Student Disciplined for Pen with Gun Company Logo (GLOCK PEN)

[Slim Pickens]

Student disciplined for pen with gun company logo
Caught after borrowing offending writing instrument from father

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Posted: February 1, 2008
1:00 a.m. Eastern


By Bob Unruh
© 2008 WorldNetDaily.com

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.

However, WND previously has reported on a student who was punished for advocating for gun rights, as well as yet another student who was punished for a sketch of a gun. And the newest incident raised concerns among bloggers and participants in web forums.

"Didn't (sic) Ford and GM build guns during WWII… Those products should not be around children, for there (sic) own safety. All teachers with a ford or GM car should have their illegal property crushed today…," wrote "jhud" on one forum. "Also the word springfield, and the numbers .22, .223, .32, .38, .40, .45, 5.56, 7.62, .50, .44 45-70, .450 etc and any math problem with the numbers involved. Also, we need to remove 9 and 10 mm from the rulers."

"Sounds like under this policy, any student or teacher with the last name of Winchester, Remington, and possibly even Smith (Smith & Wesson) would not even be allowed to attend or work at the school," added "Alacran."

The situation developed recently for a father who is choosing not to put his family through the media mill of publicity. However, he wrote about his case, and its resolution on the AR15.com website, which was founded in 1996 as a mailing list for firearms enthusiasts and grew into a location to collect, share and explore information.

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.

But the father, identified only as "odingaard" on the AR15.com site, wrote he probably will allow the issue to end.

"I did not feel like putting my family on display in front of the media and tur[n]ing my life into a freak show. I got the outcome I wanted, as did my son," he wrote.

Individual school district policies differ, as "Chris" pointed out on a forum at the Says Uncle website.

My daughter took a photo of herself firing a tommy gun to her 8th grade class. I received the call around 10am, asking me to come and pick her up. She had asked if she could take the photo, and I did some research before I allowed her to do so. Nowhere in the school policy book does it say that photos of firearms are banned, and her history book contain dozens of images of firearms. I refused, and told him that if my daughter wasn’t returned to class without punishment, and her property returned to her, he would be hearing from my lawyer. I never heard another word about it. I have a zero tolerance policy for stupidity.
Also on Dustin's GunBlog, the reaction was similar.

Wrote Wendy Weinbaum, "As a Jewess in the U.S., I recall that America wasn't won with a registered gun! Let's all put our 2nd Amendment FIRST!! And remember, criminal are stopped not by talk, but by FIREARMS."

And "Jim" added, "Funny thing, when I was in high school, during the early '70's, in a small southern KY town, many kids brought their .22's, shotguns, and an occasional rifle to school. We were a rural county school and many of us couldn't wait for the bell to ring, so we could go hunting on the way home. There was never an incident where a firearm was used to shoot or threaten anyone…"

One other contributor, "perlhaqr," however, had a different question. "Why would you want the suspension overturned? It's like rubbing your pinky finger up against the burner of the stove and thinking to yourself 'Well, I didn't burn nearly enough of my hand that time. Let me try again!'"

[Slim Pickens]

Well, at least the story has a happy ending this time. The father's description of the VP is hilarious!

Link to original story:

http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=59976

Link to AR15.com thread:

http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=1&f=5&t=664786

Slim

[LorDiego01]

They HAVE to make this up.

There is no way people are that stupid.

[Slim Pickens]

They HAVE to make this up.

There is no way people are that stupid.

Oh, how I wish I could believe that! Unfortunately, after all the stories about kids getting suspended for drawing a gun etc., this doesn't surprise me at all...

Slim

[RandomTask]

They HAVE to make this up.

There is no way people are that stupid.

This story may or may not be made up, but trust me, people ARE that stupid.

[Emptymag]

They HAVE to make this up.

There is no way people are that stupid.

Trust me.
My neighbor is a school principal... her superior would fit the same description as the one above.

Schools are a scary place to send kids.

[PocketProtector]

Stupid or Agendized?

[RocketFoot]

Not to digress from the original post...

I was pleasantly surprised at my son's 5th grade science project show last night at the elementary school...I saw 2 projects that were gun related! One studied the accuracy of a .22 with and without a scope and the other described how bullets worked! Both had photos of the students firing guns and also drawings of guns! I couldn't believe it! My 3rd grade son is already planing his gun related science project for 5th grade! LOL

[Slim Pickens]

Not to digress from the original post...

I was pleasantly surprised at my son's 5th grade science project show last night at the elementary school...I saw 2 projects that were gun related! One studied the accuracy of a .22 with and without a scope and the other described how bullets worked! Both had photos of the students firing guns and also drawings of guns! I couldn't believe it! My 3rd grade son is already planing his gun related science project for 5th grade! LOL

That's great, RF! Bet they wouldn't get away with that in Chester County, though

Slim

[sjl127]

That pen, alone, could have caused another Columbine.

Are all of you people nuts?

I agree with the principal for this discipline.