As part of my US v UK government stupidity contest, I’ve shared some really bizarre examples of anti-gun/anti-self defense political correctness.
At first I thought the Brits were more brainless.
- A women who was being threatened by thugs got in trouble with the police for brandishing a knife in her own home.
- There was a proposal to prevent children from watching Olympic shooting events.
- A man got arrested for finding a gun in his yard and turning it over to the police.
- Starting pistols have been banned from some school races.
- There have been calls for knife bans.
- A man was arrested for shooting a burglar who invaded his house.
Though, to be sure, there’s lots of foolishness in America.
- A Rhode Island boy got in trouble for bringing toy soldiers to school.
- A student in San Diego got in trouble for making a motion detector for a science project, simply because someone decided it resembled a bomb.
- A Florida student was expelled for having a toy gun on school property.
- A little boy got suspended for making a pistol shape with his fingers.
- Another little boy got suspended for playing cops and robbers.
The Brits were in the lead because they actually arrested people who did done nothing wrong.
But now the United States may deserve this booby prize. Here are some details of a Kafkaesque story from RT.
School administrators in Virginia suspended a 10-year-old boy earlier this month after he was caught with an orange-tipped toy gun in his backpack. Now as he awaits his next meeting with his probation officer, his mother opens up about the incident. …she is still in disbelief over what the entire event has done for her son, herself and the community.
But he wasn’t just suspended. He then got arrested.
Just one day after her fifth-grader’s toy gun was discovered on a school bus leaving Douglas MacArthur Elementary School in Alexandria, Virginia, his mom says he was arrested, dragged to court and questioned, photographed and fingerprinted. “Any time we get a call like this, we take it very seriously until we can determine the extent of the weapon, if it’s real or not, and what the student intends to do with it,” Alexandria Police Department spokesman Jody Donaldson told the Washington Examiner after the boy’s arrest.
Now that the bureaucrats are getting laughed at, they’re beginning to say the whole episode may have been a mistake. Gee, you think?!?
Today, though, Donaldson admits that things may have been a bit different had the authorities taken a breath before they rushed to respond. “If we were able to investigate right away, the outcome might have been different,” she tells the Post. Ms. Gilbert agrees and thinks authorities acted a little too overzealously. Even the mother who first reported the gun that her daughter saw on an Alexandria school bus tells the paper, “It’s such a bad handling of the situation, it was ridiculous.”
But this isn’t a laughing matter. The little boy’s life has been turned upside down.
…the boy has been forced to switch schools and has been entangled in a legal nightmare surely to serve as a thorn in the side of his family for years to come. That, of course, isn’t even taking into consideration what sort of effect the entire incident will have on the boy, who now has a record with local authorities.
It’s quite embarrassing that this happened in my state of Virginia.
You’d expect this kind of vapid political correctness in New York, not in the south.
But the infectious disease of bureaucratic brainlessness is spreading all over Dixie.
Here are some excerpts from a story about some first-rate government stupidity that recently was on display in Alabama.
A high school student in Florence said he has been suspended because of a picture of a gun. Daniel McClaine Jr., a freshman at Poston Butte High School, said he saved the picture as his desktop background on his school-issued computer. A teacher noticed it and turned him in. …the district policy states students are prohibited from “sending or displaying offensive messages or pictures,” and cannot access, send, create or forward pictures that are considered “harassing, threatening, or illegal.”McClaine said he read the guidelines but does not consider the picture threatening to anyone. …Daniel’s father said after ABC15 contacted the school, the administration backed down and will let his son return to school on Monday instead of Wednesday.
The good news, so to speak is that Daniel wasn’t arrested and the school’s bureaucrats backed down and canceled the suspension.
But it’s hard to be optimistic about the education system after reading this type of story.
If bureaucrats don’t have common sense, how can they teach reading, writing, and arithmetic?
Maybe the bigger lesson (especially given the shocking lack of results after record levels of staffing and funding) is that we should break up the government school monopoly and let parents choose better-quality schools?
[…] previously shared many stories of anti-gun political correctness in government schools (see here, here, here, here, here, and here). Makes me wonder whether that kind of nonsense is even more […]
[…] previously shared many stories of anti-gun political correctness in government schools (see here, here, here, here, here, and here). Makes me wonder whether that kind of nonsense is even more […]
[…] let’s not forget the examples of misbehavior I’ve cited in the past (examples here, here, here, here, here, […]
[…] from scorn to punishment – when individual police officers make dumb choices (examples here, here, here, here, here, and […]
[…] even had a U.S. vs. U.K. stupidity contest that featured many examples of anti-gun lunacy, though Canada may actually win the prize for the […]
[…] even had a U.S. vs. U.K. stupidity contest that featured many examples of anti-gun lunacy, though Canada may actually win the prize for the […]
[…] dual award in Virginia, with half the prize for the bureaucrats who suspended a 10-year old boy for a toy gun and half the […]
[…] dual award in Virginia, with half the prize for the bureaucrats who suspended a 10-year old boy for a toy gun and half the […]
[…] dual award in Virginia, with half the prize for the bureaucrats who suspended a 10-year old boy for a toy gun and half the […]
[…] A dual award in Virginia, with half the prize for the bureaucrats who suspended a 10-year old boy for a toy gun and half the prize for the cops who then arrested the kid. […]
[…] A dual award in Virginia, with half the prize for the bureaucrats who suspended a 10-year old boy for a toy gun and half the prize for the cops who then arrested the kid. […]
[…] dual award in Virginia, with half the prize for the bureaucrats who suspended a 10-year old boy for a toy gun and half the […]
You’ve made some good points there. I looked on the web for additional information about the issue and found most people will go along with your views on this web site.
[…] dual award in Virginia, with half the prize for the bureaucrats who suspended a 10-year old boy for a toy gun and half the […]
[…] for throwing imaginary grenades while playing alone on a playground. A country where cops arrest 10-year olds for having toy guns. And a country where small children get kicked out of school for pretending […]
[…] get suspended for throwing imaginary grenades while playing alone on a playground. A country where cops arrest 10-year olds for having toy guns. And a country where small children get kicked out of school for pretending their hands are guns […]
[…] P.S. While I’m very glad that police officers support the Second Amendment, there are some cops who deserve scorn because of what they do to me and what they do to innocent 10-year old kids. […]
[…] dual award in Virginia, with half the prize for the bureaucrats who suspended a 10-year old boy for a toy gun and half the […]
[…] dual award in Virginia, with half the prize for the bureaucrats who suspended a 10-year old boy for a toy gun and half the […]
[…] dual award in Virginia, with half the prize for the bureaucrats who suspended a 10-year old boy for a toy gun and half the […]
[…] dual award in Virginia, with half the prize for the bureaucrats who suspended a 10-year old boy for a toy gun and half the […]
[…] whom we—foolishly, in turns out—expect to teach our offspring. Each week, it seems, there is another incident of failure by the government education […]
jachooz – the bottom line is that you can’t arrest some little kid if he hasn’t committed a crime. Stupid school officials suspending him is one thing… being arrested by the police even though he hasn’t committed a crime is quite another. You said “absolutely. Guns are not a joke. If you let him get away with it then what has he learned?” Get away with WHAT? What crime did he commit? Oh, that’s right… the crime of not fitting into your idea of how people need to be controlled, and for that he MUST be punished.
BTW – a college degree is hardly a measure of intelligence. I work with people with advanced degrees all the time. Not impressed.
“Every single one of you would feel differently if that kid brought a real gun to school on purpose.” – Yeah – except that he DIDN’T.
Here’s another one for you. A boy was suspended for throwing an imaginary grenade.
http://www.reporterherald.com/news/loveland-local-news/ci_22524862/second-grade-loveland-student-reportedly-suspended-imaginary-weapon
Yes, I am emotional and scared. I am scared for my family every time they set foot out of the house.
Your paranoia is the biggest threat to your children’s well-being. You are raising them to be afraid of the world, and really screwing them up. The world is no more dangerous today then it was when we were children and played outside by ourselves.
Gun ownership is an awesome responsibility – something a child this age can not possibly understand
What are you talking about? First of all, playing with toy guns is perfectly normal, and the only way your kids can’t tell a toy gun from a real one is if you’ve deprived them of that. Shame on you. Second, a fifth-grader is old enough to be handling real weapons, starting with an air rifle and going on from there.
Hey, Idiot, real guns come in pink too.
Believe that last story is from Florence, Arizona, not Florence, Alabama.
[…] In a Remarkable Display of Government Stupidity on Steroids, Cops Arrest a 10-Year Old for a Toy Gun… […]
(the thought of them getting hurt or dying from some random ass with a gun makes me tremble.) You *do* know that they’re much more likely to drown or be killed in a car accident, don’t you?
Yes, I am emotional and scared. I am scared for my family every time they set foot out of the house. I love my children so much and the thought of them getting hurt or dying from some random ass with a gun makes me tremble. I completely agree that every adult in this country ought to be able to own a gun and defend themselves and their family…. but gun education starts at home. If your child is allowed to bring a gun to school (fake or not) it is taking away from the seriousness and responsibility of gun ownership. Monopoly money is just a stupid comparison. Monopoly money is fake money. You can not kill anyone with real money but you can with real guns. Gun ownership is an awesome responsibility – something a child this age can not possibly understand. If the punishment of this kid stops another kid that’s thinking of bringing a gun somewhere then its worth it. If anything…. why cant they simply not make toy guns in real gun colors? the entire gun, not some little orange cap? Make it so that there is NO confusion at all on which kind of gun it is and then, maybe, things would be different.
@Jachooz,
In what other categories do you equate toys with the real thing? Do you take monopoly money to the grocery store and explain it is just like the real thing and so they should accept it?
Jachooz, a little boy got suspended, arrested and booked for having a toy gun in his school. And yet you approve of this deplorable injustice.
You have taken leave of your senses because you are emotional and scared. Your posts show only a tenuous grasp on the distinction between a real gun and a toy one. You need to get a hold of yourself. Close your eyes for a moment, calm down, and then reopen your eyes and read the following sentence:
A boy got suspended, arrested and booked for having a toy gun in his school.
Jachooz I want kids to know about guns. I think teaching children “not to mess with guns” is a very big mistake. I wish the NRA would teach classes in public school on guns and gun safety. If more people, normal citizens – law abiding people as most of the normal citizens of this country are – society would be much better — an armed society is a polite society.
Lamont,
Virginia is shall-issue, so I suspect that item about Fairfax County only issuing one permit in thirty years is just a bogus Internet myth.
absolutely. Guns are not a joke. If you let him get away with it then what has he learned? Not only does it teach him not to mess with guns, it teaches the other children in the school look what happens when you play around with guns. I am not a stupid person. I am an adult with a college degree and a mother of 4.
Every single one of you would feel differently if that kid brought a real gun to school on purpose.
Jachooz, please tell us you post is parody. Please tell us you’re only simulating a stupid person for comedic effect. Please admit that you don’t really believe children should be arrested for scaring you.
You are kidding, right? You forgot the ./sarc tag.
I am sorry to say but I disagree with most of you. Times have changed. Going out in public has become scary. The incidents of gun violence in schools has exploded. If that child came to my children’s school with the exact same gun I would want him arrested too! Where were his parents that they even allowed him to take a fake or not gun to school? Why should we have to even guess or prove that it’s real or not? Okay, so it had an orange tip. What would your small child do if they saw him with the gun at school and didn’t know the orange meant it was a toy? What if another child heard he brought a gun to school and wasn’t punished and some other child brings in a real gun because of it? There was no need to bring the gun,toy or not, to school. It could have been a very scary incident for everyone involved. The kid who brought it to school has to be taught that you don’t mess with guns and the rest of the school needs to understand by his example. He didn’t get caught chewing gum in school. He had a gun in his backpack. Real or not, it never, ever should have gotten into that school.
Liberals are advocating the use of stupidity as a tool in the daily lives of Americans. Tenured, union school teachers are teaching stupidity to our children.
It is a tactic.
Home school your children. Period. If you love your kids the way people say they love their kids, they’ll do this.
Your children are not their experimental subjects. They get to grow up only once. You can’t play around with that.
In almost all of these incidents of over reacting school punishments, (picture of a gun, toy gun, took an asprin/asthma medicine in violation of a “zero tolerance” drug policy) I notice that the punished child is white. Has anyone but me wondered if schools are being pressured to ‘even the numbers’ of suspensions/expelled students between whites and minorities, and that they are using these non-offences to ‘even the numbers’ so that black students who commit real atrocities can be suspended?
Did anyone else notice that this school was named for Douglas McArthur, who led our military in the Pacific in WWII? The irony that such a school would not have staff who could even distinguish between a real gun and a plastic gun with an orange tip in the barrel is astounding, but these days is not in any way surprising.
Just another reason why folks are home-schooling more and more kids. They don’t want to risk having their child abused, brain-washed, arrested or traumatized by incompetent members of today’s public school teachers and administrators unions.
What will the country do if we ever have to mobilize in the face of an existential threat as was necessary in 1941? The raw material coming out of these public schools today will be incredibly unsuited to dealing with anything that is not wrapped in a cloak of political correctness, and will not know how to recognize and deal with enemies and bad actors in either the military and foreign relations arenas, or in the realms of business and industry.
Unfortunately many of these will likely become teachers and continue the cycle into the next generations.
Dude, I’m sorry, but Virginia hasn’t been Southern since you let the Yankees into Richmond. Doesn’t the Fairfax county executive brag that they’ve only issued ONE carry permit in thirty years, and that was to Oliver North?
John Steele: cool your jets. Child abuse? Get real. There are public schools in the southern U.S. suburbs that are every bit as good as private schools. And there are private schools that ape the public schools in every ridiculous policy. Yes, we’d be better off with a free market in schools, but we don’t have one. Bring a toy gun to a private, Episcopal school and see what happens. Every parent will have to make a choice based on the options where they live.
Are parents who send their kids to public colleges guilty of child abuse? Because I could make a strong argument that public colleges are just as bad.
I am increasingly glad my child has never set foot in a school! We keep reading the woes of public school children but being in our mid-twenties we remember how bad schools was. I am just waiting for some rookie cop to shoot a kid. The cops seem poorly trained these days.
Obviously there are no consequences for the school officials involved–otherwise they wouldn’t keep happening. These events are clear evidence that the administrators are unfit guardians of our children. What will it take to start treating them as seriously as they are?
Tell him that he and his family are welcome in Texas.
The schools do a lot of this idiocy to protect themselves from lawsuits and also to follow state and federal laws. Same thing with the police. It is the legislatures that have made these stupid laws.
The federal government should have no role in local schools and that includes funding. Of course we are in an era of “it’s for the children”. How uncaring could you be not to vote to protect our babies from toy guns.
We need to elect no nonsense school boards who will fire or suspend bureaucrats for idiocy. I guarantee a few suspensions or outright firings will clean up the problem quickly. And, when police make dumb arrests, just toss the police chief and the arresting officer out on their ears. Again, the problem will quickly go away.
When I was in junior high, I staged a coup during a social studies simulation of a dictatorship — complete with my jumping atop a desk and firing a cap pistol into the ceiling to announce the beginning of the people’s proletariat paradise.
Everyone — including the teacher — thought it was a stitch, and the most entertaining and informative of the various governmental simulations we did that semester. If my sons had done something similar today they would likely be committing felonies.
Ah progress.
Well,if you’re a low bred nazi faggot who lives in Alexandria,VA.what else can you do but go to work for the police department?
Any American parent who sends their kids to public school in this country is guilty of child abuse.
Parents: scrimp, save, cut back on your own life but send your kids to a private or religious school even if it means you have to give up your Starbucks — these are your children and the future of America. And the union-owned, government-idiot-run, Marxist-indoctrinating “public” schools are going to destroy your kids.
Dude, Alexandria is way, way too close to DC to be part of the South.
Cars exist in the world so we teach Driver Education in school. Sex exists in the world so we teach Sex Education in school. Guns exist so Liberals demand we stick our heads in the sand and pretend they don’t.
Sell the schools and privatize them.
I have battled with my local school district and the old saying “you can’t fight city hall” is true. The administration, from the principal up to and including the school board itself, are entrenched in their (lack of) thinking and will not change. You could give them the best idea in the history of the world and they would not like it.
The core problem with our school system is there is no systemic incentive to improve. In fact, a principal’s typical day is spent dealing with problems such as complaining parents who are often complaining about trivial issues. So, the principal’s systemic incentive is to make the problems go away, which means the teacher’s incentive, to keep her boss happy, is to avoid controversy. Good education has no choice but to get lost in the process.
There is another point. I have read about many school experiments, vouchers, private, charter, magnet, uniform classes,boys classes and girls classes, and so on. As far as I can find every thing works. The only thing we can’t do is find a school system that is worse than the one we currently use. The story above is just another example of the problem with our current approach to education.
YOUR MISSING THE POINT, THE POLICE ARE TRAINING OUR CHILDREN AND US TO GET USED TO LIVING IN A POLICE STATE, NOTHING STUPID ABOUT THAT FROM THEIR POINT OF VIEW