The irony of juxtaposing these two items is overwhelming. The first is a story from Staten Island NY where a 4th grader was threatened with suspension for violating the school’s zero tolerance policy against toy guns for bringing a LEGO navy man with machine gun (less than 2 inches long) to school, full story here.
The second is an announcement to my 4 year old and 2 year old that their German Kindergarten is having a party for Fasching (Carnival). The announcement reads:
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Unsere Faschingsfeier findet am
Frietag, den 12. Februar im Kindergarten statt!
An diesem Tag benötigt Ihr Kind keine Brotzeit!
Fürs leibliche Wohl ist gesorgt!
Die Kinder dürfen sich verkleiden, wie sie möchten!
Schusswaffe sind nur ohne Munition erlaubt!
Der Kindergarten ist durchgehend bis 13.45 Uhr geöffnet!
Bringzeit – wie gewohnt
Abholzeit – 13.30 bis 13.45 Uhr
Wir wünschen Allen lustige Karnevalstage – Helau!
(all emphasis original)
Note the third paragraph, which means:
-
The children may dress however they like!
Firearms are only allowed without ammunition!
this reminds me of a story I read about month ago. A student in Maryland told his teacher that he had bought an apple cider out of a vending machine that contained alcohol. The concentration was so minute that he would have had to have consumed 28 bottles to equal one beer. None the less, the police were called, and the student was given a B.A.C. test. The school threatened the company with a lawsuit and is pushing for legislation to ban the drink from all school related functions in the state.
Things are getting pretty ridiculous these days.
The middle school in my town locked the school down last year and brought in police, state troopers and whoever else, because they found one bullet on the ground in the school. Nothing ever came of it.
Honestly, I think they fear liability law more than guns.