Does the Punishment fit the Crime? Empty Hunting Shotgun in Truck Bed at MCC Leads to Year Suspension

[XLFD]

According to a Tuesday afternoon article in the electronic City of Ludington Daily News:

"SCOTTVILLE — The Mason County Central Schools Board of Education voted Monday to expel a high school student for 180 days for recently bringing a shotgun to the school in the bed of his pickup truck.

“The board voted that we could not forego the need for student safety,” Superintendent Jeff Mount said about the decision. “It voted to expel the student for the 180-day mandatory period and provide online credit recovery for the student during the 180 days. Progress toward graduation during that time will determine his eligibility for reinstatement after the 180 days.”

Mount said the student is a hunter who left a shotgun in his truck, which was parked at school Oct. 20 when one of the school’s random trained-dog searches was taking place.

The dog led its handler to the truck, detecting ammunition residue.

“It was in the back of the pickup unloaded and he had no ammunition on him,” Mount said about the case. “He left it in the bed of his truck from hunting the day before. Forgetfulness could lead to safety problems at the school,” he said."

I couldn't believe this sentence imposed on the student.  First off, there seems to be no intent, if the story of his previous hunting excursion was true and he carelessly left it in back.  Second, it was unloaded and there was no active ammunition on the truck or on him, so the gun is as harmless as a baseball bat or a hockey stick, even if somebody unlawfully went into the back of his truck in the first place and stole it, like the authorities assuredly did. 

Being that there was no other disciplinary problems noted with the young man, and exactly nothing to indicate evil intent or purpose in forgetting his hunting implement in a mostly secure part of his truck. do you think a year's suspension is the right punishment? 

For your edification here is a similar story from Missouri, where a boy brought a disassembled, unloaded turkey shotgun in his truck and was suspended for ten days, which led to protests from students and others who called for the school board to be lenient. 

[stump]

Well if MCC has a weapons free zone , he was in violation of the law. Further more, who just leaves their rifle just laying in the bed of their truck to rattle around? A kid who didn't have to work for the money to buy it. Must have rich parents. No ammunition? Maybe he or a buddy had it stashed somewhere. I say good for the school board for not taking this violation lightly. Now was there a legal fine/punishment enforced for violating the weapons free zone law?

[Willy]

Years ago it was common for high school students to carry hunting equipment including firearms in their vehicles so they could hunt after school. Especially during bird season.  Even the faculty and staff carried their rifles in their car. This is paranoid 101 in all it's glory and this poor kid got caught in it's trap. A heavy dose of Liberal paranoia with a huge lack of common sense.

[Real Talk]

Well, obviously he wasn't a responsible gun owner.  Who would just leave a firearm in the bed of their truck.  So if sitting there and someone grabs it, puts ammo in it and starts a shootout.  Is that the same as a baseball bat still?  Since there wasn't ammo in the gun, nothing can happen?  Of course he had his hunting story.  What did you expect, him to say, you caught me, I was going to have a shootout at the school. 

The gun was in the bed of his truck, how could you forget it there.  Having a unattended firearm in the bed of a pickup truck isn't something to just let go or be lenient with.  I have seen a trend on here where if someone is in trouble, especially with law enforcement, they are innocent.  You try saying you aren't anti-law enforcement, but I have be unable to find articles to back up that statement.  I only say name calling of Officers and Deputies, which is very mature. 

If the city of Ludington and the County are so terrible and corrupt, why not get a job somewhere else X?

[Willy]

Real Talk

Your statement "I have seen a trend on here where if someone is in trouble, especially with law enforcement, they are innocent." Do you understand that when the police come for you, one of your rights is that you are Innocent until proven guilty .  It seems you are all to willing to give up that right. Already you are "assuming" the student had terrorists intentions.

I don't know for sure but I'm "assuming" the student's truck had a "cap" over the bed so the firearm may have been protected.

[XLFD]

Many of the more enlightened Michigan school districts that aren't as anal-retentive as ours include archery in their curricula for grades 4-12.  Just think of all those kids in archery class who should be expelled from school, particularly if they bring in their bow from home.  In trained hands an archer can be more deadly than someone with a shotgun (see video below I reposted of a master bowman), provided he has arrows and malicious intent. 

Here, the boy had no bullets or malicious intent, he made a mistake.  Now, I wasn't at the open meeting where it was discussed, but I presume that the boy and his parents wanted it open because any punishment should be gauged by the boy's previous record and his intent, and they had nothing to hide in that respect.  Too often zero-tolerance coincides with zero common sense.  Without having been at the meeting, I do not know all the variables, but I think a bigger mistake was made here and it was completely intentional on behalf of the school.

[stump]

My wife' brothers boy who was in first grade got expelled from school for bringing a swiss army knife to school that he had got for christmas.It was 1 1/2 " long.

[XLFD]

And obviously the teacher's scissors and letter opener are a worse security threat when those demonic post-Kindergarden kids get their Play-doh stained hands on them. 

I include below the Scottville (MCC Schools) policy on expulsions and suspensions.  These are the only reasons that MCC authorities are supposed to expel or suspend kids.  That's it, there is no more, check for yourself here:  http://www.mccschools.org/pdfs/bpm/bpm8000.pdf

Each involve willful acts, not passive acts like forgetting an unloaded hunting gun in your vehicle, which may have even been secured under a canopy.  Absent any sort of willful, intentional conduct expulsion and suspension should not even be considered for Gunboy.  Did he cache stockpiles of ammo somewhere on school grounds?  Had he made some threats?  If the answer is no, let him go-- to school.  Give him detention or write sentences, don't ruin his career because of an oversight. 

[Willy]

Your right X about the "Willful intent" or lack there of by the student.

[XLFD]

I'm going to be doing some further research on this incident. 

I hate seeing my alma mater being ran by some boneheaded superintendent, who believes installing NFPA non-compliant boots add to the school's safety:  "The days of us being passive, easy targets, are gone, today," says Superintendent Jeff Mount. "We need to act. And this is part of our action, part of our safety protocol. I endorse it with 100% certainty." (Upnorth Live)

Mount is one of many educators and law enforcement officials who have banded together to promote school safety measures, but all I see happening is that we are converting our schools into looking more and more like jails.  When you do so, the fear, anxiety and loss of control takes a toll on the kids almost as worse than if there was an actual school shooting that took place. 

You treat kids like inmates, they begin acting like inmates.

[XLFD]

In today's (actually yesterday's) headlines is the story of a group of Michigan school-age hunters posing at a local McDonald's with their hunting rifles causing a stir, and then proceeding to their high school campus with guns still in tow.  In Pinconning Michigan:

"They were taking photos of themselves with the guns is what the description was to us," (PPD Officer) Spencer said. "They had hunting licenses. They went hunting in the morning. They left from hunting to go to school, stopped at McDonald's to get something to eat, and decided to pose with their guns in the parking lot."

Once police determined there was no threat to the school or its students, the lockdown was lifted. The lockdown lasted only about 15 minutes, Spencer said.

Police did not arrest the teens. Their reports will be forwarded to the Bay County Prosecutor's Office for review.

"It was more of a safety concern than anything, with everything happening in America," Spencer said. "We wanted to check it out and make sure everything was on the up and up." 

http://www.mlive.com/news/bay-city/index.ssf/2016/03/high_school_pu...

In Scottville, those teens would be expelled for at least 180 days, and probably have been locked up for the better half of a day by the county sheriff.  Thanks for having some common sense, Pinconning Police Department and Pinconning Schools, and not ruining these young kids' lives with zero tolerance policies (at least as of yet).

[XLFD]

 I had to bring this once again to the forefront, though it is old news, a similar incident in Shelby in December, and a recently noticed feature in the MCP makes me wonder about the sanity of school leadership in Scottville at Mason County Central Schools.  In MCC students learn archery skills... we find out that MCC has been teaching archery skills with real bows and arrows gotten 'several years ago'. 

Isn't it odd that a student can get thrown out of school for a year for an empty hunting rifle left in a secured pickup, accidentally left there and violating no school rules, while this video shows multiple students willfully shooting arrows inside the school under school supervision?  Isn't it odd that other students at MCC have been similarly disciplined for possessing pocket knives used for fishing/hunting with small, unfixed blades, while the school runs and endorses an archery program that puts loaded weapons into the hands of kids with dozens of other kids hanging around as potential targets?