Students Expelled for Touching a BB Gun

[ELKCHSR]

Students Expelled - for Touching a BB Gun
Wow, can you imagine what could have happened to Ralphie in A Christmas Story? He actually shot the darn thing, and almost took his eye out, too.

In Georgia, three seventh-grade students have been expelled from school - for touching a BB gun. All right, all right, one of them actually brought the gun onto a school bus.

Andre Bussey, Alfred Burns and Darius Allen were expelled when Allen brought a BB gun onto a Cowan Road Middle School bus. Burns and Bussey touched the gun. When Spalding County school administrators found out, all three were expelled.

A school tribunal kicked Allen out of the school system. Bussey and Burns were given more lenient punishment - expelled for a year and a half for touching the gun.

"And just being put out of school for just touching a gun, I don't think that fair at all," said Burns' mother Audrey Hightower. However, a school spokesman said the boys committed a serious violation and that the school stands behind the punishment.

 

[DRAFTSTUD]

I kinda understand the thinking...what if the next gun was a 9mm and in the exchange it was handled improperly. It could go off and another bad press story would hit the 6o news. I think they did the right thing in this case. John

 

[MNHunter]

Sounds right to me

 

[mdcrossbow]

GMAFB ! Did the right thing. Could of would of should of, this political correctness is now hinting hunting forums. I don't know the boys and the only way I could make that comment would be to have talked with them myself.

 

[Calif. Hunter]

I am not sure expulsion does much good - don't we want the kids in school?

Certainly, we need to eliminate unsupervised firearms and even BB guns in school, on buses, etc. But I think a suspension for a period of time, perhaps even with some community service or punishment, is a better alternative than expulsion. Make them work in a trauma center/ER, or wash dishes in the cafeteria, but expel them from that school forever? C'mon - they are what, 12 or 13 years old?

It's a serious matter - no doubt. But let's not over-react, either. Let the punishment fit the crime.

 

[IDHunters]

Way over reaction. The one kid is out of the school system-thats not expulsion that is go to private school or move. Wow, kids doing something dumb, who would have thought? Hell they had a trap shooting class in high school back in the day.

 

[DRAFTSTUD]

CH, I agree about the Community Service. But I stand by my statement, what if this 12 or 13 year old had never seen what a bullet can do. What if they were only used to seeing TV or Video Games where they shoot the characters. You can bet your butt I would be up at that school in a heartbeat if my son was on that Bus and those Kids were also on it. You can't put something like this as a Polical Correctness or over reacting when it comes to Guns and Kids. I'll step down now. John

 

[MattK]

It seems the same people who think this punishment is too high would be the same people to be first in line suing the school district if their little jonny was shot during a school shooting. It's impossible to have it both ways...If you're willing to have school shootings as an acceptable risk, then having guns in school wouldn't be as serious. Kids now are not the same as even when I was kid.

 

[Calif. Hunter]

If you are talking about me, Matt - you are wrong. I would hold the parents of the kid responsible, not the school district.

It was not a 9mm, it was a BB gun. You are talking possibilities and theories - not reality or what the crime really was. "It could have been a 9mm!" It could have been a .44 mag!" "It could have been a hand grenade." Yada yada yada. It was not a thermo nuclear device - it was a BB gun. What if it was a toy gun?

Do you punish someone for driving drunk the same as someone who hits and kills someone? Do you punish a guy who steals a loaf of bread the same as the guy who robs a bank? You punish someone for the crime they committed, not for some other possibility that did not occur.

Some of the same people who are advocating capital punishment for these kids are the same ones who excuse illegal immigration....

 

[Spitz]

I agree that perhaps a year and a half expulsion is a bit harsh for the two curious kids. However, I bet the school district will never again have a gun brought to school by a kid that's just fooling around. Neither will a curious kid touch a weapon.

 

[IDHunters]

Mattk don't lump me into that group.

Spitz-your right, kind of. Never again will a kid who means no harm bring a BB gun or touch one. I think the kid who wants to go on a shooting spree at school will not be deterred by the thought of an expulsion.

 

[justdada]

They are kids... kids are curious and not as logical as we would like.
How does keeping them from getting an education going to teach them anything?
Surely people buying guns for their kids should be the ones responsible for locking them up and teaching their kids what not to do with them.
Seems sad to me that liability and lawsuits have forced schools to come to this type of punishment for a BB gun.

 

[Spitz]

IDHunters, we agree more than you think. I said that kids who are just fooling around will learn from this, which I believe is what you're thinking as well. The serious ones who intend to hurt will of-course not be deterred by the thought of expulsion, they're usually quasi-suicidal if they bring a gun to school with the intent of harm anyway.

 

[mdcrossbow]

Anyone look at where this accrued? Spading county Ga. Redneck hunting country. Most boys would have had a gun and or bow in there hands by age 7.
Did any of you buy your son a BB gun to plink things with when he was 9 or 10 and take him out in the woods with you. My take is that some anti hunting amministratore got a wild hair up his A$$ and decided to make a name for himself in the paper. The boy that brought the BB gun should be expelled but the 2 inquisitive boys who just touched the BB gun that's BS !

That's just what how I would look at it with all the PC garabge.

As far as my son's doing things wrong I'm the 1st one to hammer them when their in the wrong then tell them your still my son and I still love you.

 

[ringer]

I think this country is so full of pussy whipped weinies that there is no hope. The soccer moms rule the day and kids are kicked out of school for years for a BB gun or even drawing an image of a gun. The government cannot protect you from someone intent on doing you harm unless they take away all of your liberty. Sad days IMO.

 

[bigbuck92]

I think this country is so full of pussy whipped weinies that there is no hope. The soccer moms rule the day and kids are kicked out of school for years for a BB gun or even drawing an image of a gun. The government cannot protect you from someone intent on doing you harm unless they take away all of your liberty. Sad days IMO.

DAMN STRAIGHT

 

[ELKCHSR]

Ditto.....

 

[DRAFTSTUD]

Just thought you might in your Chest Beating Frensy you might have remembered this event that happened in 1998. I think the term "Whipped" is'nt valid in this context, it takes quite a comittment from people to say "No, We can't allow this to happen again" This was done by 11 and 13 year old boys. John

JONESBORO, Arkansas (CNN) -- Four middle school girls and a teacher were killed and 11 people were wounded Tuesday when two heavily armed boys in full camouflage gear opened fire on their classmates and teachers during a false fire alarm.

The Craighead County coroner's office identified the dead students as Natalie Brooks, Paige Ann Herring, and Stephanie Johnson, all 12, and Brittheny R. Varner, 11. Tuesday night, teacher Shannon Wright, 32, died after surgery for wounds to her chest and abdomen, Coroner Toby Emerson said.


Police did not offer a motive, but a classmate said one of the suspects had recently broken up with his girlfriend.


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Despite Arkansas carnage, U.S. juvenile crime down
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"He told me after seventh period (Monday) that he was never going to see me again and I wouldn't be able to see him again because he was going to run away," said Jennifer Nightingale. She did not say if any of the victims was the former girlfriend.

Lt. Ronald Mott of the Salvation Army describes the scene near the school
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Tim Jones, a reporter at KDXY Radio in Jonesboro, describes what he saw when he arrived on the scene
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An unidentified student describes the shooting
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Nine of the wounded were female, including another teacher, Sara Thetford, who was listed in critical condition following surgery.

Five wounded girls were admitted to St. Bernards Regional Medical Center in stable condition. Three girls and one boy were treated and released. The wounded students were 11 to 13 years old.

State police said an 11th person was wounded but was not treated at the hospital. They did not have any more details.

The suspects, who are cousins, ages 11 and 13, were caught by police near Westside Middle School shortly after the shooting. A third boy who allegedly pulled the fire alarm was still being sought.

"Someone pulled the fire alarm inside and they went outside, and two people in camouflage clothing started shooting," said Connie Tolbert, a secretary.

"We thought it was just firecrackers," said one student, Brandy George. "I saw one of my teachers get shot. I started running towards the gym."

'We had children lying everywhere'

An unidentified woman is overcome by grief
Karen Pate, a parent volunteer, was in the school gym when the fire alarm went off just after sixth-graders had finished lunch and returned to their classrooms. She ran outside and "saw girls falling to the ground."

"I helped one teacher who had been shot in the abdomen get out of there where she could lie down and we could start medical attention," Pate said. "Another student had got shot in the leg. As soon as she got hit, she couldn't walk and she fell into the doorway."

Authorities said as many as 27 shots were fired, and as their classmates fell bleeding, the other children ran back inside the school, screaming and crying.

"We had children lying everywhere," said paramedic Charles Jones. "They had all been shot."

Sheriff Dale Haas, who wept when he reported the shootings to the media, said men working on a new school building spotted the suspects and told police, who captured them as they fled through a wooded area nearby.

The boys had handguns and rifles, including a high-powered 30.06 hunting rifle. A white van was found about a half-mile from the school with guns and ammunition in it. It wasn't immediately clear if the vehicle was related to the shootings. The boys were running in the direction of the van when they were caught, investigators said.

Officer Terry McNatt said the boys offered no resistance when they were captured. The boys, who were both students at the school, were being held at the county jail, where they were scheduled for court appearances Wednesday morning.

'This happens somewhere else'

The courtyard where the shootings occurred
The school was besieged by police, emergency personnel, media and parents after word of the shootings spread, and those who live in the area were unanimous in their shock and disbelief.

"This happens somewhere else," said Ralph Lee, the mayor of neighboring Bono, Arkansas, where many of the students live. "It doesn't happen in Jonesboro, Arkansas."

"You don't expect this to happen," said a bewildered young man. "You think Little Rock or Memphis, not little west side of Jonesboro."

"We're not gonna get over this in a day or two," said a woman who worked at the school. "It's gonna hurt us."

The school of about 250 sixth- and seventh-graders is on the northwest side of Jonesboro, a city of 51,200 in northeastern Arkansas. It is about 130 miles northeast of Little Rock.

President Clinton, on a visit to Kampala, Uganda, said in a statement that he and the first lady were "deeply shocked and heartbroken."

"We don't know now, and we may never fully understand, what could have driven two youths to deliberately shoot into a crowd," he said. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their families and the entire Jonesboro community."

No charges filed yet
Gov. Mike Huckabee said he was angry, as a parent, that such a tragedy could happen at a public school.

"It makes me angry not so much at individual children that have done it as much as angry at a world in which such a thing can happen," he said.

No charges have been filed against the boys.

Because of their age, they cannot be prosecuted as adults or held in custody beyond their 21st birthday under Arkansas law, officials said.

If they are charged, they would appear before a juvenile court judge who would decide whether they are delinquent and whether they should be detained, according to Arkansas Attorney General Winston Bryant.

If they are held in custody, the decision would have to be reviewed every two years until they are 21.

Arkansas law does not prohibit minors from possessing shotguns or rifles, but it does bar people younger than 21 from possessing handguns. Other laws prohibit anyone from possessing a gun on public property or with criminal intent.

It was at least the third fatal shooting rampage in a U.S. school in the past five months, and Huckabee said, "I don't know that there's anything, quite honestly, that we can absolutely do to guarantee" the safety of people in schools.

 

[MattK]

A few questions come to mind in this situation. 1st, why did the kid bring a bb gun to school. Obviously the parents weren't watching closely enough when he left in the morning...Pretty tough to hide a bb gun in your pants. 2nd, the rules are set prior to the start of the school year. Don't like the rules...change them or live with them. 3rd, bad judgment was already displayed and a lack of supervision. What makes you think this wasn't just the tip of a larger iceberg. 4th, I'm not willing to give a second chance with my child's well being. I'm not worried about my kid using guns/ bows/ etc as I'm going to take him out hunting and fishing. In fact he already has a small compound bow, just needs to grow into it. However, he will be taught it's not a toy and can only be used with adult supervision...At the same time, no offense, but I don't trust anyone else's kid. I don't know if they will be as safe. 5th, the argument that "I used to do that when I was a kid" is a bullshit argument...It's not 30-60 years ago, it's today. Get in the present. People have lived this long despite all the things they've done wrong, any of which could have killed them. I remember my brother and I never wore seat belts also...no helmets on bikes, riding across town with no supervision, jumping off the roof into snow banks, etc. Over-all, I can be called anything...PC pussy, weak, etc. My thought is this, weapons don't belong in school and no tolerance should be used. Schools are a place for reading, writing and arithmatic...

 

[ringer]

UHH, of course weapons don't belong in school and we need to do everything to make the schools safe. Can you do some more research and tell me how many of those little lunatics had ever been caught with a gun or any type of weapon at school? Do you believe that the new rules will prevent more crazy little assholes from creating havoc to gain some sort of post mortem recognition? Point is that you punish the punk who brought the BB gun to school but not the other two and if you think a year and a half for what he did is reasonable then we just disagree. Some people think the government can create a warm cocoon of safety but they haven't done too great so far in the schools IMO.