Charged with bringing (toy) gun to school

[Kamicosmos]

Sigh...what's next? Getting arrested for looking at airsoft cataloges? I'm embarrased that this happened near my part of town. (Emphasis mine)

http://www.thekansascitychannel.com/education/4125569/detail.html

Olathe Teen Charged With Bringing Gun To School
Principal Sends Letter Home To Parents

POSTED: 5:17 pm CST January 24, 2005
UPDATED: 8:48 pm CST January 24, 2005

OLATHE, Kan. -- An Olathe teenager was taken into custody Monday for bringing a gun to school.


Olathe South Senior High Principal Phil Clark sent a letter to parents Monday saying a student showed a weapon to another student before classes started.

At 9 a.m., the 15-year-old boy was questioned by the principal and the soft-pellet gun was located in a bathroom about an hour later. The teen was then taken into police custody.

In the letter sent to parents, Clark wrote: "The safety of our students and staff is our primary concern ... We are sending this note, not to alarm you, but to keep you informed. Although we are disappointed that this incident occurred, we do celebrate the actions of the students who recognized the significance of the situation and moved swiftly to report it."

KMBC reported the student was charged with criminal use of a weapon and criminal threat. His name was not released.

 

[Black Snowman]

I don't know the details, but I intend to find out. I live just north of Olathe. Given what little information I have so far, this is what popped into my head:

[Sarcasm]
To Those Responsible for the Events of 1-24-05 in Olathe, KS;

I'm so pleased to hear of the actions you took in regards to a child bringing a toy resembling a weapon to school. It's good to set an example for the children that any resistance to the establishment will be met with undeniable force and every attempt will be made to obliterate their quality of life if not their life itself. This is a invaluable to establishing the totalitarian regime required to make the populace totally subservient to government as it is in so may successful nations around the world.

Certainly individual liberty serves no purpose in our progressive modern society and disarming the people is the absolute first step in the subservience of the people. By taking such action we are clearly setting the standards that weapons aren't just bad, but even thinking about them is a sign of depravity. By driving all positive thoughts in regard to anything related to self defense the state will no longer need be constrained in utilizing it's subjects to the utmost.

Such polices have proven very effective in places like Great Britain. Such as charging the wrongly imprisoned room and board for their time spent incarcerated and destroying any hope of a successful life once they are released virtually insuring they are driven to the life of crime they were accused of, thus insuring the populace's dependance on the state for protection.

Through such no-tolerance polices as these and the "War on Drugs" a smooth running and successful state serving the interests of those in power will surely prevail and result in a strong nation where undesirable elements are easily suppressed and eliminated. You should be proud of another job well done.

My hats off to you,
An Obedient Subject
[/Sarcasm]

 

[psyopspec]

I realize you were being sarcastic, but still...

By driving all positive thoughts related to anything related to self defense

An airsoft gun (which it sounds like this was) is hardly an instrument of self defense, nor is it purely a child's toy. Either way, why'd a 15 year old bring a pellet gun into a highschool, and why are you jumping to so quickly to his defense and criticism of the school?

Additionally, police involement means a crime was committed. You're barking up the wrong tree if you've got beef with a kid (only "allegedly" at this point) bringing a pellet gun to school and threatening another student with it. Check with the legislators, not the schools and cops that enforce laws.

 

[Third_Rail]

criminal use of a weapon and criminal threat

Really? That's interesting. I didn't see any mention of a weapon, just a toy. Perhaps he did threaten someone with it, though?

 

[Black Snowman]

I image that this a case of some bully actually threatening students and that the the charges against them are justfied and that the KC Star is managing to portray their particular anti-gun stance implying that the mear possession of something like this is grounds for the charges listed. Obviously they're not, so the important parts of the story, as usual, are either unknown, or unreported.

My sarcastic rant is venting at the attitudes of our local media and how it affects their reporting of the news, and the possible consequences, than it has any relation to the events at hand. Just blowing off some steam so I can get to sleep tonight through the haze of cold medication and flu symptoms. I've met some of the folks in the Olathe PD, and they're all good people doing their best.

Like I said at the begining, I don't have the facts, but I'd like to know and I'm CERTAIN, I can't trust the KC Star to give them to me. OK, signing off for the night

 

[Aguila Blanca]

That's it -- the new mantra for the Brady Bunch. Never mind renewing the AWB. What we obviously need IMMEDIATELY (it's for the children, you know) is a soft-pellet weapon ban (SPWB).

Let 'em go after that. Maybe it'll keep them too busy to worry about real guns for awhile.

 

[CAS700850]

you know, there is actually a seperate section of ohio law which deals with look-alike weapons at school. Ohio Revised Code Section 2923.122 prohibits the possession of "an item indistinguishable from a firearm" in a school safety zone, whether or not it is capable of being fired, and the person possessing it displays or brandished it and indicates it is a firearm. It is a misdemeanor of the first degree the first time, and a felony thereafter.

I do have to wonder what a 15 year old kid is doing with any kind of gun at school, showing it off in some way. Come on, this is the Post Columbine world. You can hardly say gun on school grounds and not set off a panic.

 

[HankB]

Additionally, police involement means a crime was committed.

Not necessarily . . . just to nitpick, police involvement means crimes may have been committed, specifically criminal use of a weapon and criminal threat as reported in the news story. A court of law will decide that, hopefully based on more evidence than we have.

 

[CAS700850]

Another thing along the line with Hank's posting. When I worked Juvi., many of the schools we dealt with were so afraid of disciplining a student that they would call the police if a student got loud and obnoxious. We started referring to them as "discipline issues" when we rejected a request for charges. And God forbid if teh student had and IEP, then every loud outburst was a request for charges, becuase the school couldn't kick them out, but would look for us to lock them up.

 

[psyopspec]

Really? That's interesting. I didn't see any mention of a weapon, just a toy.

In many jurisdictions, devices that launch a projectile via compressed air are considered weapons (definition varies). Also see CAS's post, which again backs up the legal issue of having a gun-like device on school grounds.

Consider this: If the kid approached you and started shooting you with little plastic pellets flying 3-500 fps, would you still be brushing it off as a boy with a toy? Or, as your welts started to bleed would you get him to stop and let the police know about it?

 

[Standing Wolf]

Thank heaven there wasn't another of those terrible massacres that have been all over the news lately.