12 year old arrested,toy gun

[mr.stuart]

La. 12-year-old arrested after toy gun scare
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
March 13, 2010
Posted: March 13, 2010, 3:51 PM CST

I am not sure if arrest is good in this case.


A 12-year-old boy was arrested for allegedly attempting to intimidate another student with what authorities described as a toy gun at a Terrebonne, La. elementary school.
The Houma Courier reported Saturday that the police said the boy, whose name was withheld because of his age, approached a fellow fourth-grader at Broadmoor Elementary after school and pulled the toy gun from his pocket, showing the student only its grip, according to the Terrebonne Parish Sheriff's Office.
He was booked at the Terrebonne Parish juvenile detention center on charges of aggravated assault, criminal trespassing and illegal carrying of a dangerous weapon on school grounds.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[oldogy]

OMG, here we go again.
pulled the toy gun from his pocket, showing the student only its grip,
Showing the grip=aggravated assault? aggravated assault?????
Showing the grip=criminal trespassing---He was a student according to the article.
Showing the grip=illegal carrying of a dangerous weapon on school grounds
Toy gun= dangerous weapon?/
Fire all the school administrators, they're paid way too much money for the job they're doing.

oldogy

[Hopyard]

While inclined to agree with oldogy, I have to wonder what a 12 y.o. is doing in fourth grade.

There's more to the story here, I think.

The criminal trespass would be reasonable if a real gun were brought to school.
Aggravated assault, hardly, but possibly assault.

Dangerous weapon, hardly, but in a way that doesn't matter. The intent was to intimidate by making the other kid think there was a real gun involved.

This 12 yo needs some serious guidance and intervention so he might still grow up O.K., though I have a hunch he is another life wasted.
Isn't it sad that youngsters find ways to get themselves into such deep deep trouble at such a young age. Bet the parents are not fine upstanding pillars of the community.

[retsupt99]

OMG, here we go again.
pulled the toy gun from his pocket, showing the student only its grip,
Showing the grip=aggravated assault? aggravated assault?????
Showing the grip=criminal trespassing---He was a student according to the article.
Showing the grip=illegal carrying of a dangerous weapon on school grounds
Toy gun= dangerous weapon?/
Fire all the school administrators, they're paid way too much money for the job they're doing.
oldogy

If it was your kid who had been victimized, and had been really fearful, would you want the intimidator punished? If so, how?

Are you saying that a toy gun is not a weapon that some dirtbags use to commit real robberies?

Would you want the entire administration staff fired if they didn't see it as a real threat?

Just how much should an administrator make? Would minimum wage be sufficient?

Just trying to understand your position...

[SIGguy229]

Unless the 12 y/o was in middle school.....and trespassed on the elementary school grounds.....

[chiefjason]

I wonder if the court could adjudicate him to a program? We got lots of kids in our Wilderness Program through the courts. Not bad enough for jail, too bad for school, thought they were bad till they had to spend the night in the woods for a year or so. The kid needs something, that something is not jail. Hope someone else sees that.

Hopyard, there is a lot of truth in that last sentence. I've said something similar on many occasions. Show me a screwed up kid, I'll show you a screwed up family. It's about 90-95% accurate.

[ccw9mm]

attempting to intimidate another student

Depends on the severity. I mean, criminals use firearms to intimidate all the time. For those of us familiar with firearms, it's clear and obvious when such intimidation is occurring.

I wonder what the "victim" child thinks, whether he/she believes it was intended, serious intimidation. In which case, folks may have something to say about it.

Even if that were the case, though, it sounds like just another overblown example of how far ignorance is prepared to go. But this is the Age Of Scared-y-Cats, in the USA. God knows we must protect the chillens from all sight and knowledge of the black shapes of guns. (Sarcasm and facetiousness intended.)

I'd like to think that the administrators on-scene could know and tell the difference, but it would be too naive for words to take that on faith.

[stevem174]

If I would have pulled that as a kid, I would have wanted to be locked up. Jail would have been safer than going home!

[archer51]

With the limited information given, it is hard to make a determination on this.

If the grip was exposed with the intent of intimidating the fellow student, then the correct steps were taken by the police and school administration. If it were merely showing a fellow student what he had brought to school, no act or words used to indicate intimidation, then they over reacted.

If there was no intent of intimidation, I can see some sort of punishment being given out for bring a toy gun to school, since it is a clear violation of school policy. But not criminal charges.

Like Hopyard I wonder about a 12 year old in the 4th grade. Even starting school t age 6 he should be in the 6th grade, unless he's been held back twice. I see a future HS dropout in the making, and very probably prison resident (if he makes it that far).

[Gearslammer]

12 year old should be in 6th grade or 7th grade depending on when he / she was born in the school year.

[Daddy Warcrimes]

Showing the grip=aggravated assault? aggravated assault?????

Assault is the threat of violence. If a person showed you what could easily be taken for a weapon in a threatening manner, would you not consider that a crime? If it were a 20yo thug instead, would this not be justification for self defense? Remember thugs just keep getting younger these days.

Showing the grip=criminal trespassing---He was a student according to the article.

By virtue of his carrying prohibited items, and committing crimes, he forfeits his right to be there.

Showing the grip=illegal carrying of a dangerous weapon on school grounds
Toy gun= dangerous weapon?/

A bit of a stretch to call it dangerous (probably more dangerous to the 12 yo than his victim) but it was certainly prohibited, and used for criminal purpose.

[Hopyard]

Like Hopyard I wonder about a 12 year old in the 4th grade. Even starting school t age 6 he should be in the 6th grade, unless he's been held back twice. I see a future HS dropout in the making, and very probably prison resident (if he makes it that far).

Someone (several someones) are failing this kid. He's too old for 4th grade and belongs in some sort of special school or special class.

The picture in my mind is of a troubled kid with a low IQ in a school that has not provided an appropriate place for him.

This one screams out for CPS to get the kid into some sort of better situation than at home and at school. Sadly, juvenile facilities aren't going to be the right place. He needs a private boarding school that specializes in rehabilitation, and I'll leave it to Retsupt to tell us if there are actually any such options available at public expense. *I think not, and we all will pay when he is 15 and doing armed robberies or worse.*

[razor02097]

schools where communist when I was a kid... One Halloween in kindergarten I remember dressing up as a ghost buster. My toy proton pack was taken away and parents called..... For those not familiar with a toy proton pack... it doesn't look like a gun at all.



BTW I didn't have the other cool gadgets

[LordHamlett]

Jail? Wilderness? I say Military School, and if that doesn't work, retro-active abortion.

[Hopyard]

schools where communist when I was a kid... One Halloween in kindergarten I remember dressing up as a ghost buster. My toy proton pack was taken away and parents called..... For those not familiar with a toy proton pack... it doesn't look like a gun at all.



BTW I didn't have the other cool gadgets

I don't know why you chose to use the word "communist." I think you meant "authoritarian."

Yes, schools are authoritarian. They must be. They have custody of our children and during the time they have custody they must use their authority as a parent would to protect and to educate the children.

Now, if you are saying that your precious proton pack was confiscated by a teacher who was misguided and mistook it for something dangerous, all I can say is that such things happen in schools all the time. It goes with the authority we confer on teachers to maintain a safe and disciplined environment in which all kids can hopefully learn. I vividly recall teachers confiscating "baseball cards" because they were a source of distraction.