Do you think in the current environment of school shootings, that guns

[Horse with no Name]

(even play guns) have any place in the school environment?
This is in reference to this thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2558517#2558923
I just can't see any reason for anyone to be wagging a gun--toy or otherwise-- around on a school campus.
Teachers and students shouldn't have to give pause--even for ONE second--if a gun is real or not.

[razors edge]

1. some cops are too trigger happy nowadays. n/t

[slackmaster]

2. Should be allowed as play props, training devices, or other

Educational purposes.

I would not want kids to be allowed to bring them in for non-instructional purposes, such as intimidating others. Also not OK to bring them simply as toys, as they might be mistaken for real weapons with all the predictable bad fallout.

[JuniperLea]

3. I never let my sons play with guns that looked real

Space guns, giant water guns, sure. Nothing that looked real in any way. They started shooting real guns with me when they were very young and they always knew the difference. Now that they are adults, they understand my reasons for the play guns and the extensive gun safety training. They know all too well what real guns can do, and it's all too easy for a play gun to be mistaken for a real gun... by a cop or a gansta. Either way, you lose.

[Retired AF Dem]

4. Since schools

are no gun zones, play or otherwise, this is a stupid poll.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

7. Except for cops, right?

[Solo_in_MD]

8. Which "No gun zones" ?

U.S. v. Lopez killed the 1994 Federal law and the state laws are a patchwork, some of which would not stand up to serious scrutinty. Also some schools have rifle teams, JROTC and other activities that legitimately bring firearms on campus.

[benEzra]

18. Congress re-passed the Gun Free School Zones Act essentially unchanged

and no challenges to it have yet made it to the Supreme Court. So it's still technically a Federal felony to bring a firearm within 1000 feet of any school property (even to drive down a public highway that comes within 1000 feet of a school, with an unloaded firearm in the vehicle) unless you are licensed by the state to carry a firearm.

[Solo_in_MD]

5. I support school rifle teams and JROTC units

Which means I support real guns on campus in controlled circumstances.

Toy guns as props are also ok. Youngest daughters school used florent pink clear water pistol for practice and switched to a more realistic prop for performance. There was still whining from the anti gun crowd said it was unaccetable even that way. Drama dept quite correctly told them to pound sand. Hard to have a pistol duel without them...

[Quantess]

6. Absolutely not. Having worked in elementary schools,

there is an expectation of "appropriateness", so, I would assume that toy guns are already not allowed in the majority of schools.

There may be a valid reason for High Schoolers to use a toy gun in a play, in rare circumstances. Shoot-em-up drama would not be appropriate, even for mature High Schoolers.

[Solo_in_MD]

10. Never seen a HS do Peckinpah

But can think of a lot of dramas, particualrly historical ones where firearms are required as props. There are sensible ways to do it, though I have seen the antigun wankers whine about the choice of material just because firearms were incidental props (western, police, military...)

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

11. "Annie Get Your Football" just doesn't work.

[Solo_in_MD]

12. Neither does Fiddler on the Roof with unarmed Cossaks

Which is one of the shows whined about.

[Horse with no Name]

13. I'm not anti-gun

by any means.
However, I am prudent enough to realize they don't belong in schools.

[Solo_in_MD]

14. Not even prop firearms in dramas where they are correct and required?

[Horse with no Name]

15. This wasn't an issue not too long ago

However, the environment is such now, that just like in the story that I linked to, someone leaves the prop lying around.
So a kid does what a kid does and picks it up. Goofs around with it, someone calls the cops, and the kid either ends up tazered, in cuffs, or shot because of the fear of school shootings.
One of these days, maybe our country will come back to it's senses, but right now, I would be terrified that the child holding the toy weapon could be injured by someone who thought they were saving the world--when the kid was just being a kid.

[Solo_in_MD]

16. Your concern is the only rational one Ive heard, but it can be managed

I thought the drama teacher who used bright pink water pistols had the right approach. As for the more realistic ones, its a simple matter of managing the inventory after the performance and reminding the student actors about the hysterical nature of the anti gun crowd.

[Horse with no Name]

17. I like the idea of bright pink water pistols

Or as I stated, carved wooden ones with exaggerated features to distinguish them from the real thing. Those are obviously toys.
However, I have seen some pretty authentic-at-a-glance looking toy guns.
Maybe I should be more clear. Those are the ones that scare me.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

9. Telling kids they can't use guns as props in plays...

strikes me as a form of bullying.

[seabeyond]

19. it is school. NO toys are allowed. books, paper pencils... but

no toys.