12-Year-Old Suspended for Having a Toy Gun in his Home
Russ Chastain 09.29.20
(Image: Umarex/Pyramyd)
Remember the incident we reported on back in June, when police showed up and searched a home just because someone spotted a BB gun in the background during a virtual school session? Well, it’s no isolated incident; a 12-year-old boy in Colorado Springs, CO was reportedly recently suspended for having a toy airsoft gun in his own home.
It would seem the “gun” in question is the same as that in the image above, which is an airsoft BB gun obviously fashioned with the Colt 1911 in mind. This model seems to be discontinued; you can learn more about it by clicking here.
The fake pistol was spotted by a teacher who “saw Isaiah [Elliott] flash a toy gun across his computer screen” and promptly tattled to the school principal, who suspended the young lad and sicced the cops on him — er, I mean the principal “called the… County Sheriff’s Office to conduct a welfare check on the boy without calling his parents first.”
Isaiah’s parents were notified only after officers were already on the way to their home; nobody ever asked them whether the gun was real or a toy. School officials simply set the authoritarian wheels in motion instead of acting reasonably.
The boy’s father was able to view the video, thanks to one of the deputies, and saw that the boy never did “flash the gun,” but instead moved it without thought that “big brother was watching.”
“Curtis Elliott told FOX31 the video shows his son sitting at home on his sofa when he momentarily picks up the toy gun on the right side of where he’s sitting and moves it to his left side, not realizing that in the process his teacher and fellow students saw him move the gun across the computer screen.
“‘Just flashed across the school computer screen for maybe one or two seconds at the most,’ said Curtis Elliott.”
The incident left the child in tears as he faced suspension from school and the threat of being jailed.
“The Elliotts said their son was traumatized by deputies telling the 12-year-old his behavior could’ve led to criminal charges and might in the future if he were to do something similar again.
“‘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,’ said Curtis Elliot, fearful that deputies might overreact to having the school principal tell them a young Black boy was potentially armed with a gun.”
Also at issue is the fact that the online class was recorded without parental permission. This should come as no surprise to anyone, but the world is full of trusting souls who will find that shocking.
Further, it seems Isaiah was not alone in handling the pistol on-screen:
“It turns there was another student, a friend of Isaiah’s, who was in the home at the time, who also handled the toy gun. According to the sheriff’s report, that boy did point the toy gun at the computer screen and pulled the trigger, but it’s unclear if the boy knew he was being recorded or could be seen by his teacher.
“At the request of the school, deputies visited that boy and his mother as well. FOX31 reached out to the boy’s mother, but she has not returned our phone call.
“It’s believed that boy received a five-day suspension as well.”
What a world we live in, where toys are demonized because of their shape and parents are not contacted when school officials believe they have a problem regarding their kids.
