this "OMG it's a gun" BS is getting a little too thick

[daveInME]

this was in the Bangor Daily New this morning, about 2 teens showing off their new BB gun and getting charged with a Class C felony for "terrorizing with a firearm".

the town they are talking about is in the northern 1/3 of the state with a population density of around 15 people per sq mile, and about 5 times as many deer and twice as many moose as people. pretty soon we won't be able to fart in public without being charged with terrorizing with a WMD/gas attack.


DIXFIELD — Two Dirigo High School students face charges after they were found in possession of a BB pistol in an incident that prompted officials to lock down the school.

The incident, which took place 30 minutes after classes ended Tuesday afternoon, caused a scare in the wake of recent shootings at other schools in Pennsylvania, Colorado and Wisconsin.

The incident at Dirigo High involved two teenagers who were showing off the gun to friends, police said. Nobody was hurt or threatened, but a 16-year-old Rumford boy and a 15-year-old Dixfield boy were charged with terrorizing with a firearm, a Class C felony, said Dixfield police Sgt. Mark Dow.

The teens were released to their parents and are scheduled to be arraigned on Nov. 13 in a juvenile session at Rumford District Court.

When school officials first received a report of a man armed with a handgun near the school, they sent a small group of students back inside and locked down the school for 30 minutes.

It turned out the two students who were charged had gone off school property after school Tuesday afternoon to get the gun from a friend. They returned to the school to show it to other friends, but did not threaten anyone, said Superintendent Tom Ward.

Dixfield police Chief Richard A. Pickett said the BB gun looked the real thing.
"If we had seen it out when we arrived, we would have considered it a deadly force situation and acted appropriately," Pickett said.


--
Dave

diplomacy (dÄ*-plÅ'mÉ-sÄ“)
the art of saying Nice doggie, till you can find a rock.

 

[C-pher]

I remember when you used to be able to take you bb gun to school for show and tell.

 

[drgrant]

Granted they might not have been the brightest bulbs on the block for
bringing something that looks like a gun onto school grounds in the wake
of all this hysteria about school shootings.....

But charging these kids with a FELONY? Whatever happened to
confiscating something and giving the kids a detention?

Man, the world is really going down the shitter.

As Cpher said, years ago one could bring an airgun into school for show
and tell.... and now... it's "good form" to give teenagers felony
convictions for showing somebody an air rifle, or bringing a pair of scissors
into school.

The irony in all of this is..... Antis are alwasy going around saying that
americans are attracted to guns out of a culture of fear or some
other bullshit..... and these very same antis are the ones who are afraid
of some kid bringing an airgun to school. I think they are the ones with
the hoplophobic oriented fear of violence, not us!

-Mike

 

[Big Daddy 45acp]

Hell, I used to bring my .22! Principal kept it in the office. Then again, this was Montesano, WA (pop. 2175) in 1975. The local hardware store even sold ammo to us kids, as long we had our Hunter Safety card.

 

[KMaurer]

I remember when you used to be able to take you bb gun to school for show and tell.

Hell, I'm a skosh older than you, Darius, but I remember my sophomore year in high school when a friend brought in a dewat MG42 for show and tell.

Ken

 

[Martlet]

Hell, I'm a skosh older than you, Darius, but I remember my sophomore year in high school when a friend brought in a dewat MG42 for show and tell.

Ken

I used to run a trap line before school in the morning. I'd drop my gun off at the office when I arrived.

On a sadder note, I had a kid get arrested last week for having a YELLOW bb gun in his front yard. He was cuffed, stuffed, and charged with carrying a firearm. I can't wait to see how that case turns out.

 

[dwarven1]

On a sadder note, I had a kid get arrested last week for having a YELLOW bb gun in his front yard. He was cuffed, stuffed, and charged with carrying a firearm. I can't wait to see how that case turns out.

What was the charge??

 

[Lugnut]

What was the charge??

Yeah.. I don't understand that. Even in MA we can use bb guns in your yard. Just don't shoot it accross a street.

 

[K-DUB]

Hell, I'm a skosh older than you, Darius, but I remember my sophomore year in high school when a friend brought in a dewat MG42 for show and tell.

Ken

I hate to be the one making a correction.....but I think you meant C-pher.

 

[Martlet]

What was the charge??

I believe he said the charge was carrying a firearm. I'm meeting with him next week, so I'll ask again and update.

 

[dwarven1]

I believe he said the charge was carrying a firearm. I'm meeting with him next week, so I'll ask again and update.

Yeesh. I thought it was only the people's republik of New Jersey that considered a BB gun a firearm.

 

[SnakeEye]

"possession of a BB "pistol"
ive never before heard the term BB "pistol" or BB "rifle", always just BB gun regardless of what it was..
what was the term BB gun to innoculous a term compared to BB "Pistol"?
no one would convict a kid for having a bb gun but a BB Pistol! now thats something altogether different. sigh...

if what they did is a felony, then the things i did as a child would have put me in
abu ghraib..

 

[MidKnight]

The article is kind of vague. I can't tell if they were on school property or not. If they were on school property, they knew what they were doing was against the law (level headed or not, it's the rules) and they deserve to be punished. Now, is a felony too strong? Yeah. But all schools have a zero tolerance policy (which I disagree with) when it comes to any kind of gun, and however distasteful it is, we have to abide by the rules.

The recent school shootings have everyone on edge, and they don't want to take any chances. My I recently got married to an 8th grade teacher, and I really hate to think that she could be in danger at her school, too. However, it appears as tho there were school officials and police that went too far here.

If they weren't on school property, then that's a whole different story. That should be a slap on the wrist.

But the kids should have had enough common sense to play with it in their backyard, not next to their school.

 

[daceman63]

"The incident at Dirigo High involved two teenagers who were showing off the gun to friends, police said. Nobody was hurt or threatened, but a 16-year-old Rumford boy and a 15-year-old Dixfield boy were charged with terrorizing with a firearm, a Class C felony, said Dixfield police Sgt. Mark Dow."

This is way over the top. Who were they terrorizing? They even said nobody was threatened, so who were they terrorizing????? At best they were in posession of a bb gun on school property, if that's even illegal. I assume based on their reaction it must be. But no matter how it looked it was what it was. A couple of kids showing off their new toy to some friends. No firearm, no threat, no terrorizing.....nothing!!! Agreed, in light of recent events it may not have been the smartest thing to do. When I was in high school I wanted nothing to do with watching the news and really could care less about what was going on beyond the block I was hanging on let alone world events. What 15 year old kid is in posession of a lw degree as the law relates to bb guns on school property? The kid probably new it was wrong to bring to school but didn't realize he couldn't go home after and get it like was mentioned.

They need to drop these charges agains these kids.

 

[dreppucci007]

I remember when you used to be able to take you bb gun to school for show and tell.

Hell, I'm a skosh older than you, Darius, but I remember my sophomore year in high school when a friend brought in a dewat MG42 for show and tell.

Ken

I certainly hope you're getting some sleep, Ken!

 

[Sixgun]

Well, let's charge all the school baseball players with "brandishing a deadly weapon", a baseball bat. That's on school property. What a bunch of crap!

 

[MARINE96]

shit i used to bring a pocket knife to school with me,one time a teacher asked to use it to cut open a box during class one day.you cant even bring a simple pocket knife to scholl even more.hell you cant get in most schools now a days with out ringing a buzzer and being scaned by a camera to see if you are allowed in.better have a good reason for being there also,oterwise screw off you arent getting in.times they are a changing.

 

[tuna]

I remember my principal hearing I had a gun in my trunk at high school. He asked me if it was true, I said yes, its hunting season and showed him my permit. He told me to leave it in the trunk, which I did and all was cool.

 

[highlander]

Well, let's charge all the school baseball players with "brandishing a deadly weapon", a baseball bat. That's on school property. What a bunch of crap!

never mind the baseball bat worry about the baseball. Spheriod shape object hurlled at 90-100 mph or better!!!! Remember the pics of Tony C after he got hit? ruined his carreer IIRC

 

[Sixgun]

I can hear it now.
OMIGOSH! A three inch diameter projectile! That's the same size as some of the military's artillery! At velocities that could kill someone! Ban it quick before our children are hurt! Do it for the children! Why does anyone NEED anything like that! What purpose could it possibly serve! It's only designed to HURT people!