Toy gun on school grounds nets suspension for fifth-grader

[proud2BlibKansan]

This has been a hot local story this week. When I first saw it on the news the other night, I was appalled. This girl was on the school playground on a weekend playing with her friends. It seemed ridiculous to punish her.

Then I read this story in today's paper, which provides more details.

A Sunday game with a spring-powered toy gun has earned a Shawnee Mission fifth-grader more than three months at home.

Alyssa Cornish has been suspended until January after she admitted that she and several other children were playing with the gun on the playground of Santa Fe Trail Elementary School, which she has attended since pre-K.

Now the straight-A student who was elected to the student council is barred from her classes, her Halloween party and even from Girl Scouts because they meet on school grounds. Her picture won’t be in the school yearbook because she missed photo day.

This is an interesting detail:

Many Airsoft guns resemble real weapons and come with warnings that they can be mistaken for the real thing. It is illegal to discharge them in Overland Park unless in a rural area with the written consent of the landowner. Legal restrictions apply in other states.

Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/10/27/2362464/toy-gun-on-school-grounds-nets.html#ixzz13hw5kka6

So now I don't know what to think. If this is an illegal weapon, why is it referred to as a toy? And if the city had prosecuted her, would the punishment have been worse?

Anyhow, I am thinking this presents an unusual twist on a school suspension story. And honestly, I am undecided.

[pitohui]

1. were the other students playing w. the gun also suspended?

or is there something else to the story? is she black or something?


yes, copies/toys/replicas are banned on most school campuses and will earn suspension/expulsion, happens every day since the 1980s i thought...back then, yes, banning "toys" was indeed a hot discussion of the day but i thought this was just standard policy now?

they expel students for having an aspirin under zero tolerance, and no one was ever shot by accident by a police officer for carrying an aspirin

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. That also may be a problem

Tracey Cornish said her daughter initially was given a 10-day suspension. After she wrote a detailed account for school officials of her activities that day in which she acknowledged shooting the toy gun on school grounds, she was given a further suspension for the rest of the semester.

Her mother hired an attorney and this week exhausted her appeals when the Shawnee Mission School Board declined to modify the punishment.

Tracey Cornish said the student who brought the Airsoft pistol to the school was suspended for just three days and that two other students received the same punishment as her daughter. The district would not confirm that.

Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/10/27/2362464/toy-gun-on-school-grounds-nets.html#ixzz13hzyS1bw

No she is not black. I saw her on TV. She's a white girl.

The reason I think this is interesting is because this is a weapon that is also banned in the city. If she had been playing with it anywhere else, would her punishment have been as bad? Or worse? :shrug:

[Art_from_Ark]

9. A weapon?

It's a toy gun that shoots plastic BBs whose force is quickly diminished by air density. It's not like it was a CO2 BB pistol, which would be far more dangerous and similar to a real gun. It's probably not even as bad as the suction-cup-tipped "dart guns" that kids would sometimes take to my elementary school, and which were quickly taken away without having to suspend the student for more than a day or so.

And it's not like the girl even brought the gun to school herself. Someone else did, and, as kids will be kids, the toy gun attracted attention.

[proud2BlibKansan]

10. It's illegal to fire it in this city

Sounds more like a weapon than a toy to me. If it was a toy, would it be against the law to fire it?

[Art_from_Ark]

11. Given how some people overreact to toy guns

I would not be surprised if the law against this particular toy was just a knee-jerk zero-tolerance reaction from the city. It certainly doesn't look or sound any more dangerous than the dart guns I mentioned. In fact, the dart guns would probably have been more dangerous if the suction cup was removed from the "dart".

[Posteritatis]

12. It definitely would be in this case

Airsoft stuff likes muzzle velocities in the 6-800fps range with a lot of their gear. I absolutely guarantee they'd be far more dangerous than suction-dart guns.

[Art_from_Ark]

15. The specs for this particular toy say up to 200 fps

so it sounds pretty tame compared to what you mentioned

(edited to add "up to")

[Art_from_Ark]

14. Reading more about this airsoft BB gun

it sounds like it's pretty harmless when the muzzle is on, but it can be more dangerous if the muzzle is removed.

At any rate, it sounds to me like the punishment this girl is receiving is *way* out of proportion to what she did.

[Posteritatis]

16. Definitely agreed that the punishment's disproportionate regardless of other details. (nt)

[Abq_Sarah]

18. That's what you get with zero tolerance policies

Sometimes I wonder if they're not designed to beat down kids so they don't question authority as adults.

[Posteritatis]

3. While I think most ZT expulsion policies are idiotic, an Airsoft gun probably is pushing it a bit

The principals who suspend and expel students for those half-centimeter GI Joe toy guns, or for drawing pictures of guns bereft of context, or for having clear plastic water pistols, under "weapons" guidelines are all deeply, deeply stupid people and slaves to a zero-thought policy.

Airsoft guns are something more in the general league of paintball weapons in that they actually are designed to hourk a projectile a fair distance at a fair speed, and at a minimum really kinda hurt when tagged with one. I've paintballed, and would be interested in doing something similar with Airsoft weapons at some points, but they both actually are close enough to weapons that I'd treat them as such if there was even the chance of someone around not in protective gear, and even then I'd be careful on general principles. And, as the article said, Airsoft stuff often is designed to closely emulate the look of real firearms (or as close to same as is legal).

I still think a three month suspension over something like that is a bit much, especially for a fifth grader, but yeah, Airsoft stuff's a legitimate safety issue.

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. Apparently a kid was hit and his parents called the police

I agree about the toy guns as long as they aren't used to threaten other kids. The few incidents at my school where a kid has been suspended for bringing a toy gun have involved threatening other kids with the toy gun. Those kids need to be penalized for bullying. But if we have had other kids bring toy guns, they haven't been suspended (at least I am not aware of any). We had one incident a few years ago where a kid brought a toy gun and told his classmates it was real and he was going to shoot the teacher. His mom claimed it was part of his Halloween costume.

[Posteritatis]

7. Yeah, I'd draw a distinction between most toy guns and airsoft/paintball stuff

I think there's a lot of overreaction to the former, but the latter being utterly verboten on school grounds without a specific reason is fine by me. I actually would consider those weapons for all practical purposes. I know the times I've gone paintballing I had appropriate protective gear and felt very sore indeed for a few days afterwards, and Airsoft projectiles usually hit harder.

As regards the other incidents you mention, even with the not-really-weapons variety of toy guns I'm always happy to see students disciplined over bullying, no matter what paraphernalia they're using to do it with.

[Odin2005]

5. Idiotic. A toy gun is not a gun.

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. This one sounds like it is kind of dangerous

I'm wondering why it is even called a toy.

[Posteritatis]

8. It is insofar as it's used for entertainment purposes at least

Those, paintball guns, SCA sparring equipment, etc., would qualify as "toys" for that purpose, though it'd still suck to get tagged by any of those without appropriate protection.

I'd call them toys, but I'd also call them weapons, between the ability to cause at least some damage and as a psychological respect-this-apparatus approach.

[evlbstrd]

13. This is why I'm afraid to go into your neighborhood.

:scared:

:hi:

[proud2BlibKansan]

19. If you're coming let me know

I may decide to arm myself. :hi:

[Kaleva]

17. Used to be able to bring real guns to school and smoke on the bus.