charged with possession of an imitation firearm in or on an education institution, a misdemeanor offense.

The real offense is that the police took this incident seriously.

How much money will be spent prosecuting this child? Is Hammonton, NJ so awash with funds that it can afford this ridiculousness?

[img_r]http://jonathanturley.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/300px-kirpan.jpg?w=300&h=225[/img_r]The boys mistake was he didnt claim that the toy was a religious symbol as in Bentley Elementary School, in Canton, MI, where a Sikh boy wore a Kirpan to his fourth grade class. After finding the Kirpan had no sharp edges, the principal returned it to the boy. However, the Plymouth-Canton School District at first overruled the principal and banned Kirpans, saying it resembled a weapon. After numerous meetings and legal research, the Plymouth-Canton School District later relented and allowed Kirpans in school with restrictions. At least the Sikh boy wasnt arrested.

Lets stop and analyze the deeper problem. Our children are being taught by such people. They are such concrete minded bureaucrats that they cannot differentiate a toy from a real firearm. They are obstinate in the extreme, and do not seem to remember the mission is to teach the children. Rather than use this as a teachable moment about guns and safety, they react by calling the cops.

I recall some time back a first grader had a meltdown in the principals office. Somebody called the police and the little boy was tasered, twice, when he refused to calm down. If a principal and a law officer cannot handle a 45-pound first grader having a temper tantrum without tasering him, they are in the wrong line of work.

And a few years ago, a first grader had sexual harassment charges filed against him by the school. Seems this budding sex pervert gave a little girl a peck on the cheek, so he had the full weight of the legal system come down on his head.

I worked on a case where a nine-year-old mentally retarded boy was charged with rape. He had no concept of sex and could not tell me why sometimes his dingus as he called it, stood straight out and he could not make it stop. At least the judge threw the case out when after he got my report. That district attorney lost the next election, at least in part because of his penchant for grossly overcharging defendants.

I await, breathlessly, for sanity to return.

"Otteray Scribe" wrote:

These toy gun issues have got to stop. We are going to have a whole generation of children afraid to play and use their imagination. I can remember my son who was probably around 2 or 3 sitting in the child seat of the grocery cart and I threw in a plastic bottle of Heinz Ketchup and he proceeded to pretend that the ketchup bottle was a gun and was shooting everyone in the store! Could a ketchup bottle resemble a weapon by todays standards??

"rafflaw" wrote:

Zero tolerance policies have led to this. These policies take away the teacher and principals ability to use common sense in these issues.

Our school district has just eliminated their zero tolerance policies because to many students were losing scholorships due to minor infractions that resulted in arrest that marred their records.

"Centerist Cynic" wrote:

High School Student is Expelled and Criminally Charged For Spitballing 
Published 1, February 2, 2011

Spotsylvania High School student Andrew Mikel II, 14, is the latest kid to be swept up in the zero tolerance/zero logic campaign against toy guns in school. (For earlier stories, click here and here and here). Mikel was expelled and criminally charged after he used a pen casing (the tube of preference for spitballers) to spit plastic pellets at other students at lunch. He was charged with use of a weapon in school. The Spotsylvania Knights may carry a lance

Notably, the schools hearing officer, John Lynn, wrote to administrators that he was not at all comfortable expelling or suspending this student for the remainder of the year, according to the documents. However, even with the opportunity of hindsight, the school officials insisted on expulsion.

The boy is now charged with three counts of misdemeanor assault. The school officials cited the federal Gun-Free Schools Act that requires expulsion for weapons, including hand guns, explosive devices and projectile weapons used to intimidate, threaten or harm others. This was a spitball incident.

Nevertheless, Principal Russell Davis insists [w]e have an obligation to protect the students in our building from others who pose a threat to the over-all safe learning environment. What of the obligation to be fair to students and not to criminalize education in our society? What of the obligation to use a modicum of logic and discretion? I have previously written on this trend.

What is astonishing about these incidents is that they cause national outcries but the officials are never reprimanded or retrained leading to a continuation of this blind application of the zero tolerance policy that is turning our children into neurotic little felons.