7th-graders suspended for playing with airsoft gun in own yard

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry when I saw this. We've really gone 'round the bend with this nanny state stuff, no?

Two seventh-grade students in Virginia Beach, Va., were handed long-term suspensions Tuesday that will last until the end of the school year for playing with an airsoft gun in one of their front yards while waiting for the school bus.

WAVY-TV reports that 13-year-old Khalid Caraballo and Aidan Clark will face an additional hearing in January to determine if they will be expelled for "possession, handling and use of a firearm" because the guns were fired at two others playing in Caraballo's yard. (Source

Okay, so the kids are in their own front yard, goofing around while waiting for the bus, to me that means that they're under their parents' rules, not the school's. Once they're on the school bus, fine, but prior to that, it's none of the school's business what the kid is doing, so long as they're not breaking a law.

The school's so-called "zero-tolerance" policy on guns extends to private property, according to the report.

What bloody right do they have to enforce that policy?

Absolutely ridiculous.

reply to post by adjensen


Some of the comments from the boy's mother were just as disturbing as the school's reaction.

“My son is my private property.” said Khalid’s mother, Solangel Caraballo. “He does not become the school’s property until he goes to the bus stop, gets on the bus, and goes to school.”

“How dare he disobey me,” the mother added, “but this is a home issue. It’s not a school issue and it won’t happen again. He will never do this again.”

Since when does a student become school's property? And why deprive the boy of legally playing in his own front yard? Bad mom.

reply to post by adjensen


Ridiculous.

reply to post by adjensen




There are no words that can adequately describe how incredibly asinine this is.

reply to post by adjensen


Only a few years ago the sibilings and i could go out, with a duffle bag and shoot each other in the park. Kids cant even do it on there own property? Ok, right lets pretend thats good news.

reply to post by hknudzkknexnt


Back when I was young my friend and I would shoot arrows at each other.
In my front yard.

reply to post by AnonymousCitizen


See and we all thought slavery had been outlawed... in reality the 14th amendment to the US Constitution actual enslaves us all.

On to the main topic.

Retardation has seemed to grip this nation in regards to firearms. This stupidity seems to have no end in sight. I figure by the time these kids get out of school firearms as we know them will likely be outlawed.

grey580
reply to post by hknudzkknexnt

 

Back when I was young my friend and I would shoot arrows at each other.
In my front yard.

You could shoot one of your large black eyes out like that.

reply to post by adjensen


Not surprising that this took place in Virginia; authorities there have zero respect for civil liberties, aided and abetted by a populace too concerned with 'getting ahead' to closely examine where they are really are in life.

I fail to see the issue here...

"children were firing pellet guns at each other, and at people near the bus stop." Delaney states in the letter that one child "was only 10 feet from the bus stop, and ran from the shots being fired, but was still hit."

A. Shooting at each other with pellet guns cab be dangerous;
B. At least one of the children struck by a pellet was not in the yard; rather was at the bus stop.
C. The child who was struck by the pellet was not involved in this juvenile game; yet was thrust into the situation by no fault of his own.
D. In most civilized municipalities, school bus stops are protected zones in which the school does have authority over as it relates to student activity.

Look, if this incident had been contained exclusively to the offender's property and all involved were willing participants, then this story would have some legs to it. But it wasn't and it doesn't. In addition to the suspension, I hope the "wounded" child's parents include a healthy does of assault charges to the mix.

LeatherNLace
Look, if this incident had been contained exclusively to the offender's property and all involved were willing participants, then this story would have some legs to it. But it wasn't and it doesn't. In addition to the suspension, I hope the "wounded" child's parents include a healthy does of assault charges to the mix.

Read the story again -- this suspension has nothing to do with shooting at another kid (even if that's true) -- they will face an expulsion hearing for that.

They are being suspended because they had possession of a gun on private property. It sounds like they're getting to the point where a person can't even take their kid hunting any more.

If the kids were breaking the law, fine, arrest 'em for that. But I fail to see how the school feels that it can enforce its policies on people who are on private property, outside of school hours. That's just ridiculous.

reply to post by adjensen


Let me provide the same story but with more detail...

The children were suspended for possession, handling and use of a firearm.

Because the bus stop is technically on school grounds, Larkspur Middle School said it had the right to suspend them.

www.huffingtonpost.com...

Once that pellet left the airspace of the child's property and into the airspace of the bus stop, the school was within their authority to suspend the kids.

HOWEVER, the article I linked also provided more information on the gun used:

Airsoft guns fire small, spring-loaded plastic pellets. They are generally considered safer than BB guns, which fire copper pellets.

This sort of changes the context of things; given that plastic toy pellets were being fired.

Having said that, if the school has a zero tolerance policy towards guns, then they were still within their right to suspend the kids. If the parents are not satisfied with that, then they should petition the school board to change the zero tolerance policy...until then, justice has been served per the school district's policy.

They are being suspended because they had possession of a gun on private property.

I really feel sorry for those living in that school district.

reply to post by adjensen


It is my opinion that maybe there is more to this story than what we are seeing. I can understand the extreme of this IF the child or children involved have back stories of bullying, fighting, making threats, etc... Then yes, maybe the extreme is what is called for.

IF the child or children involved DO NOT have prior history of bad behavior at school or previous incidents involving fighting, bullying, threatening, AND no one was injured..... then it would seem to me it would be better handled by talking with kids calmly and telling them that it is not appropriate or in their, or the other students best interest to have toy guns at the bus stop as it can cause others to become frightened.

I know kids at my bus stop that I wouldn't blink an eye if they were running around with toy guns. BUT there are a couple that are there that would cause me to keep right on driving and not take a chance that it could possibly be something more lethal.

Homeschooling.

I think it's good thatthe school did this. Why would you want to put your child in a place so over controling. I do not care if the bus stop is considered school property, if the child is on his parents property, he is not on school property. It's ridiculous.

What next, playing cod and shooting someone can be considered a crime because you pointed a weapon at some stranger and kill them?

That is how stupid this is.

That school needs an education.

I am not quite done examining this, but here is the relevant information I have found regarding the school and school district in question (remember the day when newspapers would dig up information; probably not as a lot of you are young).

Virigina Beach City Public Schools and their duly elected board have adopted the following language when it comes to "weapons". Virigina Beach City Public School

School Board of the City of Virginia Beach
Regulation 5-36.4

A. Students are prohibited from possessing, handling, using, or distributing any weapon on School Board property (including any school bus), on the way to or from school or while at any school sponsored or related activities.
~
D. For purposes of this regulation, the term "weapon" shall be defined as any instrument that (1) is used; (2) is capable of being used; (3) is designed to be used; or (4) appears to be capable of being used or designed to be used, in offensive or defensive combat, and shall include, but not be limited to, the following: (1) any firearm or pneumatic weapon; (2) any knife; (3) any object which is either designed or actually used to inflict bodily injury, or to place a person in fear of bodily injury; (4) any object which could reasonably be considered to be a weapon; (5) any object which, by its design or use, looks like a weapon (hereinafter referred to as a "look-alike weapon"); and (6) any object listed and/or defined in the Code of Virginia, §§ 18.2-308, 18.2-308.1 and 22.1-277.01, or in 18 U.S.C. § 921.
~
E. Each principal shall be responsible for determining whether an object constitutes a "weapon" as defined in Subsection D, including items (3) - (6) in Subsection D.

My guess is that the principal exerted their authority and deemed the "Air-soft gun" a weapon as defined under Section D above. Then then proceeded to also determine that the children were "on the way to...school".

No where have I found documentation that the School Board lays claims that bus-stops are "considered school property". That claim is ridiculous.

Post Script:
To the above, the closest thing I can see to lay claim that a bus-stop is "school property" is that the Code of Conduct extends to the following:

Students are subject to all conditions of the Code of Student Conduct while at the bus stop, going to and from the bus stop, or riding the bus...

That is the only way that the school board and the principal can stand on this suspension. They will have to prove that the kids were "going to and from the bus stop..." when such actions took place. If the parents can prove that their kids normally walk and/or receive other modes of transportation, I believe they could beat this.

LeatherNLace
I fail to see the issue here...

"children were firing pellet guns at each other, and at people near the bus stop." Delaney states in the letter that one child "was only 10 feet from the bus stop, and ran from the shots being fired, but was still hit."

A. Shooting at each other with pellet guns cab be dangerous;
B. At least one of the children struck by a pellet was not in the yard; rather was at the bus stop.
C. The child who was struck by the pellet was not involved in this juvenile game; yet was thrust into the situation by no fault of his own.
D. In most civilized municipalities, school bus stops are protected zones in which the school does have authority over as it relates to student activity.

Look, if this incident had been contained exclusively to the offender's property and all involved were willing participants, then this story would have some legs to it. But it wasn't and it doesn't. In addition to the suspension, I hope the "wounded" child's parents include a healthy does of assault charges to the mix.

These were Airsoft guns the article says.

Airsoft guns are replica firearms used in airsoft that fire plastic pellets by way of compressed gas or electric and/or spring-driven pistons. These guns are designed to be non-lethal and to provide realistic replicas.

en.wikipedia.org...

You are required to wear eye protection so at worst you could put someones eye out, yet people play with these all the time without eye protection. The kid wasn't hit in the eye so I doubt there is much damage except a small welt.

Airsoft guns were created to be low velocity non-lethal guns. This is accomplished by using a 6mm or 8mm plastic BB that is very light .12 to .45 grams, fired at low velocities 170 to 550fps (feet per second). In Japan, the fps limit is 300fps with a .20 gram BB for all guns. Kids large and small have always wanted to play solder, and airsoft gives them an opportunity to do that with the right protective gear. Airsoft guns should not be confused with Daisy BB guns sold in the US for years which at close range are lethal.

larryg2011.hubpages.com...

I doubt these things could even kill the smallest of animals. It was designed for kids. Not gonna hurt them, unless they heavily modded the guns ( which people can do)

And there is this also from the same link:

There are safety concerns with airsoft that parents need to be aware of. Children need to play with full clothing, long sleeve shirts, pants, and gloves. BBs will only leave a red spot through clothes, but on bare skin it can cause a blood blister and can bleed, if hit at close enough range with a high enough velocity gun. This is one reason airsoft fields in the US and around the world have a 10 to 20ft minimum engagement distance

If we knew how far the kid was from 10 to 20 feet, he couldn't have been hurt badly.

I don't get this at all. What is going on with this country?

How can a school claim authority over someone going to school if that person is not on a school system vehicle.

Wondering if these school official attended history class where the US constitution was studied.

roadgravel
How can a school claim authority over someone going to school if that person is not on a school system vehicle.

Wondering if these school official attended history class where the US constitution was studied.

When the People of the represented area, via their elected School Board officials, allow it to happen. This has nothing to do with the United States Constitution and everything to do with the local area that has allowed such a rule to come into effect.