This sort of thing is the consequence of intentionally disarming ourselves, and frightening people with nonsensical scare stories about guns:
Lt. Mitchell said that, apart from Alandis’ denial that he made any threats, investigators quickly realized that the only gun Alandis had was his cap gun.
“In this day and time, we do not take anything lightly, whether it’s a toy gun or a real weapon, for the safety of the kids and everyone involved, the safety of the school. That’s our main concern.”
Tosha Ford agrees that Alandis should not have brought the toy gun to school, and did not know that he did, but she said the reaction that unfolded was overblown, due to rumors that school children quickly spread.
“Someone heard that Alandis had a toy gun in his bookbag and said, ‘Oh, Alandis is going to bring a gun, he’s going to shoot everybody.’ He [Alandis] was wrong, he should never have taken it to school. And I told him that. And he’s being punished” at home. “But also on the other side of the coin, I think it’s a travesty what’s happened to him…. For them to say that’s he’s made terroristic threats is just ridiculous. We’ve taken it and changed what ‘terroristic threats’ was meant to be for. And with children saying that ‘he’s got a gun, he’s got a gun,’ it’s gotten blown out of proportion…. I don’t think they handled it very well. I know it’s their job, but I think they took it to the extreme.”
I had lots of cap guns when I was a kid, as did most of my friends. I thought that individual caps were too tame, though. I used to like to hit a whole roll on the sidewalk with a hammer for a much more satisfying bang.
I don’t recall whether or not I ever took one to school, but if I had, neither pupils or teachers would have been so clueless and naive as to have confused it with a real gun. And the worst penalty for doing so that I can imagine would have been confiscation by the teacher. Until the end of the school day, that is, at which point it would probably have been returned. The notion that the decision about this kid is whether or not he should be put in juvenile detention, or merely on probation, shows the insane depths of anti-gun (and with butter knives being confiscated and wielders suspended, anti-weapons-in-general) paranoia to which our society has descended.
The first time I saw the phrase “terroristic threatening” it had to do with an incident at a high school (years before 9/11), and not much more of an incident than this.
I guess all the problems we have with real terrorists have been solved and now we can get back once again to abusing the word in the most ridiculous ways.
Ah, a wonderful counterpoint to my leisurely Sunday afternoon spent with my 13-year-old son at the shooting range. His best accomplishment yesterday was putting 7 rounds of .45 ball into the black — including 3 bulls — at a range of 45 feet (the maximum at this indoor range)! He’s a natural. Meanwhile I was happy to pop 2 inch groups from 7 yards with the .45….
BBB
Capguns were fun! I remember having a grand time with them when I was young.
I’m surprised you can still get them. They haven’t been put on the “dangerous weapon” list yet?
Aside, remember candy cigarettes?
I think this picture captures the british disamament madness nicely:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/11490053@N08/3084176591/sizes/l/
I had cap guns and rubber knives confiscated by teachers throughout my elementary school days. The only one who gave me any flack about it was my 3rd grade teacher who insisted that he be allowed to shoot off all the caps before he returned my “six-shooter” at the end of the day.
Every Halloween my classes were full cowboys like Roy Rogers and Lone Rangers, all of us complete with holsters and pistols. No one ever said a thing, except for the time in fourth grade when an impromptu gunfight broke out in the middle of class. We all spent time in the Principal’s office for that one. Mind you, we were in trouble for disrupting the class and overturning desks, not for bringing or shooting the cap pistols.
But that was South Dakota in the early 60s.
Capguns should be banned.
They ingrain poor trigger control habits.
The hilarity in this is while the leftards in school think they can socialize the children in anti-gun agitprop, the kids are playing Call of Duty 4 for hours on end when they get home.
Aw, heck, cap guns nothing. In high school (I graduated in ’88) I once carried around a phone keypad for a couple days. People asked me what it was, and I answered, straight-faced, “a bomb.”