Which School Gun Policy Makes More Sense?

Let's take a look at two different school policies when it comes to guns. First, from West Virginia:

West Virginia is considering a bill to teach schoolchildren how to handle a gun and hunt safely its proponent hopes will increase state revenues from hunting licenses, a state lawmaker said Thursday.

"We will teach a hunting safety course during their physical education class," state senator and bill sponsor Billy Wayne Bailey told AFP. The courses would be imparted in secondary schools, from the eighth to 10th grade (13-16 years of age).

"They will learn gun safety, the proper use of fire arms. All the weapons will be disabled so there is no chance of discharging," he said, adding that the state Senate was expected to take up the bill next week.

"Hunting is an economic and cultural thing and we have seen a decline of hunting licenses over the past years," said the lawmaker, explaining that his bill would boost interest in hunting in West Virginia.

Children 10 years and older can already apply for a hunting license in West Virginia, which makes 1.5 billion dollars a year from hunting-related activities, the senator said.

Teaching kids gun safety, what a novel idea.

And then there's this :

A student has been threatened with a 3-day suspension from school for bringing to campus, and using, a pen with the corporate logo of the Glock company, a large stylized "G" with the letters "lock" inside.

Cooler heads eventually prevailed, and the father reports that he was successful in convincing the school officials to not only withdraw the threat, but also the formal reprimand that already had been placed in his son's educational file.

The man, who is in law enforcement, said his son was at home doing homework when his ink pen died.

"He asked if I had one he could have. I reached into the pen holder on my desk and grabbed a pen and gave it to him. He continued his homework as usual," he said.

But the next day, his telephone rang.

"It's the vice principal from my son's school saying that he needs to discuss a serious situation about my son. When I asked him what was going on, he tells me that a pen bearing a Glock logo is forbidden by school policy and that I need to come and pick up my son because there is a mand[a]tory 3-day suspension," the father wrote. "Apparently, one of my son's teachers saw him writing with the pen during an assignment."

The father checked his son's student handbook, and saw that "weapons, replica weapons, pictures of weapons, and weapon images on keychains or other items are forbidden," he said. But the pen had only the Glock name, not any image.

"The VP gets his handbook and looks through it. He was in agreement that the pen did not directly violate the policy, but that the Glock name was commonly known to be a firearm and therefore it technically was in violation," the father said.

"Then, the VP even makes a statement to the fact that I am a local LEO and I should know the proper application of the rules," he continued. "I found this to be the most hilarious interpretation of school law yet. I engaged in an argument for a short time about the suspension and how the pen did not violate the posted rules as understood by anyone reading it. The VP would not budge on his position and referred me to the school system's superintendent's office."

A followup posting shortly later confirmed that the case had been resolved satisfactorily for the father.

The superintendent, he wrote, immediately agreed during a meeting with the officer, the son and a lawyer that the suspension "was uncalled for because the pen was not a physical or graphic representation of a weapon."

The father reported the superintendent described the vice-principal's decision as "bad judgment." He then went to meet with the vice-principal involved.

"I took my son to school and met with the VP. This guy is about 30 years old and looks like a poster child for gay bathhouses. He did apologize lightly, but did not seem overly happy about it. Apparently the superintendent called him about 5 am this morning and told him to 'make it right'. Our meeting very short. The VP ran off and left us with a receptionist. She apologized; returned the pen and gave us the dis[c]iplinary that [was] removed from his record," the father wrote.

"I returned the Glock pen to my son to use until it dies. At which point the pen becomes inoperable, I will be giving him another Glock pen. As far as I am concerned, he can use Glock pens forever...," the father wrote.

Since the school district involved was not identified by the parent, WND could not contact officials for a comment.

There have been numerous examples of students being suspended for drawing pictures of guns (with no threats real or implied) or advocating for gun rights. Unfortunately, zero tolerance policies often come with zero common sense.