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Tiny Terrorists' Caught Up in Anti-Gun Hysteria

2K views 20 replies 12 participants last post by  Maxterra 
#1 ·
'
"Zero tolerance" for guns leads to college educated adults becoming irrational. Related: Today's Hysterical Gun Freakout: Teacher Invades Kid's Privacy, Threatens Him Over Digital Photo of Airsoft Gun
by Mike McDaniel
March 4, 2013 - 5:10 pm
,A cursory exposure to the media post-Newtown might be alarming, even horrifying. Such non-inquisitive exposure could easily convince the unwary that an unprecedented number of kids are imminent school shooters. Thankfully, reading past sensational headlines, it's easy to see that isn't the issue. The question is yet another factor in the current gun-control debate: mental health. Specifically: have school authorities gone irredeemably mad?

As a teacher of high school English - and a firearms instructor - I have a dog in this fight. I often defend the public schools against unfair criticism, observing that most teachers are quiet professionals who do not indoctrinate their students with progressive propaganda. But what appears to be a nationwide epidemic of politically correct lunacy apparently sparked by the Newtown murders and egged on by President Obama's anti-gun road show, and by his congressional fellow travelers, is running riot. These are just a few of the more recent incidents:

(1) Place: White Marsh Elementary School, Tabot County, Maryland

Tiny Terrorists: Two six-year-old boys (kindergartners)

"Weapons": Fingers

Punishment: One-day suspension

Facts: The boys were pointing their fingers at each other during recess while playing "cops and robbers."

(2) Place: Mount Carmel Area School District, Pennsylvania

Tiny Terrorist: A five year-old girl (kindergartener)

"Weapon": None

Punishment: 10-day suspension for making a "terroristic threat"

Facts: The girl told a classmate she wanted to "shoot" her and herself with a "Hello Kitty" bubble gun, a tiny, pink, cartoon ray-gun shaped bubble blower. She was searched, but left the "gun" at home. She was hectored in front of her class by the teacher and threatened with arrest.

(3) Place: D. Newlin Fell School, Philadelphia

Tiny Terrorist: A fifth-grade girl

Punishment: Searched and scolded in the presence of classmates, threatened with arrest.

Facts: The girl was given a paper gun by her grandfather the day before. She set it on her desktop prior to throwing it away. Her teacher seized it and yelled at her, and she was subsequently searched. To avoid harassment, the girl has been withdrawn from school and is being home schooled.

(4) Place: Sumter County School District, Sumter, South Carolina

Tiny Terrorist: Six-year-old girl

Punishment: Expelled from school for a semester

Facts: The girl brought a broken, transparent plastic toy airsoft gun, with the soft plastic pellets visible inside, for show and tell. The toy was seized, the police were called, and the girl was threatened with arrest if she set foot on school property, forcing her parents to park off school grounds when they picked up the girl's siblings. After nearly a month, she was allowed to return to school after enormous pressure was applied via local media and the blogosphere.

(5) Place: Poston Butte High School, Tan Valley, Arizona

Tiny Terrorist: Freshman boy

Punishment: Three-day suspension

Facts: The boy, who plans a military career, posted a photograph of a gun as desktop wallpaper on his school-issued laptop computer.

(6) Place: Mary Blair Elementary School, Loveland, Colorado

Tiny Terrorist: Seven-year-old boy (2nd grader)

Punishment: School suspension pending

Facts: The boy was, by himself, playing "Rescue the World," and threw an imaginary hand grenade into an imaginary box full of evil forces. He said "pshhh" to simulate the sound of the exploding imaginary grenade.

Madness? One might reasonably expect a bit of well-intentioned over-reaction to a traumatic event with which people can so easily identify. But supposedly reasonable, college-educated adults appear to be engaging in a modern witch hunt, with all the dumbfounding lack of logic and reason that implies.

Notice that in all but a single case, the objects that provoked such revulsion and foolishness in educated adults could not possibly be mistaken for actual weapons. In one case, the "weapon" was entirely imaginary, in others, the "weapons" were two-dimensional paper simulations. None of the "weapons" involved could possibly be mistaken for an actual weapon or threat. Consider, too, that in none of these cases did the tiny terrorists so much as threaten another, with the exception of the five year old who expressed the desire to "shoot" herself and another with Hello Kitty bubbles. There were no complaints, no actual weapons were brandished, no property was damaged, no one sustained so much as bruised feelings. There was no danger, indeed, no potential for danger. In every case, there was not the slightest evidence of evil intent.

It is tempting to believe this is evidence of an insidious progressive conspiracy. Indoctrinating the young and demonizing people, things, values, and ideas through repetition and shaming are an integral part of the literature and tactics of that movement. However, no conspiracy is necessary. While most American educators avoid political indoctrination in favor of professionally teaching their disciplines, there is no question that some do not and that in some schools, school districts, cities, even states, aggressive progressivism reigns with little or no opposition.

It's not necessary to plot progressive indoctrination with other true believers; they already know what to think and what to do, and from whom to take their cues. At the moment, that would be Mr. Obama and other members of his administration on the permanent campaign trail. This time, they are specifically campaigning against the Second Amendment.

As powerful as political motivation might be, the faddish nature of education is equally compelling. For some time, "zero tolerance" policies of one kind or another have enjoyed substantial popularity.

The zero tolerance policy most familiar to the public is the "gun free" school zone, which for some produces feelings of safety. Unfortunately, like all zero tolerance polices, this is a complete failure, actually encouraging attacks rather than enhancing safety. Those who need to "feel safe" cannot admit this obvious reality lest their belief system come crashing down, so they redouble their efforts, striking out at even imaginary threats and guns.

Understanding this sort of thinking, it is easy to realize that such people think nothing of applying a zero tolerance policy prohibiting actual firearms to not only toys bearing a slight resemblance to firearms, but to depictions of firearms and even imaginary weapons. Thus have elementary-aged children been punished for pointing fingers at each other and fighting imaginary heroic battles for mankind. Thus is childhood warped and wrenched from children.

Some of these bizarre incidents are the direct result of human confusion or incompetence. School systems have multiple levels of management that theoretically can avoid abuses in student discipline. Take the case of the five year-old girl who dared think of blowing bubbles on her friend and herself. Even if her teacher could not tell the difference between a Hello Kitty bubble gun - a toy the girl left at home - and a real weapon, and even if she could not tell the difference between five year olds playing and a threat of serious bodily harm or death, what's the principal's excuse? What's the excuse of the assistant superintendent and the superintendent and the members of the school board?

Fortunately, in most of these incidents, thunderous public scorn and the threats of attorneys were sufficient to undo suspensions and other punishments that should have never taken place. However, unless and until the voters of those - and every - school district take affirmative action to see that no student is punished for behaving like an entirely normal child, and that progressive indoctrination of our youngest and most impressionable children is brought to an abrupt and final halt, generations of Americans may grow up believing that so much as thinking about the "weapons" generations have harmlessly used in play since before the foundation of the republic is a crime against the state.

On the other hand, perhaps that's exactly what the state wants.
 
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#2 ·
While it's true that public pressure, threats of lawsuits, and media scorn can undo the suspensions, condemnation and punishment, nothing will undo the harm done by the harassment, scorn, and peer pressure that will continue at least on the peer level for days, weeks, or months to come.

I think it needs to go beyond threats of lawsuits, to actual suits for damages for mental stress and embarrassment. Furthermore I would not name the schools or school districts as that is like suing yourself as a taxpayer. I would specifically name names, and go after teachers, and administrators involved in such travesties of justice. We do need policies to change, and some common sense applied to zero tolerance. I can see both sides of the issue, being married to a retired school teacher. Zero tolerance certainly should include pocket knives, "realistic" looking weapon toys, etc. And that's what I believe the actual policies are. It's the teachers and their administrators that have allowed it to evolve into gun shaped pop tarts, and foam viking swords.

If a university educated adult is unable to see the difference between an origami paper gun, a drawing of a sword or knife, and the real thing, then perhaps their perception of the world is so warped that they should not be interacting with children.

Just the first 2 cents of my $50.00 worth of thoughts on the subject. One could almost understand a parent's rage over such an incident getting out of hand.

Mel
 
#3 ·
Mel please explain why zero tolerance needs to apply to pocket knives. Many of us here carried pocket knives from the time we first got one (me as a cub scout) on. When I was in school I always had a knife in my pocket, it never once jumped out and harmed anyone. It's just like blaming guns, we need to look at the causes of school violence, not the tools the offenders choose to use.
 
#5 ·
DaKnife said:
Mel please explain why zero tolerance needs to apply to pocket knives. Many of us here carried pocket knives from the time we first got one (me as a cub scout) on. When I was in school I always had a knife in my pocket, it never once jumped out and harmed anyone. It's just like blaming guns, we need to look at the causes of school violence, not the tools the offenders choose to use.
I actually agree that it should be OK to carry a pocket knife. All through high school I actually carried a Buck folder on my belt, and never had it cause an issue of any kind. I think IMHO that the ban comes from an increase in gang activity in schools. They did have incidents where knives were used to threaten other students. No, I can't cite, I rather doubt the incidents even made the news. I attended high school in the late 60's and while we didn't have a gang problem, we did have a race problem. The year before I started at Ogden high, there were race riots at the school. Yes, low key, but the tensions were there. We did have incidents where knives were displayed, though I don't remember any actual stabbings. I witnessed more than one issue, off school property, after school.

The schools simply aren't willing to accept the liability if something were to happen. Gang issues are very real in schools today. Schools do what they can to minimize displays of colors or gang signs. Teachers take classes from local gang units to keep up with current signs, etc.

I would say that in my opinion, a knife that stayed in the pocket would be fine. Once seen, it becomes an issue.

On a similar note, every call center I worked at, four different companies, multiple projects all had the same ban. I still carried a pocket knife, and was never searched or caught, but I would have been fired by all four companies. I know this, as I was in supervision at two of them, and watched people walked out the door for violating the policy.

I don't agree with the policies in either setting, but I can see where they have evolved from.

Mel

Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk HD
 
#6 ·
Maxterra said:
'

by Mike McDaniel
March 4, 2013 - 5:10 pm
...
As a teacher of high school English - and a firearms instructor - I have a dog in this fight. I often defend the public schools against unfair criticism, observing that most teachers are quiet professionals who do not indoctrinate their students with progressive propaganda. But what appears to be a nationwide epidemic of politically correct lunacy apparently sparked by the Newtown murders and egged on by President Obama's anti-gun road show, and by his congressional fellow travelers, is running riot. These are just a few of the more recent incidents:
...
In many cases the problem is not the individual teachers--though in far too many they are certainly culpable. But even the best teachers face a problem and that is the environment in which they work. As an analogy, no matter how badly the workers want to build airplanes and soar the skies, they are very unlikely to ever do so as long as they are working in an automobile plant. Auto workers just don't build very many airplanes.

True, we've seen cases of auto plants converted to build jeeps, tanks, and even airplanes for wartime need. But generally speaking, auto workers just don't get to build airplanes.

Even the best of teachers are not running the schools. Do we think they'd tolerate the crap they are required to tolerate in terms of student misconduct, disrespect, and so on if they were in charge?

Even the best of teachers don't get to set curriculum or testing requirements. They don't get to write textbooks. At best, a couple of teachers may have some limited input on which textbooks from those available should be used.

For these reasons, some of the truly good teachers are moving to charter and private schools, even when the pay and benefits are not as good. They were never in it for the money anyway and at least at one of the alternatives to the regular government/union run schools, they can actually teach, to students who want to learn, and whose parents are supportive of education and teachers.

And the fact is, even if we ignore the abysmally low test scores of the typical student who chooses teaching as his college major, there are not very many who survive four or more years of indoctrination in the teaching colleges without having their world view warped. A few years in the system, wanting to make airplanes but being forced to make boats all the while told that it is the fault of parents and legislators who hate them and they've only got the union to protect them, and it gets pretty tough to find very many who embrace anything close to libertarian or conservative principles of public policy, especially across any kind of broad spectrum of areas.

In another thread someone asked how we had 10 generations do so well and the last 2 screw it up so badly. I'm convinced that the very calculated takeover of teaching colleges played a huge part of that.

Now back to your regular topic as I note that the hostility to RKBA is a central part of all of this. An armed populace is much more difficult to control than an unarmed populace.

Charles
 
#7 ·
quychang said:
I actually agree that it should be OK to carry a pocket knife. All through high school I actually carried a Buck folder on my belt, and never had it cause an issue of any kind. I think IMHO that the ban comes from an increase in gang activity in schools. They did have incidents where knives were used to threaten other students. No, I can't cite, I rather doubt the incidents even made the news. I attended high school in the late 60's and while we didn't have a gang problem, we did have a race problem. The year before I started at Ogden high, there were race riots at the school. Yes, low key, but the tensions were there. We did have incidents where knives were displayed, though I don't remember any actual stabbings. I witnessed more than one issue, off school property, after school.

....

On a similar note, every call center I worked at, four different companies, multiple projects all had the same ban. I still carried a pocket knife, and was never searched or caught, but I would have been fired by all four companies. I know this, as I was in supervision at two of them, and watched people walked out the door for violating the policy.
...
I graduated high school in the late 80s. And from about 3rd grade on the majority of males--students as they became cub scouts, teachers, and administrators--carried pocket knives of some kind. Never had an incident, other than 3rd grade teachers occasionally having to remind new cub scouts that if they treated their pocket knife like a toy and played with it during class, the teacher would have to also treat it like a toy and take it away.

Of course, even as late the 80s in rural Utah, the schools were very much local and most of our teachers old enough not to have been subject to liberal indoctrination in the teaching colleges. So students were actually expected to behave. Between that and being both racially and culturally largely homogenous, no significant gang or race problems.

All of the companies where I've worked have had "no weapons" policies. Fortunately, all of them recognize a leatherman/gerber, pocket knife, or even the clip on single-handed opening folders, as "tools" rather than weapons.

On a business trip a while back I had to purchase a small electronic item. Having not checked a bag, I was without any knife at all and mostly destroyed the in-room ball point pen using it to force my way into the clam shell packaging. I guess I could have gone to the front desk for a pair of scissors. What a pain. A man ought to be able to carry a utility knife everywhere short of a prison.

Charles
 
#8 ·
bagpiper said:
quychang said:
I actually agree that it should be OK to carry a pocket knife. All through high school I actually carried a Buck folder on my belt, and never had it cause an issue of any kind. I think IMHO that the ban comes from an increase in gang activity in schools. They did have incidents where knives were used to threaten other students. No, I can't cite, I rather doubt the incidents even made the news. I attended high school in the late 60's and while we didn't have a gang problem, we did have a race problem. The year before I started at Ogden high, there were race riots at the school. Yes, low key, but the tensions were there. We did have incidents where knives were displayed, though I don't remember any actual stabbings. I witnessed more than one issue, off school property, after school.

....

On a similar note, every call center I worked at, four different companies, multiple projects all had the same ban. I still carried a pocket knife, and was never searched or caught, but I would have been fired by all four companies. I know this, as I was in supervision at two of them, and watched people walked out the door for violating the policy.
...
I graduated high school in the late 80s. And from about 3rd grade on the majority of males--students as they became cub scouts, teachers, and administrators--carried pocket knives of some kind. Never had an incident, other than 3rd grade teachers occasionally having to remind new cub scouts that if they treated their pocket knife like a toy and played with it during class, the teacher would have to also treat it like a toy and take it away.

Of course, even as late the 80s in rural Utah, the schools were very much local and most of our teachers old enough not to have been subject to liberal indoctrination in the teaching colleges. So students were actually expected to behave. Between that and being both racially and culturally largely homogenous, no significant gang or race problems.

All of the companies where I've worked have had "no weapons" policies. Fortunately, all of them recognize a leatherman/gerber, pocket knife, or even the clip on single-handed opening folders, as "tools" rather than weapons.

On a business trip a while back I had to purchase a small electronic item. Having not checked a bag, I was without any knife at all and mostly destroyed the in-room ball point pen using it to force my way into the clam shell packaging. I guess I could have gone to the front desk for a pair of scissors. What a pain. A man ought to be able to carry a utility knife everywhere short of a prison.

Charles
You're right that the education of the teachers, and the behavior of the students has changed radically since the 80's. My wife and I were married in 1982. At the time she taught first grade, and loved her job and her students. Her only problem, which I will only touch on, was she wasn't LDS and her principal was something of a bigot. She changed schools to get away from him, and happily taught first for a total of 17 years. She was taking additional math classes at the time, moved to 5th for several years, and finally to Jr high for the last 10-12 years before retiring with 32 years. It was during 5th that she began to notice a change in the respect kids had for adults. In Jr high it was a progressive issue with behavior issues going hand in hand with more and more intrusion from the state and federal government in education. The no child left behind act pretty much guaranteed that everyone would be taught to the lowest common denominator.
So, yes, the teachers are being taught differently, but part of it is to comply with government mandates. And the behavior issues may be influenced by that, but there is no doubt that there is a very real gang problem in our schools. That influence is leading basically good kids to party, be sexually promiscuous, and pretty much put themselves out of reach of the adults in their lives.
My wife was an excellent teacher. She misses the kids, both good and bad. She doesn't miss the the BS that's become a major part of teaching. I don't miss hearing about the problems. I do miss hearing her celebrate the small victories, and the camaraderie she shared with her coworkers.
Remember, that by moving up in grades, she taught many students twice, and lots of siblings. She witnessed firsthand the degradation of attitudes and behavior.
There is a reason the zero tolerance policies have evolved. And it has primarily happened in the last 12-15 years.

Sorry for rambling, it's a subject I'm somewhat passionate about. I'm glad my kids are not going in to the school system now. If they were I would do my best to afford private schools.

Mel

Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF700T using Tapatalk HD
 
#9 ·
quychang said:
You're right that the education of the teachers, and the behavior of the students has changed radically since the 80's. My wife and I were married in 1982. At the time she taught first grade, and loved her job and her students. Her only problem, which I will only touch on, was she wasn't LDS and her principal was something of a bigot.
Sorry to hear about that. One of my best teachers happened to be one of the only non-LDS at our school. She and her husband had moved to St. George specifically because they had determined that a small mormon town was the perfect place to raise children. I normally hate the way the word "diversity" is used. But in her case she brought some real and legitimate insights that were not likely from those who were entirely from within the local culture. And when she told us that anyone who wanted to appreciate great english literature needed to be highly fluent in the Bible--both the stories and traditions that surround those stories--it carried some extra weight since I figured it wasn't just coming from a fellow church member. :D

quychang said:
It was during 5th that she began to notice a change in the respect kids had for adults. In Jr high it was a progressive issue with behavior issues going hand in hand with more and more intrusion from the state and federal government in education. The no child left behind act pretty much guaranteed that everyone would be taught to the lowest common denominator.
I have to wonder how much of the problem is either limits on discipline, or some kind of financial incentive to have every kid warming the seats. I have a couple of relatives who dropped out of high school. Or rather, given their behavior problems, were more or less invited not to return for their Junior or Senior years. Bad behavior simply wasn't tolerated. Our district had an "alternative" high school for kids who just couldn't get along in regular classes, but had some desire to get a degree....or for girls who got pregnant. Visibly pregnant girls simply were not allowed to attend regular high school. The alternative school was basically just a tutoring center with very loose hours. Kids could work if they wanted, show up at some point during the day to get home work, turn in assignments, take a test, etc. but were not required to warm a seat for 8 hours. It isn't like we were angels. But seriously, the discipline problems we had amounted to eating outside the cafeteria, or being late to class. We had open campuses (from about 4th grade on up) and a lot of kids would go off campus for lunch.

In the late 70s and early 80s, there was the usual high school hazing of the younger class men. But by the time I got to high school, the culture was one of upper class men teaching the freshman the school hymn and fight song, introducing them to a culture of taking care of the building (we had no graffiti nor vandalism to speak of), and otherwise taking pride in the school.

Yes, there were those who fooled around or drank, smoked, or experimented with drugs....off school property and outside school hours. Had a couple of classmates die as a result of unfortunate accidents (some highly avoidable, but kids are kids), but nothing of real violence or criminal conduct.

The school reflected the community, it was funded and run by the community, without much outside intervention near as I can recall. And community standards were enforced. Teachers simply didn't have to deal much with discipline problems. The vice principal handled that and if problems weren't corrected in fairly short order, they were simply removed. Not sure exactly how everyone who got removed dealt with it. But for the vast majority who remained, it made learning a whole lot easier than what I see now.

Charles
 
#10 ·
Thanks for your kind words concerning my wife's issue, but it was very minor, and easily escaped from being in a larger school district. We have a friend who wasn't as lucky. She accepted employment in a small rural school district in northern Utah. It's been over 30 years, but I'll still refrain from naming names. At any rate, as a single young female teacher who was not LDS, it was culture shock for sure. She would read in bed until very late, 1am, 2am were not at all uncommon. The neighbors decided that she must be entertaining men, and complained to the school district. With no other proof, she was fired. There was no other proof to be had, no documented coming and going of vehicles, nothing. She wasn't seeing anyone, she had moved because of a bad break up. It took over 10 years of court battles for her to win the discrimination lawsuit, but she did win. Water under the bridge, in that regard at least, UT schools have become much more tolerant. Though of course I can't speak for certain remote school districts.

I think, and my wife agrees, that a lot of the problem comes from the fact that today's economy makes it difficult to have a single provider in the home. Yes it can be done, and we know (very few) people that are doing it, but they sacrifice in order to do so. When she taught elementary school she was in a school in east Layton, the norm was reasonably well to do households with many single provider homes. When she moved to Jr. high, it was in the same district and in fact, her former elementary was one of the schools feeding the Jr. high. But that said, the majority of the students at the school were from middle to west Layton, and the schools average income was considerably lower. This could be judged in part by the percentage of students on free or reduced lunch. Those homes with two parents mostly were two income families. There were many single parent households, and not a small number of children being raised by grandparents or other relatives. Some who spoke little or no English.

Yes there was a degradation of behavior in the elementary, students were starting to have less respect for their elders, and there was less accountability in the home for homework and grades. But Jr. high was an eye opener. Attendance at parent teacher conference was pitiful for lack of a better term. Either the parents were working and couldn't make it, had younger children at home and no care provider, didn't speak english, or to be blunt simply didn't care enough to attend.
Is it any wonder the kids were lacking in respect and work ethic? Many of them basically ran free, and walked all over their parents, and tried to do the same at school. It was a rare term that my wife didn't have one or more children not attending class because they were in detention for one thing or another.

I could go on, but suffice it to say, things have changed drastically in the last 10 years. What we remember of school were golden years to be treasured, because it simply isn't like that anymore. Are there still good, bright, hard working kids? You bet there are, even in schools like my wife was teaching at. Those parents are the ones that attended parent teacher conferences, and communicated with the teacher during the term if there were issues. They are sadly in the minority, and it's difficult for them to excel when teachers are being forced to bring the F students up to a D, and have little time to help the A students get more out of school. Yes there are some higher level classes available, and some of those students get into them. But many are struggling to swim upstream against the current.

Is it the schools fault? Probably in part, but they are doing what they are mandated to do. Is it the parents fault that both parents work 40 or more hours per week and are simply too tired to deal with school issues? In part, but they are doing what they have to in order to get by.

I don't have the answers, but I have a gut load full of questions and suspicions. And a soap box..../sigh

Mel
 
#15 ·
This is were we are going to loose our gun rights. Teachers are brain washing these kids to think guns should be feared and are bad. This generation is coming out of school and some will eventually lead the nation. You think its bad now, well we haven't seen anything yet.
 
#16 ·
muddy said:
This is were we are going to loose our gun rights. Teachers are brain washing these kids to think guns should be feared and are bad. This generation is coming out of school and some will eventually lead the nation. You think its bad now, well we haven't seen anything yet.
As odd as it sounds, this is where I think video games are great. If kids play Call of Duty, and think that the guns on there are cool, then they are less likely to want to ban them.
 
#19 ·
Crash said:
Have you ever turned the capital letter L on it's side? Soon we will see the letter banned from schools.
With the current rate of ILLITERACY in many high school graduates in the US... they may already have done so! :lol2:
 
#20 ·
In the near future: they will be limiting toasters to only two slots and toasters with a "selector switch" that can allow for a "pasty setting" and/or the heating of more than 2 Pop-Tarts at a time will need a class 3 Pop-Tart License.
Also ATF[/strike]... [strike]BATF[/strike]...[strike]BATFE...will now be know as BATFEP-T.
 
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