7 year old kid arrested for bringing Nerf gun to school.
Uhm, excuse me?! When I was 7 years old I brought one or two things to school that I shouldn't have brought to school. What happened was that a) the teacher took it away from me, b) I got a trip to the Principal's office to get lectured on why what I had done was inappropriate, c) my father got a call from the principal, and d) my father was very, very angry with me for doing something stupid. And you can bet I never did *that* again!
What in the world has happened to common sense? We're talking about a 7 year old, for cryin' out loud -- not some 17 year old gang-banger who knows better. The goal of the school here ought to be to educate the kid -- not have him traumatized by being hauled off in cuffs by the cops. Sheesh!
-- Badtux the Common Sense Penguin
Imagine if the kid had tried to bring that nerf gun on an airplane! First 7-year-old at Guantanamo.
ReplyDeleteI only regret that I am no longer a child. My folks - both teachers in the local K-12 public school - confiscated squirtguns galore in spring. (This was back before squirtguns looked like AK-47s.) We hardly ever had to buy any. But a nerf gun would be a definite step up.
ReplyDeleteOh, and the arrest quota? Zero! Zilch! Ah, those were the days.
ReplyDeleteWhat -- he wasn't Tasered? Security sure is lax at that school, eh? But it's OK -- he'l be on the No Fly List, and he will be denied employment because the arrest will be flagged on his FBI Background Check, and you have to get an FBI background check for any job that's more sophisticated than lawn-mowing for cash. So this boy will be blackballed for life. Too bad he wasn't a mentally ill 18-year-old bringing a loaded pistol to his college campus. THEN he'd have the full force of the National Rifle Association on his side if any authority tried to arrest him.
ReplyDeleteWell, Bukko, I must say that I was surprised to find out that *you're right!*. Contrary to popular belief, juvenile records *do* appear on FBI background checks, though not on normal local records checks in most states. So this kiddo better forget ever applying for a federal job... not that there's likely to be any once he grows up, but that's another story.
ReplyDeleteSungold - Exactly. I never brought a squirt gun to school, but definitely saw one or two confiscated with no cops anywhere in sight.
Dah Sab - the kid woulda been tasered for sure!
To all: This country has gone insane. If I wasn't too old and set in my ways, I'd be shouting "Let me outta this loony bin!" Siiiiigh!
- Badtux the Too-sane Penguin
I was right about the FIB? I was just trying to be hyperbolic.
ReplyDeleteBut seriously, a system as insane as the U.S. is, especially because scared ninnies are pushing it to get even crazier, cannot continue indefinitely. It will crack. Dysfunction must obey the law of gravity. I cannot say exactly how the crack-up will play out, but my fear is that it will be chaotic and violent.
Yeah, Bukko, I thought you were being tongue-in-cheek too, but I'm a pedantic penguin, so I went to Google to find links showing that you were full of it. Imagine my surprise to find out that FBI security checks have full access to your juvenile records, even "sealed" ones!
ReplyDeleteThese zero-tolerance policies are absolutely ridiculous. Hell, in my first-grade class picture (34? years ago), I'm in the front row wearing a cowboy cap-gun and gunbelt, for God's sake. It said more about my stubbornness than any desire for mayhem and my teacher understood that. I didn't go on to a life of crime, either. Nowadays, they'd have suspended me, IF I was lucky. This country is so fucked...
ReplyDeletealas teh FEAR merchants have made mighty headway in our society
ReplyDeletedividing us and KILLING common sense
It seem we are now unteaching common sense
sigh
tom
ReplyDeleteHad a philosophy prof 35 yrs ago who made one of the best statements I've ever heard.
"If common sense was so common more people would have some."