Just thought this was curious, my son found a 22 casing on the floor in his class. A little background: I have taught my kids gun safety and how to use them as well as other miscellany etc from a very young age.

So as the responsible person he tries to be, he brings it immediately to his teacher. He says it isn't one of ours, because it has a blue marking at the end (More than likely it is a blank used for powder actuated tools).

So the principle and the teacher have told my wife and I that they know it wasn't Garrett's.

The funny thing, the Principle wants to talk to my wife and I about our guns.

Now aside from the fact that I believe I will meet him, and have a field day with the ridiculousness of the issue, perhaps there could be a third party perspective.

No one in his school knew about the guns until this incident. So he wasn't threatening or bragging.

If nothing else I just wanted to vent my spleen, venting done.

By the way, the explanation of these events was told to us by the teacher, not my son. My son did verify it.

PLEASE put up a Post-meeting reply to this one Josh. I can't wait to hear this. The local school system here is going to be put through the ringer when they try pulling the BS I hear about all the time on my kids.

See, this story has something to do with the "what college did you go to" thread: some idiot managed to finish school--heck, he might have even gone on to get an EdD or something--and now he has nothing better to do than pretend he's living in Pre-Columbine, USA, and that maybe Josh's Waco-sized secret arsenal will be exposed via a third degree of the goody-two-shoes kid who dutifully brought an empty casing to his teacher, and so he will be SUPER-PRINCIPAL, the man who saved his school from tragedy.

Something is definitely wrong with this picture. It's spelled: s-t-u-p-i-d-d-i-tee....

Or something like that.

(Hey, I didn't say that I *wasn't* an idiot myself. Maybe it takes one to know one.)
...you know what I mean.

In California he would have likely immediately been suspended from the school. the press would have been notified that you are militia members, and the population would demand the child be removed from your home.

Here in Nevada they would have given him live ammo so he could hunt rabbits on the way home after school.

He's not allowed to bring plastic guns to school. I would imagine plastic ammo is out too.

Regardless, I will let you know how it ends up. If Garrett brought the thing to school, possibly, I could see the idea here. Finding it on the floor and reporting it as he is supposed too doesn't make sense in this regard.

His mistake was letting them know that it wasn't one of ours... Weird, because you can't get much more conservative than Yakima. Although I have to admit that his Principal and teacher are a little too "Flower child" for me (And I'm a democrat).

Would you like me to come up and storm the office for you?

Your sons name is Garrett? I like that name. When my wife taught she had a kid named Garrett in her class, his mom was a MILF as the kids say. Right before school photos he ran, on purpose to see what it felt like, head first into a brick wall. His photo had a grinning Garrett with what looked like a tennis ball under the skin of his forhead. Funny kid.

Josh
I think he wants to see how aware you are of strict gun safety. He probibly wants to error on the side of safety.

I wouldn't give in to these people.
There's no reason to meet with them and discuss anything.
Garrett did everything he should of and that should be the end.

If I agreed to such a meeting I would want to know why beforehand.

Hopefully all your guns are legal.

Maybe the principal wants you to do a bullet catch at the next school assembly.

Jaz is right, they may want to confirm with you that you do have guns and then make a note in your kids records that he should be watched. It's none of the schools business if you have 1 gun or 1000.

I agree...f'em.

I got suspended once and it was for a BS reason and my father, who wasn't the greatest father in the world, actually stood up against the school on my behalf and I still appreciate him doing that.

They're not teaching gun safety in the Yakima School System anymore? What grade is your kid in and what school is he attending?
When I went to Wilson Jr. High we all took gun safety, I think in PE. A fine class that should be in the curriculum of every public school in the country. It focused on rifles and hunting safety but it could easily be extended to cover hand gun safety as well.
I'd go to the meeting and tell the teachers to put this class back into the curriculum if it's been removed.

I Didn't tell them I was going to meet them today, actually it seems they had expected to be talking to my wife. I sat down and began the conversation, told them what happened according to my son, told them my son did what he was supposed to do, and that any questions regarding my personal guns are none of their business.

It was kind of a long beginning sentence for sure, but it seemed to do the trick as they agreed that there was really no need to talk with us after all. I asked them politely to be certain to not ask my son about other things that were not their business, should any come up.

So, I think they realized they made a bit of a mistake because I was a little grumpy about a few other things, so I decided that would be a good time to discuss them.

Needless to say they were quite polite and had no more stupid questions.

Payne, The school systems in this area are terrified of anything related to weapons in school. There would be horrified parents if anyone ever even mentioned "Gun Safety".

Gun's don't kill people, kids learning gun safety do.

Would have been cool if you showed up in cammies and had your face painted to boot.

That is (as I understand it) pretty much the norm in most of the country, but it sure is misguided.

I remember when I finally found an affordable range here in the DC area (oddly enough, by asking a kidshow parent whose garage held a huge gun safe) - I could finally answer my two boys' request to go buy a rifle and go target shooting (you never quite get enough time or ammo at Boy Scout camp) - I had just finished the VERY SERIOUS LECTURE on not even taking spent casings to school, when the guys at the station beside us, hailing from someplace a bit farther fron town, started talking among themselves about "the rifle team at school."

Another time, we were heading for an outing during a "no-classes teachers' work day" and stopped by the high school to talk with the older kid's counselor about college choices. I'm some kinda numbskull ... about 20 minutes in, my son and I suddenly stared at each other and passed an incredible amount of information with a single glance: "I just realized ... we're on school property ... with two rifles and 500 rounds of ammo in plain view on the back seat ... hope your little brother thought of this too and covered them up ... AAAARGH!" Somehow God smiled on us that day and we got away with it.

When I was Scoutmaster for a few years, we had to explain to a lot of parents that, yes, Scouts get to shoot rifles if they wish, and yes, they are carefully trained and closely supervised, and no, they don't need a five-page signed legal waiver from their parents to do it ... while we were at it, I had to add that they also get to light fires, use knives and hatchets, climb rocks and drink from streams. We had some parents from South American countries who were just fine with the rifles and hatchets and fires, but (this is the truth, I swear) they were terribly worried about the bandits and deadly animals in remote areas (after all, they had them back home).

This has been a digression (and a rant) but ... "hey, big-city America ... to you firearms may mean gang-banga violence or some kind of fancied 'protection' against burglars (try not to shoot your daughter when she sneaks back home after midnight) ... and hey, people like my brother-in-law who I'm sure is hiding a stash of bazookas for the local militia ... to you, they may be security blankets for nutjobs who think the Commie tanks will be rolling through your streets any day now ... guys, for most of America, they're tools to be used responsibly for hunting and target-shooting, OK?"

You didn't mention your son's age in your original post so far as I saw.

I suppose if your son was very, very young, they might have legitimately wondered why he knew so much about guns, and whether you were really aware of this or not.

However, I take it that this did not happen in an elementary school?

I learned about guns when I was 7 and when I was 8 I was able to take a 9 mm pistol apart. I don't see the relevance to age here.
When kids are small and there is a snake we tell them be careful it is dangerous which is BS since a very small percentage of snakes are dangerous just as a very small percentage of handguns are really used in a bad way. They are very ofteen used recreationally (hunting or sports) and kids can learn about them and learn to respect them from a very young age.
To end this post though I do not own a gun and I have no intention of doing so, so this is not about me trying to protect any of my rights. It is just my opinion.

In South Africa you'd need a gun. My buddy lived in Johannasberg(sp) and came home from work and found his wife, two kids under age three, and maids being held at gunpoint by robbers. A woman I know from Zaire had parents that owned a farm that the govt was going to take away because they were the dreaded white family and they had to use guns to fight off attacks by people who figured they could just come and take everything. It wasn't that bad when I was there 20 something years ago.

Someone once said "an armed society is a polite society"

That's a pity as when I went to school in Yakima we had at least a day or two of Gun Safety, Heck in High School we even had a hunting club that raised money for a yearly jaunt to Alaska to hunt Elk or Caribou.
I'm not a big gun fan and am in favour of gun controls like waiting periods, background checks and proficiency training so I think gun safety classes in school should be a high priority.

Do they at least still put out the drums on the street corners to collect deer hides for charity's during hunting season? Probably not. I guess a lot has changed in my old home town since I left a quarter century ago.