DES MOINES, Iowa
A Des Moines girl was suspended after school officials said she violated their weapons policy.
Jazmine Martin, 12, brought an empty shotgun shell to school on Monday, a souvenir from a summer vacation to South Dakota. The shell was empty and had the word “blank” written on the front.Full Story – HERE
Interesting, I looked up “ammunition” in the dictionary for the heck of it and this is the first entry:
The material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon, as bombs or rockets, and esp. shot, shrapnel, bullets, or shells fired by guns
(Reference: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ammunition)
So I suppose by that definition the empty shell would be considered ammunition. What a dumb policy though!
Hopefully that doesn’t ruin that girls chance at getting into university down the road since its on her “permanent record”. My guess is it will be listed on the record as something vague too like “Suspended for a weapon” which obviously looks worse then putting “Brought a shotgun hull to show-and-tell”
Hat Tip: Murdoc @ GunPundit
Comments
4 responses to “Student Suspended Over Show-And-Tell Souvenir”
I’m from central Iowa and spent more than a few minutes yesterday writing comments on the story in the Des Moines Register online edition. Interestingly, I didn’t come across that definition of ammunition when I looked it up on other sites yesterday. But I think those educated in weapons terminology would not take “shells” in that particular definition to mean empty shotshell cases, but rather artillery rounds. You’ll notice that the word shells comes up in a list of projectiles, and you would be laughed at for calling an artillery projectile a bullet!
Josh,
I agree that they misinterpreted the school policy. Pretty easy mistake for someone that knows nothing about guns to make though I guess. I just hope that girl can get her record wiped clean quickly and move on.
I just read the story on the link. I hadn’t seen that one. The story in the newspaper quoted the school saying that they had a policy that explicitly prohibits live ammunition and bullets, but makes no mention of empty casings. With all the outcry on the newspaper comments section, I wouldn’t be surprised if more rational heads prevail and her punishment is suspended and stricken from her record. One can only hope. The school’s policy prohibits certain items listed, but then basically says items not on the list may be prohibited… Apparently you won’t know until it’s too late.
I went to South Dakota and got the exact same thing. We went to a Cowboy Trail Dinner and they had a demonstration where a man shot a blank out of a 12 gauge shotgun. I still have it to this day and use it as a neckerchief slide for Boy Scouts. I also intend on making a necklace with a 30-06 round hanging from the middle with .22 shells covering the string. I’m sure the School would have no problem with them.