This story is so wrong on so many counts, but the only people who will suffer for it are the parents and child rather than the teacher, and school. Four-year-old-suspended-preschool-bringing-22-brass-casing-class. Here is what happened:

On Tuesday, Kristy Jackson went to A Place to Grow in Troy, Illinois to pick up her son but was instead greeted by a teacher who informed her that Hunter brought a “shotgun bullet” to school. Jackson was horrified at the thought but was instead handed a small, spent shell casing and knew exactly what Hunter had done. But this innocent mistake didn’t deter the school from handing down a severe punishment.

A local news report stated that Hunter has received numerous warnings at school about using everyday objects as pretend guns while at the preschool because that violates policy. The school felt this was the final straw and decided it was time to call the Department of Children and Family Services on Jackson and her husband.

The first thing that occurs to me is to a four-year-old boy everything is a gun. I am not sure it is possible to convince a four-year-old that pointing a banana and saying bang is a precursor to murder or indication of sociopathic behavior. To require that the same four-year-old to equate an empty shell casing with the prohibition on guns, is asking too much.

The school has a right to institute whatever screwed up policy they wish. If parents are stupid enough to send their kid to such a screwed up place that is a lick on them. Where the school oversteps its bounds is by making a referral to the Department of Children and Family Services; a referral is called for when there are criminal allegations, Child in need of supervision (CHINS) or quality of life issues involving the health and safety of the child. None of which seem to apply in this case.

Good news, further checking reveals that the Department of Children and Family Services refused to become involved.

What a long way we have come. In the mid-seventies, I recall cruising the local high school parking lot, in a patrol car, during deer season and seeing all the hunting rifles nestled in racks across the back window of pickup trucks. It wasn’t an issue.