Just The Mention Of A Gun In School

[SecularMotion]

March 1st was just another day when I put my 10 year old, fourth grade son John on the bus and sent him off to school. Or so I thought. On the contrary, today was the day that my life as a gun owner was about to change, dramatically and rapidly.

Sometime during the day, my son allegedly spoke with a few of his classmates. The boys (excluding my son) were involved in a school yard pushing incident the day before. Two or three of these boys (including my son) were talking about going to the house of the boys that did the pushing. These boys were to take with them a water, paint and bb gun. Word of this got to the principal. She immediately interrogated the children. I received a call from the principal advising me of this just as my son got off the bus. She also advised me that my son was to be suspended for two days because of his words. She decided that this talk amongst students warranted filing a police report. If this wasn't bad enough, the police were sent to my residence and I was advised that my guns may be taken from me. This can't be happening, I thought. But it was.

The following Monday I received a call from Pistol Licensing that they would be at my residence in the morning to take my guns and suspend my license. I attempted to explain that this must be a mistake, no wrong doing occurred on my part. My son has no access to any of my guns. The officer that came to my residence saw that all my guns were secured.Pistol Licensing was not interested in my side of the story. They were only interested in what happened with my ten year old son in school.

When will my license be restored? What is involved? What is the cost? These are all questions that I had. Some still remain unanswered. The few answers I have are not at all comforting. According to the police, I can expect to have my license restored when my son is an adult and moves out of my residence. If I don't want to wait that long I can file an Article 78 and request that my license be reinstated. The cost, so far, about $6,500 monetarily. Emotionally, the cost is far, far higher. That can't be calculated. All my handguns are gone, my license is suspended and my long arms are out of the house waiting to be sold at a local store.

http://www.longislandfirearms.com/forum/topic/67755-just-the-mention-of-a-gun-in-school/

[Tuesday Afternoon]

1. DU Rec

discuss.

[jollyreaper2112]

2. I don't believe this

Do we have a source other than a nut site? I was unaware that guns could ever be taken from someone, not even a crazy person. If I am in error I want to know.

From the sound of it, these kids were going to jump the other guy. While BB guns are not lethal, they can certainly blind. I'm not a fan of overreacting to stupid shit but it sounds like something the school should take seriously.

[SecularMotion]

5. Dad’s Pistol License Pulled After Son Makes Water Gun Threat in School

A Commack father is pursuing legal action after his pistol license was suspended when his 10-year-old son allegedly talked about using a water gun on classmates who had picked on his friends in school.

John Mayer, who originally posted his story on LongIslandFireArms.com, said the issue stemmed from a March 1 incident at Pines Elementary in Hauppauge.

According to Mayer, his son spoke with a few of his classmates about a pushing incident on the schoolyard, and although Mayer’s son was not involved in the scuffle, he and two of the other boys talked about bringing a water, paintball and BB gun with them to the house of the classmates that did the pushing. While Mayer’s lawyer said that none of the boys actually have any of the toy guns mentioned, word about the perceived threats got around to the principal, who not only suspended Mayer’s son for two days, but also filed a police report.

“What the school did was atrocious,” Mayer’s lawyer, James Murtha, said. “He’s a good kid, who has been discriminated against severely by the school district.”

According to Mayer’s lawyer, the other two boys involved in the conversation were not suspended.

http://commack.patch.com/groups/police-and-fire/p/dad-s-pistol-license-suspended-because-of-what-10-yeaccd9d68d29

[Orrex]

7. Here's more

Contrary to some inaccurate reports currently circulating, the Suffolk County Police Department did not confiscate any of Mayer’s firearms. New York firearms attorney James Murtha, Mayer’s lawyer, set the record straight.

From HERE

[SecularMotion]

9. Here's more

“The Suffolk County Police Department to my knowledge did not have the opportunity to confiscate any of firearms,” Murtha told TheBlaze. “John Mayer was able to think quickly and transfer the ownership of his weapons before any action could be taken.”

[Orrex]

11. Still looking for a non-Right source, though

The first four pages of Google are full of mutually-referential Rightwing gun advocacy sites. I'm not saying that the story is entirely bullshit, but I'd like to hear an account of it from a more neutral source.


How long does it take to transfer ownership, by the way? Could Mmyer reasonably have done that between the time that he picked up his son from the bus and the time that the jack-booted stormtroopers burst through his door?

[gejohnston]

12. this seems to be

http://commack.patch.com/groups/police-and-fire/p/dad-s-pistol-license-suspended-because-of-what-10-yeaccd9d68d29

not quite the same thing, but equally asinine
http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/21/us/pennsylvania-girl-suspended

[Orrex]

14. Thanks. Still looking for the orignal news story though

Incidentally, I agree with the poster downthread who noted that "We're going to take guns to someone's house and shoot him" is a lot different from simply "mentioning" a gun, though.

[gejohnston]

16. I agree with that

although if true, I think the cops over reacted. I think a better course would be to give the guy a heads up with "your kid made a threat, might want to make sure he can't open the safe. BTW, might want to look in getting him some help while he is suspended".

[MrSlayer]

3. Why don't I believe this?

It just reads like one of those goofy right wing emails my friends ask me to debunk all the time. Tons of suspect links and he seems to be begging for money.

Something's rotten in Denmark.

[RedstDem]

4. im going all in

Bet anything its fake.

[Orrex]

8. Reached for comment, John Mayer confirmed that your body is a wonderland.

[knightmaar]

10. "Just the mention"?

Pardon me.
The 10 year old in this story did not "just mention" a gun.
"Just mentioning" a gun would be using phrases like:
"I like guns"
"Guns are cool"
"Soldiers and police use guns"

However, when someone says something like:
"Let's get a gun and take it to that person's house to get revenge on him."
We have crossed the line from "just mentioning" guns to "threatening to shoot someone with a gun."

I really don't care whether this story is true or not. Threatening to shoot someone with a gun is a good reason to be denied access to guns. Whether that's reason enough to take the parent's safely secured guns away is a matter for your second amendment crowd, but would probably not raise an eyebrow in Canada.

[Eleanors38]

15. "...matter for your second amendment crowd," but not for others? Or you?

[Eleanors38]

13. I wonder if the U.S. Constitution's protection against bills of attainder is violated.

[Jenoch]

17. I remember reading this more than a

month ago. As I recall, the boys didn't have access to a paintball gun or a BB gun but probably did have a squirt gun. The gun owner, on the advice of his attorney, transferred ownership of his handguns to his BIL and his long guns went on consignment at a local gun shop. It was a believable story. It also is taking the school 'zero tolerance' policy too far. They should have checked out the story, discovered the child had no access to guns, warn him that he was not to speak about his classmates in such a manner and that's the end of it. If the other boys were guilty of bullying, they should be punished for it. It seems the schools are not using common sense any longer. This is reminiscent of the pizza resembling a gun and the kid is suspended for it only this situation is much, much worse because a man's constitutional rights have been taken away.