By TTAG Contributor The Truth About Guns
Finger guns, the lethal weapons of choice of absolutely no one, are in the news again.
Every so often we write about over-the-top reactions to harmless things or actions with some nebulous but apparently nefarious gun-related nexus, like the by-now notorious case of the seven-year-old second-grader suspended for chewing a breakfast pastry into the shape of a gun
A school official admitted that while a student โused food to make inappropriate gestures that disrupted the class,โ there were no โphysical threatsโ made and no one was harmed. In another case, a ten-year-old boy was suspended from elementary school after โmaking his fingers look like a gun, having the thumb up and the pointed finger sticking out,โ which the suspension letter called a โlevel 2 look alike firearm.โ Here, too, no one was hurt or scared or threatened and, most obviously, no firearm was involved.
Last month, a six-year-old Alabama boy was reportedly suspended from elementary school for making a โfinger gun gestureโ with โbang, bangโ sound effects during a recess game of cops and robbers. His โgun fingersโ came to the attention of school authorities, who instituted disciplinary proceedings.
The boyโs father alleges that school staff โinterrogatedโ the child, and made him โconfess and then sign his nameโ to a โClass III infractionโ form.
According to a news report, the suspension notice specified the child committed a โ3.22 Threat,โ which the schoolโs handbook classifies as a โthreat/intimidation of student.โ Examples of 3.22 violations listed in the handbook include โa threat to kill, maim, or inflict serious harm; a threat to inflict harm involving the use of any weapon, explosive, firearm, knife, prohibited object, or other object which may be perceived by the individual being threatened as capable of inflicting bodily harm.โ
Class III infractions more generally include serious crimes like arson, assault bomb threats, burglary, and sexual battery. The father notes that actually punching or hitting a student would have been a lesser Class II infraction, โso in the eyes of these school administrators, a finger gun is more serious than punching a classmate in the nose.โ
An attorney representing the family confirms that the recess game โdid not threaten any other students, did not disrupt any class activities, and did not interfere with school functions in any way.โ And while the school has since โdowngradedโ the violation to a slightly less ludicrous โClass II Infraction,โ the parents are seeking to have the disciplinary action removed from their childโs school record and to have the school refrain from punishing students for โage and context appropriate playtime activities which cause no substantial disruption, contain no actual, implied, or perceived threat, and pose no danger to anyone,โ regardless of whether the staff have their own issues with โgun fingerโ play.
Unfortunately, this sort of foolish overreaction isnโt limited to childrenโs playgrounds.
The National Football League recently levied fines of $13,659 each against two Cleveland Browns players, quarterback Deshaun Watson and tight end David Njoku, for a โviolent gestureโ that occurred in a September 25 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Video of the blink-and-youโll-miss-it exchange between the two teammates was captured in a tweet and apparently shows the two pretending to fire guns after a touchdown, โduring what appeared to be their own signature handshake.โ
Watson was also fined for twice grabbing the facemask of an opponent in the same game โ and although that involved actual physical contact (โunnecessary roughnessโ), the fines for those transgressions were less than the fine for the use of his โgun fingers.โ Even more interestingly, the NFL reportedly opted not to penalize Watson for โshoving an officialโ during that game, a move that the NFL Rulebook cites as warranting a disqualification.
Two adult teammates sharing an innocuous joke on the field, though, is somehow more problematic.
One has to wonder which of these (if any) is the real โviolent gesture,โ especially in the context of the target-rich environment an intrinsically physical and potentially dangerous sport presents. A former player, now a CNN sports anchor/correspondent writes about his time in the NFL that โfootball is a violent game โ and always has been.โ Another commentator states, just as succinctly, that โthe physicality and the violence is part of what makes football, well, football.โ
These unequivocally harmless gestures attract some strangely disproportionate consequences, considering we have yet to read about any gun finger-related fatalities. Watsonโs and Njokuโs one-second interaction will cost them a total of $27,318. The parents in the breakfast pastry incident spent three-and-a-half years and untold dollars litigating the matter of their childโs disciplinary record (which uses the word โgunโ four times) before reaching a settlement with the school.
The Alabama case is already being handled through an attorney. Other children who have their finger-gun incidents result in official discipline face being unfairly labeled as violent or dangerous as they progress through the educational system.
Whatโs next? Charging pet owners who train their animals to fake keeling over (here, here, and here) when a finger gun is โfired,โ with animal abuse and cruelty?
Whatโs truly alarming about these incidents isnโt just the anti-gun bigotry that seems to be in play, but the inability of responsible professionals to distinguish a genuine threat or violence from what clearly isnโt โ when even children and pets understand the difference between real and make-believe.
Find the original article in its entirety on The Truth About Guns.
7 Comments
To me, there is some sense in the infraction. After all, in today’s US society, you are not supposed to shoot the robber. You might be able to yell at him/her/they and say bad boy/girl/them.
Zero tolerance is an excuse for zero intelligence, on the part of the enforcers.
Maybe he should have used his middle finger instead.
You know, I wonder how the hell we grew up in the 50โs, 60โs & 70โs ever made it this far. We sure as hell never would have thought this country would get so f$&?ed up this far.
I wonder whatโll happen when we get over taken either domestically or foreign , will we be able to get them reprimanded?
As ridicules as this seems it is part of the incremental shift to dystopian control of society.
Glad I wonโt be here to see it.
I want to know if the parents are refunded their legal fees and are awarded punitive damages for the length of time the case drags on?
NO. They will be lucky if there is Justice for their child.