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Education

5-Year-Old Suspended, Labeled a ‘Terrorist Threat’ for Threatening to Shoot Friend With Toy Bubble Gun

Jan. 19, 2013 5:00pm Erica Ritz

A 5-year-old girl from Pennsylvania has been suspended after telling a friend she was going to shoot her with a pink toy gun that spits out bubbles, the Associated Press reports.

The kindergartener was waiting for the bus at the time, and did not have the fake gun with her.

PennLive.com has all the unbelievable details:

Elementary school officials learned of the conversation and questioned the girls the next day, Fickler said. He said the girl did not have a parent present during the 30 minutes of questioning.

The result, he said, was that the student was labeled a “terrorist threat” and suspended for 10 days, Ficker said. The school also required her to be evaluated by a psychologist, [attorney Robin Ficker] said.

“This little girl is the least terroristic person in Pennsylvania,” he said. [Emphasis added]

The family’s attorney helped reduce the punishment from ten days to two, but the school is keeping the incident on the girl’s record. It has apparently been modified, however, to say she intended to harm another student.

Ficker told The Daily Item that school employees have become “hysterical” since the tragedy at Sandy Hook, and while we need to address genuine issues, there’s certainly a line to be drawn.

“You can’t make light of what happened to this girl either,” Ficker argued. “The incident goes on her permanent school record. She has been branded a troubled person. But she was suspended for her words. She had no gun. She had a bubble-making machine.”

The girl’s mother added: “All I know is what my daughter has told me and she said she was told she could go to jail, which is a very traumatic thing for a 5-year-old to live with.”

School officials said on Friday they weren’t at liberty to discuss disciplinary actions.

But one clever ebay user utilized the story in attempting to sell his son’s bubble gun, which he warned “may lead to the suspension of your kindergarten aged child.”

The question and answer section reads:

Q: Does the winning bidder have to submit to a background check? Does this item come with the standard 10 oz bottle of bubble ammo or am i limited to the New York 7oz bottles?
A: No background check required. This item will include 5 fluid oz of “bubble ammo” to pass any New York State regulations/laws.

WNEP-16 has more:

(H/T: WeaselZippers)

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Comments (203)

taintso
Posted on January 20, 2013 at 12:56am
Well I guess arming the school administration to protect the children wouldn’t work at this school, as the children need protected from the administration.

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rickroland
Posted on January 20, 2013 at 12:55am
I knew that, some years ago, roughly 20 and maybe another 10 on top of that, that schools were becoming nothing more than glorified baby-sitters and indoctrination spin-bins. This story just further cements that observation, but is even worse than I spotted back then. They aren’t teaching kids any worthwhile skills, for the most part, and they certainly are not helping those in school that are having a rough time (again, for the most part). It’s all about moving them along and out of the school system, so that they are no longer the school’s responsibility. Problem is, a great number of them then become the government’s (that’s you and me, Joe and Jane tax payers) responsibility to pay them welfare, give them food stamps, etc. It’s absolutely sickening what school’s have done to the last two (and the next one) generations. It’s well past time to start charter schools (or similar, where states and local districts allow it) to actually teach children knowledge, skills and the ability to think and even learn on their own, instead of the brain-dead self-esteem touchy-feely oriented so-called schools we have now.

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taintso
Posted on January 20, 2013 at 12:53am
let’s face it anyone who has their children in public school is supporting Socialism to Communism. They teach government agenda, not the skills the children need to be honest citizens and not only survive but strengthen this country.

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rickroland
Posted on January 20, 2013 at 12:41am
Seriously? Are these people nuts? Wait, never mind, they ARE nuts, certifiable. Lock them away, now, before they harm themselves or others.

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ednapearl
Posted on January 19, 2013 at 11:56pm
This is just pure stupidity on the part of the school but then what do we expect from a bunch of progressives. The parents need to sue the pants off the school for questioning their 5 year old without her parents there and for the school lacking common sense.

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wordweaver
Posted on January 19, 2013 at 11:32pm
Have we now lost all capacity for rational thought? This from the folks in charge of educating your children.

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sURFNmADNESS
Posted on January 19, 2013 at 11:30pm
I spent tonight talking to my 9 year old about this article and things over the last few months. Advised him, no talking about guns, shooting or even playing finger guns at school. Told him, you talk about them at school and they may kick you out or worse. Best to just not talk about them at school for now. I will also talk to his teacher and principle during parent / teacher conferences in couple weeks. At least most of the school teachers have some common sense at my school but best to talk to them now before anything to make sure we are on the same page.

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superduper
Posted on January 19, 2013 at 11:28pm
Michael Savage may be on to something when he says “liberalism is a mental disorder”. These people have lost all common sense and react to pure emotion. Very scary.

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3JohnD
Posted on January 19, 2013 at 11:23pm
When I graduated from High School I was a C average student. I felt that I was not smart enough to go to college, and I volunteered for the army. I was in the infantry where I learned leadership and common sense during combat exercises. After Army I went to tech school for mechanics. I should have gone to college to get a cleaner job as a teacher because I believe I am a lot smarter than our current school administration. Being stupid, no common sense, no brain, and slow to reasonable thinking seems to be prerequisite for today’s Educators. If it takes a principal three hours to get a little information out of a five year old then what was this dummy doing molesting child. I have a clear vision why kids are not learning anything in school.

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the_truth_or_not
Posted on January 19, 2013 at 11:20pm
I feel like I am in Bizarro world, or Little Nicky what was up is now down, what was down is now up!
Let me see if I understand this, The person who killed multiple Soilders in a no gun zone military base (Never made sense to me. I thought that you would find the most guns on a military base) was work place violence. And a 5 yr old with a bubble machine is a terrorist?

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TouchStoneMT
Posted on January 19, 2013 at 11:17pm
Can’t make this crap up.
Banning REAL weapons, then banning kids for FAKE weapons.

I’ve got “zero tolerance” for stupid….

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iluv9mm
Posted on January 19, 2013 at 11:06pm
Stories like this make all those breathless anti-gun idiots sound so ridiculous. Keep ‘em coming!!!

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judyaz
Posted on January 19, 2013 at 10:47pm
This is exactly what is of concern — incredibly ignorant misinterpretation of the law. It is illegal to threaten to harm oneself or another. But how can bubbles from a toy gun (not even on school property, as the conversation was not either) endanger anyone? And a five-year-old’s toy?
Did you notice the family lawyer had to get involved, at age 5 she now has a permanent record, and her mental health must be evaluated. If they will do this to a young child who only says this one day on a bus, to shoot a bubble at a child from a toy, how much ore will this misuse of the law law be done? How many people’s lives will be ruined? How many will have a record. Will she ever be allowed to buy a gun as an adult later? Will she have to undergo extra counseling for her entire coming school life, since she’s only 5 now? Will that record accompany her to college as she seeks admission? It is the most innocent who seem to get so victimized by power.

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garbagecanlogic
Posted on January 19, 2013 at 10:47pm
And the NEA can’t figure out why we want to fire about 75% of the teachers in the USA and then rehire good ones!

Praise Be To Obama. Psalm 109:8

The U.S. Out Of The U.N.
The U.N. Out Of The U.S.

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woodyl1011fl
Posted on January 19, 2013 at 10:42pm
We truly have a failed education system and establishment run by IDIOTS a couple of generations of them. It is apparent why and how our Marxist radical president got reelected. elected by fools and idiots.

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Ducky 1
Posted on January 19, 2013 at 10:38pm
OMG She didn’t even have the “gun” with her!!! If she had then I am sure she would have been cuffed her and booked her into jail. I as a parent would raise HeXX and never let my child back to that school. And watch out parents because they seem to think it is okay to question your child for 3 hours with out calling you. It happened to one of my kids for getting in a fight and even though the staff was told to call me right away if there was a problem they never did call. I pulled my child out and home schooled him. Today he is a responsible adult with 2 kids of his own.

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ReagansDad
Posted on January 19, 2013 at 10:34pm
How is it that whenever someone in goverment does something stupid they get to hide behind “this is a personnel issue” or “this is under investigation” or blah, blah, blah. Hey – we pay you. You work for us. Stop ducking questions.

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Grand design
Posted on January 19, 2013 at 10:33pm
Fire the moron school administrator for not being able to tell the difference between reality and fantasy!

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I_AM_HARRISON_BERGERON
Posted on January 19, 2013 at 10:26pm
So this bubble gun must have had a pistol grip… No, okay it must have had a fore end hand grip… No again, then it must have had a barrel shroud !!! Still wrong? Okay I think I have the answer now. This evil instrument of terror has a capacity of more than ten bubbles and cannot be limited to just seven bubbles in the sad state of New Pork.
BTW… Why is a pistol grip illegal on a rifle or shotgun, but not on a pistol???
Why can I buy a .410 ga Taurus Judge revolver that qualifies under the definition of semi-automatic and pistol grip, but not saw the stock and barrel of a .410 ga single shot shotgun???

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nonwinger
Posted on January 19, 2013 at 10:03pm
And these morons are teaching our children? Please don’t put a gun in their hands, they’ll end up shooting each other!

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Firemedic049
Posted on January 19, 2013 at 9:46pm
We have to ban Hello Kitty bubble guns or at least load them with only 7 bubbles. You got to be flicking kidding me. LIBERALISIM is a mental disorder.

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RamonPreston
Posted on January 19, 2013 at 9:00pm
This country just gets closer and closer to the edge. When will the end of America happen? Total nonsense while Obama destroys this country.

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rochrealtor
Posted on January 19, 2013 at 8:55pm
Every parent…should remove their kid from that school, until the cross and this little person is allowed back after a public apology.

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mixplix
Posted on January 19, 2013 at 8:36pm
People don’t realize these stupid charges made against a five year old child requires a lawyer to get it turned into some close to reality costs money along with the court time. Mean while we have a Congressman who is a convicted criminal who has been sitting in Congress for over forty years. The child had a bubble gun that shoots bubbles. The whole school board needs changing.

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Tom Ballard
Posted on January 19, 2013 at 8:22pm
Has common sense been lost in our society, the school should not be able to talk to the little girl without the parents being there to defend her, they are blooming idiots and they are teaching our children wow

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