School overreach on guns has led to numerous students getting punished for non-threatening incidents, including students simply pointing finger guns. Amid the coronavirus pandemic, students are facing punishments for what they have in their homes that can be seen by teachers during online classes.
In Louisiana, nine-year-old Ka Mauri Harrison was in his bedroom taking a test over a video stream when his teacher began waving at him, The Washington Post reported. Since he was taking a test, Harrison’s computer was muted so he didn’t know why his teacher seemed upset. He moved to unmute her, but the livestream ended.
The reason Harrison’s teacher was waving is because she saw an unloaded BB gun in his bedroom and reported him to the school. Harrison faced expulsion, the Post reported, but his sentence was reduced to a suspension after a hearing last week.
“This is an injustice. It’s a systemic failure,” family attorney Chelsea Cusimano told the Post. “They’re applying on-campus rules to these children, even though they’re learning virtually in their own homes.”
The school district told WDSU that it would not address Harrison’s specific case.
“We do not comment on individual student records,” school spokeswoman Vicki Bristol told the outlet. “Regarding discipline, it is our policy that teachers and administrators may employ reasonable disciplinary and corrective measures to maintain order.”
Policing student’s homes is not limited to this one instance, as The Daily Wire’s Emily Zanotti previously reported. In Colorado, 12-year-old Isaiah Elliot was suspended for five days after a teacher saw him holding an obvious toy gun during virtual classes. A local Fox News affiliate reported that the “weapon” was “a neon green and black handgun with an orange tip with the words ‘Zombie Hunter’ printed on the side.”
The teacher even knew it was a toy but reported the incident to the school principal. The principal then contacted the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office to send police officers to Elliot’s home for a “welfare check.”
“It was really frightening and upsetting for me as a parent, especially as the parent of an African-American young man, especially given what’s going on in our country right now,” Elliot’s father, Curtis, told local media.
“He was in tears when the cops came. He was just in tears. He was scared. We all were scared. I literally was scared for his life,” he added.
In New jersey, police were called on a sixth-grader for holding a toy gun during online classes, North Jersey reported. The student was locked out of classes and police went to his home.
“My son was on Zoom for class, he had his toy gun. That’s not acceptable, naturally, but I’m taking issue with the teacher who didn’t find out more about it. The teacher didn’t do anything but called the police and escalated the situation,” the boy’s father told the outlet.
He also told media that police left the home without incident after learning the guns were toys.