NOT THE SHARPEST KNIVES IN THE DRAWER: Toy (Soldier) Story
In yet another case of overly literal (or perhaps brainless) school officials interpreting and enforcing a “zero tolerance” weapons policy, The Associated Press reports that eight-year-old David Morales caused an uproar when he decorated a camouflage hat with an American flag and small plastic Army figures:
[T]he hat ran afoul of the district's no-weapons policy because the toy soldiers were carrying tiny weapons. …
[T]he Tiogue School in Coventry [RI] sent the hat home with David after class. …
Superintendent Kenneth R. Di Pietro said the principal told the family that the hat would be fine if David replaced the Army men holding weapons with ones that didn't have any.
"The issue for us was, can it be done in a way that didn't violate the zero-tolerance for weapons?" he said. "Nothing was being done to limit patriotism, creativity, other than find an alternative to a weapon." …
The boy’s mother, Christan Morales explained that her son wanted to honor the troops after becoming friends with a neighbor in the Army, and suspects that the phony issue over the teeny guns the toy soldiers were holding is a smokescreen: "You're talking about Army men. This wasn't about guns." In this case – and others involving toy soldiers - it’s about liberal teachers and their anti-military bias (video).
It may be the teachers at that school have never had a gun aimed at them and therefore may be legitimately confused. As a graveyard clerk, I have, and let me assure the teachers there that the soldiers on David's cap were not carrying guns. I was held up once by a man carrying a REAL rifle. Had he been carrying a toy soldier I would have laughed myself sick. I am glad the ACLU stuck up for him, but the school policy is more than "an unconstitutional violation of students' free speech." It is also laughibly ridiculous.
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