Posted by Kromey at 7:18pm Dec 13 '10The short version of the story reads like this:
A high school honors student went hunting with friends and family over the Thanksgiving weekend. When she returned, she forgot about her unloaded rifle locked in its case inside her car's locked trunk. She went to school the following week, and only remembered about her rifle when the school announced that contraband-sniffing dogs were present. She went to the office, told them she had accidentally forgotten about her gun locked in her trunk, and asked if she could move her car off the school campus.
Next thing she knows, she's being escorted out of class by the assistant principal and being told that she's now facing expulsion under federal and state law, and school district policy.
Seriously? Are we so deathly afraid of guns in this country that we would derail an otherwise spotless high school student's education? A student who by all accounts clearly had no ill intent -- rather she made a simple honest mistake -- and who even effectively turned herself in to the school's administration when she realized her mistake.
The school district has since backed down and are now saying that she won't be expelled, never would have been, and that this is all just a bunch of "hullabaloo over nothing". Never mind that the school and school district officials were the ones who were threatening expulsion in the first place, and claiming to have their hands tied by zero-tolerance law and policy, who are now saying that they have plenty of leeway for discretion, including no expulsion at all, and that everyone else is just getting too worked up over "nothing".
There is some sanity in the school district's administration, though:
Girl runs afoul of gun rules
And the follow-up article wherein the school district suddenly reverses earlier statements that she would be expelled for at least 21 days:
Expulsion unlikely in school gun case
A high school honors student went hunting with friends and family over the Thanksgiving weekend. When she returned, she forgot about her unloaded rifle locked in its case inside her car's locked trunk. She went to school the following week, and only remembered about her rifle when the school announced that contraband-sniffing dogs were present. She went to the office, told them she had accidentally forgotten about her gun locked in her trunk, and asked if she could move her car off the school campus.
Next thing she knows, she's being escorted out of class by the assistant principal and being told that she's now facing expulsion under federal and state law, and school district policy.
Seriously? Are we so deathly afraid of guns in this country that we would derail an otherwise spotless high school student's education? A student who by all accounts clearly had no ill intent -- rather she made a simple honest mistake -- and who even effectively turned herself in to the school's administration when she realized her mistake.
The school district has since backed down and are now saying that she won't be expelled, never would have been, and that this is all just a bunch of "hullabaloo over nothing". Never mind that the school and school district officials were the ones who were threatening expulsion in the first place, and claiming to have their hands tied by zero-tolerance law and policy, who are now saying that they have plenty of leeway for discretion, including no expulsion at all, and that everyone else is just getting too worked up over "nothing".
There is some sanity in the school district's administration, though:
While the federal law might work in some areas of the country, it doesn't work in Montana, a state where hunting is so common, [Superintendent Michael] Nicosia said.
"I've heard people say, 'This isn't inner-city Los Angeles; this is Montana,'" he said. "A law that covers everyone the same generally isn't a very good law."
Girl runs afoul of gun rules
And the follow-up article wherein the school district suddenly reverses earlier statements that she would be expelled for at least 21 days:
Expulsion unlikely in school gun case
Honors student caught in zero-tolerance hullabaloo - Kromey