Kid With Laser Pointer Suspended Under Weapons Policy, Because Lasers = Guns

Reason readers know that students can get in
trouble for bringing guns to school (even accidentally). They can
also get in trouble for
writing clearly fictional stories that mention guns. They can
also get in trouble for
folding paper airplanes and
chewing Pop-Tarts in such a way that the airplanes or delicious
pastries resemble a gun. “Lookalike” weapons are banned along with
actual weapons in most school districts.

Laser pointers also count as “lookalike” weapons, according to a
Westville, Indiana, school that suspended a 13-year-old boy for
allegedly waving one in the school parking lot. According to

The NWI Times:

As it turned out, the 13-year-old boy was in possession of a
laser pointer, which police view as dangerous even if it’s not
shaped like a firearm.

“They are very dangerous in and of themselves, but anytime you
have anything that looks like a firearm it’s obviously a danger and
would be considered a credible threat,”  said LaPorte County
police Capt. Mike Kellems.

Very dangerous? Really? As far as I can tell,
no
one has ever been killed by a laser. They might be annoying,
and you’re not supposed to aim them at planes, but there’s no way
they are “obviously” dangerous or a “credible threat.”

The way the kid was caught is also telling. According the news
story, no one actually saw him with what was definitely a laser.
Rather, a nosy parent saw him holding “something she believed was a
gun.” She went to the authorities—of course—and police searched the
kid’s locker, finding nothing. Then the cops asked the boy’s
mother, and she offered his laser pointer as a possible
explanation. The naive mother probably thought that would get him
off the hook.

The police didn’t charge the kid with a crime, though he was
suspended for a full week. As far as “lookalike weapon” incidents
go, that’s actually a fairly light punishment.