http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2013/01/16/Boys-suspended-for-using-fingers-as-guns/UPI-56861358343267/
BALTIMORE, Jan. 16 (UPI) -- School officials in Maryland suspended two 6-year-old boys for pretending to shoot each other with imaginary guns, a move some parents call "ridiculous."
Officials at a Talbot County elementary school suspended the two boys, who were playing cops and robbers during recess, using their fingers in the shape of imaginary guns, WJZ-TV, Baltimore, reported Tuesday.
"It's ridiculous," said parent Julia Merchant.
This is the second such incident in less than a month in Maryland, after 6-year-old Rodney Lynch was suspended from a Montgomery County school for pretending to fire an imaginary gun at a fellow student.
"They're saying he threatened a student, threatened to shoot a student. He was playing," said Rodney Lynch Sr., the boy's father.
Child psychologist Dr. Joe Kaine said he did not believe Rodney was acting out of maliciousness, and most children that age can't comprehend why something they consider fun might upset adults.
"I can certainly appreciate that at school, that's not a type of play that they are going to endorse and I certainly support that, but that's where we educate the time and place for doing things," he said
but it's for the children!
It's funny (in a sad way) of the friends of mine that had been 'restricted" from toy guns when they were kids.. they are the most engrossed firearms collectors and shooters that I know.
Most people I know have at least one gun (usually two.. a pistol and a rifle) and those few that were not allowed toy guns.. have collections that would make a militia proud.
The moral.. let kids be kids and get it out of their system while they are young. The longer you restrict or ban something, they more they are going to be curious and want it more
mtn
PowerDork
1/16/13 11:05 a.m.
Ridiculous.
I had a teacher in high school who was pretty far to the left. By her standards, I would be pretty far to the right. I happened to be one of her favorite students; she happened to be one of my favorite teachers. Anyways, her being who she was, she told us that she was very much no guns, no toy guns, my child will not have that kind of influence on his mind. Then one day when he was about four, he was shooting his little sister with a piece of toast that he had eaten into the shape of a gun.
She let him have toy guns after that. Somehow, I don't think that that kid is going to grow up to be a psychopath.
For those who have never seen the Is Tropical video...
http://vimeo.com/25318752
Duke
PowerDork
1/16/13 11:09 a.m.
And yet, this is only a matter of degree, not something completely different, away from what many Americans clamor for - protection from everything, even at the cost of all freedom and common sense.
The school I went to when I was a kid didn't let us make things out of legos etc. that looked like guns. I got tattled on for making an L-shaped piece out of interlocking cubes once.
But even if I organized a full-on Cowboys & Indians flash mob I don't think I would have been suspended (even considering the racial insensitivity of the game).
Ah a continuation of the pussification of America.
Speaking as a member of the I-rather-don't-care-for-guns crowd, I would like to request the perpetrators of this decision to stop helping.
I'm inclined to file this under "individual stupidity" rather than rising fascism, and I also wonder whether we're getting some of that awesome journalism wherein the behavior that actually caused the suspension is glossed over, and the fact that they were making pretend guns with their fingers while they were, say, shoving other kids off the cafeteria loading dock is the item that's brought to the fore.
In any case, there's stupidity afoot. This much I'm sure we can agree on.
yamaha
SuperDork
1/16/13 12:43 p.m.
mad_machine wrote:
but it's for the children!
It's funny (in a sad way) of the friends of mine that had been 'restricted" from toy guns when they were kids.. they are the most engrossed firearms collectors and shooters that I know.
Most people I know have at least one gun (usually two.. a pistol and a rifle) and those few that were not allowed toy guns.. have collections that would make a militia proud.
The moral.. let kids be kids and get it out of their system while they are young. The longer you restrict or ban something, they more they are going to be curious and want it more
This precisely, my parents wouldn't even let me have a .22, bb gun, bow, rubber band gun, even a cap gun...........well, by the time I was 12, my grandfather thought that was the dumbest assed thing he had ever heard, so on weekends and through the summer, he would take me with his brother to the local gun range. He taught me how to safely handle weapons, how to shoot accurately, and how to properly maintain them. He made me be proficient with a lower weapon before the next "bigger" thing, handguns were last naturally when I was 15. He died when I was 16, before ever realizing exactly the value of what he taught me. My parents were naturally pissed, especially when I(at 16 mind you) inherited all his firearms. Those weapons will never leave my possession and hopefully will be used to teach my children and grand children the same things I was taught.
Oddly enough, my parents now own more firearms than I do.....
Kids are kids, let them have their fun without adults confusing them.
"The state must declare the child to be the most precious treasure of the people. As long as the government is perceived as working for the benefit of the children, the people will happily endure almost any curtailment of liberty and almost any deprivation." - Adolf Hitler; an excerpt from "Mein Kampf".
A bit of information on Hand-guns: http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Hand_gun
mad_machine wrote:
...Most people I know have at least one gun (usually two.. a pistol and a rifle) and those few that were not allowed toy guns.. have collections that would make a militia proud....
Hey, wait a second there!!! Girls that are taught the "proper" ways to act in Catholic schools always end up perfectly...
...oh wait.... never mind.
Beer Baron wrote:
racerfink wrote:
"The state must declare the child to be the most precious treasure of the people. As long as the government is perceived as working for the benefit of the children, the people will happily endure almost any curtailment of liberty and almost any deprivation." - Adolf Hitler; an excerpt from "Mein Kampf".
Interesting.. not sure this is a violation of Godwin's Law as it seems to fit in perfectly and no mention of Nazi Germany is made, just a quote from Adolf's Book
mad_machine wrote:
Interesting.. not sure this is a violation of Godwin's Law as it seems to fit in perfectly and no mention of Nazi Germany is made, just a quote from Adolf's Book
I'd say quoting Hitler counts as a comparison, and thus invokes Godwin's Law.
oldsaw
PowerDork
1/16/13 3:46 p.m.
In reply to mad_machine:
Everything is OK when one bends the rules............
oldsaw wrote:
Everything is OK when one bends the rules............
Are we bending them for the children?
N Sperlo wrote:
Ah a continuation of the pussification of America.
I think it is officially complete now
yamaha
SuperDork
1/16/13 6:33 p.m.
In reply to aussiesmg:
Why else do you think everyone around me has a diesel truck because of snow?
mad_machine wrote:
Beer Baron wrote:
racerfink wrote:
"The state must declare the child to be the most precious treasure of the people. As long as the government is perceived as working for the benefit of the children, the people will happily endure almost any curtailment of liberty and almost any deprivation." - Adolf Hitler; an excerpt from "Mein Kampf".
Interesting.. not sure this is a violation of Godwin's Law as it seems to fit in perfectly and no mention of Nazi Germany is made, just a quote from Adolf's Book
yeah, the quote fits, regardless of who said it. dismissing the quote- and the person that posted it- just because of who originally said it is intellectually lazy at best.
