Middle School Student Suspended for “Liking” Gun Photo

We have all heard the stories of youngsters being punished at school for pointing a finger like a gun or eating a sandwich in such a shape.  But the latest in ridiculousness a 10 day suspension for “liking” an instagram post of an airsoft gun.

Ohio’s Edgewood Middle School’s side of the story is that the 7th grade student’s actions of “liking a post on social media indicated potential school violence”.  The instagram post in question was actually an airsoft pistol with the caption of “ready”.  The “liking” activity did not occur during school hours, or on school property.  The material in question had no further actions except a simple double-clicked “like” on instagram.  No comments were posted by the student.  No threats were made.  For this the student was detained and patted down upon arrival to school the next morning and suspended for 10 days. (full story) Insane.  I mean, it’s not even a good picture.  You want good gun photos just check out my instagram.

This is the photo of an airsoft pistol that resulted in the suspension of a 7th grader by him simply “liking” it.

And then two month’s ago a 4 year old was suspended for 7 days because he had brought a spent .22LR casing to preschool.  A spent brass.  4 years old.  The worst case scenario I can imagine is if the young tike shoved the casing up his nose.  But once again, school officials freak out.

I have had campers who attended my Marksmanship Camp reprimanded after wearing their camp T-Shirt to school that has an image of a Volquartsen Custom .22LR rifle as well as stating “Pray Hard, Shoot Straight, Psalms 44:6-8”.  I’m not sure what offended the teacher in question more:  The screen printed image of a precision .22LR rifle or the scripture reference.  So I feel obligated to warn campers every camp to no bring cool items like their engraved 50BMG dummy round trophies to class so they don’t suffer consequences from uptight school teachers and administrators.

What is the answer for such ridiculous knee jerk reactions for such innocent actions?  Yes, safety does need to be on the forefront of our minds for our little ones.  We must be on the look out for those who wish to harm them.  But these “zero tolerance” policies is resulting in a complete lack of common sense.  What do you think?  Leave an answer in the comments.