Liberty University just granted him a 4 year scholarship. To me, he made a mistake that he immediately tried to correct and remedy the right way, unfortunately the school administrators had no sense. so happy it appears to end well no matter and I applaud that.
I fully agree with you that it was irresponsible of him to do so and completely agree that guns needs to be treated far less cavalierly. That said this was a mistake and one that he owned up to and tried to correct. A principle within our justice system is to show mercy in such situations. I don't think he shouldn't be punished if just for nothing more than to make an example but expulsion does seem excessive. If I was in the school boards position I would say no more than a three day suspension with community service.
If the worse case scenario happened Someone grabbed his gun and killed someone Would your opinion be the same? Rocket River
He actually endangered everyone by leaving a weapon unattended. Weapons are stolen all the time and used in violent crimes. The kid's problem is that he was incredibly irresponsible with a weapon. He maybe should have exercised a little common sense in not driving around with a shotgun. He treated it very casually and he broke the law. Why do you believe no tolerance rules exist?
Perhaps I'm missing something here, but why did this kid not drive back home, take whatever penalty it is for skipping out on classes instead? If he's truly responsible, isn't that what he should've done? To me his action makes no sense. If he's truly a good person, he would try to mitigate chance of something bad happening by immediately doing the safest action possible, putting his gun back in his home. If he wasn't a good person, he should've simply done nothing and hope no one found his shotgun. But instead he did neither. He did not remove the risk of having a gun near school premise. I mean, did he expect the teachers at the school to hold the gun for him for the rest of the day? That would make no sense. But the guy also actually admitted to a crime. It's like he purposely made a decision that's neither good for the community nor himself. At the very least, he should be punished for stupidity.
It all comes down to this kid's stupidity. He's a moron and will fit in perfectly at Jerry Falwell's bigot factory.
I am liberal and anti-gun. That being said, this is ridiculous, and most of the liberal responses in this thread are also ridiculous. The kid woke up and forgot it was there, and immediately tried to correct it. ZERO TOLERANCE POLICIES ARE HORRIFIC. I can't emphasize that enough. In justice systems we value intent, facts around the case, and the effect of the transgression. It makes NO sense to me, other than the laziness and incompetence of administrators that these principles aren't also applied here. I had a friend sent to an alternative learning center for over a month because he accidentally left some unopened beer in his dad's car (mind you, it wasn't HIS beer but his parents'). These types of punishments and decisions effectively erase 4 years of hard work and hamper your future significantly. That being said, I hope he turns down the Liberty offer. Bunch of crazies there.
This is the entire reason I am so unsympathetic to this kid. Forgetting where your gun is is as irresponsible as your can get as a gun owner. This guy is not fit to have a weapon, period.
Actually . . . historical . .. tolerance was only granted to certain groups of people i.e. back in the day . . .he probably would got a AW SHUCKS KID ITS OK but . . . had he been black he'd be doing time That is why I prefer Zero Tolerance. . if they gonna be overly harsh . . be overly harsh on everyone equally [though it does not that way . .there is still a bunch of bias] Rocket River
All of that is true. But a general principle of our legal system is that intent matters. Someone who accidentally hurts someone is not treated the same as someone who does so with malice. Here, it appears this kid is being treated the same as someone who intentionally brought a gun to school. That's dumb. [/quote] Why do you believe no tolerance rules exist?[/QUOTE] Mostly so politicians and leaders can sound tough and avoid taking responsibility for making individual difficult choices. That applies to any kinds of rules that eliminate discretion (3 strikes and you're out; minimum sentences; zero tolerance; etc).
He should've taken detention or whatever punishment for skipping class and properly securing his firearm instead of the halfassed measure. I don't think he should be suspended for a year, but our standards for gun safety and gun control are on high alert. If current rules and regulations are too harsh to too lenient, now's the time to do something about it politically than moaning about how other people think or how the times are. Lawsuits and administrative CYA. Removing discretion also removes inherent biases. So the reason why we can't have nice things is because we abuse it with litigation and complaints until it's taken away.
Exactly. If the gun lobby says no background checks. No to magazine limits. No to banning military style firearms. And no to every other suggestion, what is left to do but have these zero tolerance policies? If you do something as stupid as bringing a gun to school, I have no problem with hanging a felony on you so you can no longer own firearms.
