Hahaha wow, thats really sad that could happen to an 8 yr old...wait a minute! A 8 yr old stole my law mower a few weeks back! All I can say is..Where are the parents? finger pointing is kinda excessive though. liberal america for ya.... Damn hippies

That is a mess my friend. My son 9 took a loaded mag to school. My wife is a cop, and he yanked it out of her belt and slipped it into his backpack. He took it to show off at school and got caught. The school called us in and gave back the mag, nothing else came of it. Of course this is TX


But for finger pointing this is nuts. I would sue on this one. Really easy, and 8yr olds make a jury crazy. Don't let this drop. Keep on the school, and I hope you are not in CA NY or IL. But I am betting you are. The democrap cowards that passed all this crap are slowing learning that their hippy usa dream is gone. Keep fighting

[edit on 1-11-2007 by TXMACHINEGUNDLR]

I live near a ghetto. I'm telling you that groups of 10 to 15 kids ages ranging from 5 to 12 wander the street til the wee hours of the morning. They jump people. jack pizza guys. It's nuts!!! People dont care anymore! Sad but true! The world is going in the crapper and I blame the hippies! all that tolernace crap and love everyone has only made us weak and pollutted the future of this country. Blah! Jerry Garcia sux!

Government Controlled Education Camp....Exactally. That says it perfectly. Fortunately i saw this coming years ago...so i took my three children out of the camp and homeschooled them I suggest to anyone with children to do the same. The only thing these schools are for is to brainwash your child and teach them to comply.
America has a really bad record when it comes to education. My son thanks me now on a regular basis for homeschooling him. He cant even believe how dumb the people he works with who did graduates are. Like an earlier post said the teachers give them the answers to get the tax money. They don't care if these kids are learning, they are government camps plain and simple! Wake Up ..If you want a child who can think for theirself you better open your eyes and teach your child yourself. Before the thought process is erased... Permanently...it's only a matter of time and time is not on our side unfortunately. At the end of the day you are the one who is responsibly for your child's education so i suggest you pay very close attention to what is going on at your neighborhood camp, if you aren't satisfied get them out ASAP.

You should have exposed yourself to the principal. That is what I would have done.

-----------------------------------PC

This is absolutely disgusting. I can't believe that people have seriously even considered charging an 8 year old for doing something not only non-threatening, but very likely something we've all done for fun when we were young. Remember Cowboys and Indians from all the old TV shows? And this is in there interest of Homeland Security. An 8-year old playing around with another kid has officially become a threat to Homeland Security.

Complete and utter garbage.

My post won't be read, but I don't care. Flagged and Starred.

And I agree totally with Intrepid that it makes complete sense to keep anyone under 12 from being charged, it keeps trash like this from happening.

The very government that instigates wars around the world... is happily invading places for oil, and personal agendas. A government who is killing people left and right who disagree with idiotic ideologies has a problem with two kids pointing finger guns at each other? Really intelligent. Create a society where violence and war are the norm, but two kids can't play around with finger guns? Sounds more than a tad bit hypocritical.If I remember correctly children playing with cap guns and a million other fake guns was pretty well accepted as part of childhood for most of the twentieth century.

As some have suggested such zero tolerance policies help turn the future general public into sheep. That may be true for some for others, the more intelligent children, there will be a deep seeded resentment for this nation's government, and the next generation might actually have the strength of will needed to fix this crap.

Seriously though. This very idea of two kids possibly being convicted for such things is utterly retarded. I mean I know that GWB's IQ has tested in the range of 90 according to Sixty Minutes, but I didn't realize every official in the country had an intelligence tantamount to that of Forest Gump. Homeland Security? More like homeland slavery. Fight this till they are to exhausted to care.

Well maybe the idea is not so bad. It sounds rediculous to start with but on second thought...for some children, going to school is an absolute nightmare because some ignorant will want to pick on them. Not to mention the bus ride home. Once you have a kid that don't want to go to school, while you have to go to work, you got a problem. I wonder how many times kids have been kicked and slapped around and robbed of their money without their parents ever knowing the situation.

Originally posted by Creedo
Deny it.

Deny it ever happend.... it hersay. what they "saw" simply wasnt so. The kids were pretending their fingers were wands... not guns.

Seriously.. DENY the accuracy of the charge. Can they proove this happend? Are there pictures?

Pictures or it didnt happen!

i am only on this page one but i will read the rest. i just wanted to say that i agree with this...

it simply didn't happen....
easy as that...

"well i saw your kid pointing his finger like a gun"...

"i asked my son what he was doing and he was scratching an itch on his head"...

i don't know.....i can't imagine being able to keep my cool dealing with something as stupid as this....
i'd probably wind up in more trouble...

i think i would all but refuse to 'let' my child face trouble for this...
parents are responsible for their kids....

are you allowed to stand in your kids stead? like for example if your kid is due in court and they don't show, the paretns can be held responsible...

what if you just rolled up in front of the judge/whoever and flat out told em, my son won't be appearing.
i'm his parent/guardian, etc etc....


not saying you should do that, just wondering if you can...

Originally posted by Rhain
Warning to all American parents. Throw out all toy guns!. If hand gestures are against the law due to intent, then what will toy guns do.

No more playing games with guns like we all did as youngsters. Now your child may be shot just for running around with a toy and pointing it at someone.

Move to Canada folks, no Home Land Security here to worry about.



[edit on 1/11/07 by Rhain]

Actually, I have to disagree.

This is the reason why they have the orange caps on the end: to let people know it's fake. Toy guns are against the law if said cap is altered/removed from the barrel.

A week ago, I watched COPS, and this guy had pulled a toy gun with a removed cap on someone: almost got shot.

Finger gestures (according to HSA) are a threat, unlike toy guns.

To OP: I'm very upset for your son as well. I hope your legal issues result for the better and that your son is alright.

-oppdis

I don't even know what to say?????????????

I was in law enforcement for a number of years and we would have told the principal to get a grip on reality.

There is also what is called discernment and discretion that can be used by all parties before something like this would ever go this far.

Obviously everyone including law enforcement had a "Sever Case of Cranial Rectal Entrenchment."

This need to get media attention, as much as I hate the media.

Goodluck to you.

(The auto-quote feature wasn't working, so I had to manually copy and insert.)

From Voyager1:

Well maybe the idea is not so bad. It sounds rediculous to start with but on second thought...for some children, going to school is an absolute nightmare because some ignorant will want to pick on them. Not to mention the bus ride home. Once you have a kid that don't want to go to school, while you have to go to work, you got a problem. I wonder how many times kids have been kicked and slapped around and robbed of their money without their parents ever knowing the situation.

What is even sadder is that the scapegoated children are typically smarter, more creative, and morally superior to their peers.

What's so surprising? They banned tag in a whole bunch of states because of a single negative case where a kid got hurt.

Expect more of this Gestapo mentality coming to schools near you. There's no way they're going to allow kids to develop any sort of self expression. That's very threatening for those elitist pricks that want to dominate you. MTV is alright though, that's the superficiality that they promote - It's the essence of "dumb".

It's an ongoing debate. Safety vs. Freedom. You have to balance them out, and in this case, safety was entirely overriding freedom.
After the number of school shootings we've had, people have become ultra sensitive. They think that by taking extreme measures, they are making 100% sure that no violence will occur in schools.
One of my friends got suspended from school for making the gun gesture as well. I think it's ridiculous. The day I get hauled off to jail for making a gesture with my hands is the day I know the liberty America speaks of is completely down the drain.
Why would policemen waste their time on these cases when they could be actually doing something useful?
I'm sorry you had to go through all this, OP. I would be furious as well. -__-

WTH ? Thats bullcrap, I've punched some wanker who wanted to fight me into a car and layed into him while he was on the bonnet and not even had the police called. You have my full support with whatever you want to do. Really thats ridiculous, maybe you should go up to them and point a finger gun at them, maybe even take a cork gun in there and my like freeze...*POP* They'll probably arrest you for attempted murder...

Hey there,

Could you detail the charges a little bit?

Keep in mind that in order for the state to successfully get a conviction they must do two things.

First they must prove that beyond a reasonable doubt your son did in fact commit the alleged crime. They have to do this through witnesses and evidence. This is known as guilty act, or Actus reus.

Second they must prove that beyond a reasonable doubt he acted with malice, and knew that the act was illegal.

In regards to criminal liability: "the act does not make a person guilty unless the mind is also guilty." Therefore, even if they can prove he "pointed his finger" at the other person, they still have to prove that 1) he believed it was a gun 2) he "used" his fingers in a threatening way and 3) he had some intent to further that threat.

I don't see how they could possibly get a conviction with that.

[edit on 11/6/2007 by JBurns]

Hi,
I was wondering if you had been in contact with the other boy's family at all and what action, if any, they were taking? Taking it to the media isn't a bad idea. If you are on good terms with the other family, it might be even more effective if you both went to the media.

I think this whole thing is ridiculous and I hope, if it goes to court, that a judge will feel the same way and throw the whole thing out. Good luck to you!