Student suspended for making "finger gun"

The parents of a student in the Houston area are stunned after their daughter was suspended and accused of making a terroristic threat after she was spotted making the shape of a gun with her hand.

The girl says she and her friends were pretending to be police officers. The schools says the teacher feared for her life. Source

Terroristic threat?

Teacher feared for her life?

I knew there were some real pansies in New York or Connecticut or Massachusetts but people in Texas see a finger and fear for their lives?

You know, just the other night I had this dream, that a TND had been set off. I am glad I was not in Texas, otherwise I could have been arrested!

WTF IS WRONG WITH THIS #ING COUNTRY?

I love it! In the US where everything is pro-gun, the right to bear arms and open carry, etc - a kid makes the "shape" of a gun with their hand and people go nuts.

Something just is NOT right

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAH!!!!!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

Oh wait.....it's serious???

Let me laugh even harder!

Hilarious.

What a waste of time for the kid and parents...Public education

At least she wasn't pointing it sideways, gangsta style

WOW he pointed a finger gun!

Calm down it's not like it was loaded!

I can believe this. When I was teaching 9th grade, one of my 'problem children' showed me a flip book he had made showing one stick figure shooting another stick figure. I congratulated him on expressing his artistic talent & told him to put it away, which he did. Later that day, he showed it to another teacher, who confiscated it. The kid replied that Ms. _ wasn't upset by it. When the teacher turned the book over to the principal, she also told him that I wasn't upset about it, so I got called to his office & was given a stern talking to.

[edit on 20-4-2010 by Afterthought]

Edited for grammar

[edit on 20-4-2010 by Afterthought]

Pointed at the teacher with fingers (finger gun) and she was scared for her life? Scared for her LIFE???

This is totally insane.

This sound like a pussy teacher trying to get a pathetic revenge on the student.

Also if the kid was threatening the teacher, this will just piss off the kid more, hence pushing them further towards doing something stupid.

Another one of these type of stories. You would think the citizens would be fed up with this crap from the schools.

A guy I work with-well his son, was observed taking two pills-suspended for 10 days that day!! The pills turned out to be Viatimins-which the bottle they confiscated indicated-test showed!!!

The problem is the schools admins won't admit they are wrong and the standards set are a joke. They would rather spend millions of taxpayer money defending their crazy decisions in court-or rather scaring the parents into submission. Or they just change the rules mid-stream as they have not established guidelines or independent over-sight.

I hope the parents go after the school on this one. And, the school may want to do better employment screenings to keep such easily upset people out of the system!

Surely there's more to the story than reported ?

No adult with a sane mind would fear for their life if a kid made the shape of a gun with their hand, it's not the kid who should get suspended, it's the teacher who should be sacked as it's quite clear they're not fit to be around kids.

That is of course if the story is an innocent one like it's making out

Zero tolerance policies are the problem.

They have replaced judgment and discretion with mindlessness to cover their ..., well you know.

I would be standing on the principle's desk with not-so-veiled threats about my lawyer crewing up the schools money in a court battle that would be loud and public.

I'm surprised these parents just rolled over and aren't fighting the school tooth and nail.

That's the problem with America, not the school's stupid policies. We could eliminate these asap if we wanted to, but most are cowards or have no fight left.

I am against the political correctness rage going on but part of me is on the side of the school. They are treating his finger action of shooting a gun similar to him saying I am going to shoot you. Zero tolerance with guns and school is necessary in our time.

Those finger guns can be dangerous. You can really put an eye out with those things.

(total and complete sarcasm)

Originally posted by Discotech
Surely there's more to the story than reported ?

That's just your rational mind trying to come to terms with the madness.

Seriously though, when I first saw this story I checked for other sources but nothing came up besides the one article in the OP and one blog post referencing it. Maybe later today there will be more info. An incident this stupid couldnt possibly just fade away.

I feel threatened!!!



[edit on 20-4-2010 by thisguyrighthere]

That's simply crazy! I suppose the girl should have put a red tip on the end of her finger.

On a side note...who plays cops/robbers in middle school? I think there is more to this story. Gangs run rampant in the Houston area, and that sort of thing can sincerely be viewed as a threat. Let's not pretend like students have never gone after teachers/principals with deadly outcomes before.

P.S. I got suspended from school when I was in the 3rd grade for doubling up my fist and shaking it across the room at a classmate. Was I threatening him? YES! Did I admit I was threatening him? NO! My parents took their sweet son's side and had harsh words with the administration...now days, this would hit the news and folks would be defending me, saying I did nothing wrong.

[edit on 20-4-2010 by Aggie Man]

The girl says she and her friends were pretending to be police officers.

Okay so it was a finger gun, back in my day we'd actually "shoot the finger" to the teacher so to speak but nobody was ever arrested! Suspended, beaten, detained by school officials, maybe expelled - but never arrested.

Knowing a bit about the Houston police as well as the neighborhoods, there's good reason to be wary!

gj

edit quote

[edit on 20-4-2010 by ganjoa]

I don't buy that a 13 year old girl was playing at being a police officer. Sounds like a badly made up lie.

Besides, in todays school climate teachers have to take that type of thing seriously, what would have happened if nothing was done and they really did shoot up the place?

Of course they school over reacted, but you can't really blame them.

Unless this girl made an explicit, serious verbal threat that she was 'going to kill/shoot the teacher along with the physical gesture,

this teacher is not playing with a full deck.
I don't think i would want my children [if i actually had any] in that classroom.

That teacher would be sh##ing bricks if this guy came around by her:



I guess poor ol Cactus Jack is a terrorist too! Those fingers are locked and loaded!

Careful now!

[edit on 4/21/2010 by GenRadek]