Did you ever play cops and robbers as a kid? If so, you have probably shaped your fingers like a gun at some point and pretended to shoot it. Lawmakers in Nevada are trying to protect kids’ rights to do just that with a piece of legislation that would go after the strict no tolerance gun policies that several schools have put into place.
Currently, many schools in the United States have zero tolerance weapons policies which prevent students from depicting firearms in any way. That means they can’t bring a toy gun to school, (even if it looks nothing like a real one) they can’t shape their fingers like a gun, they can’t make gun noises and they can’t draw guns.
These sorts of policies have been very controversial and have made numerous headlines in recent years. One of the most controversial stories came out of Maryland, where, in 2013, seven-year-old Josh Welch was suspended from school because he bit his Pop-Tart into the shape of a handgun.
This prompted lawmakers in the state of Maryland to introduce the Reasonable School Discipline Act of 2013, which prohibited school administration from “suspending or expelling a student who brings to school or possesses on school property a picture of a gun, a computer image of a gun, a facsimile of a gun, or any other object that resembles a gun but serves another purpose.” Florida also responded with similar legislation, which the governor signed into law in 2014.
This uproar over what many see as unfair discipline has now prompted the state of Nevada to take action. Assembly Bill 121 is headed to the Nevada State Senate next week, where lawmakers will vote on whether or not children should be able to bring toy guns to school or shape their toaster pastries like guns. Some of the the things specifically listed that would be protected under this bill are students’ ability to draw guns and other weapons on a sheet of paper, twirl a pencil like a gun, build a gun with building blocks, and wear clothes depicting guns and other weapons.
Other examples of schools’ zero tolerance firearms policies in action include a ten-year-old in Ohio who was suspended for shaping his fingers like a gun and a suspension (which was later reversed) of a kindergartner who brought a toy cap gun to school.
