F'ing WBAL Report of Gun at School

[Redneck]

Let me start by saying that kid was wrong and should not have brought it to school.

My issue is with WBALTV.com. I click on there to see whats going on and I see a headline with a pic of a Glock 23 saying "student brought gun to school" I opened the link to discover that he brought a starter pistol that only fires blanks to school not a Glock 23. The two are totally different! One can kill you and the other one can't. Again bad idea for the kid, but the headline makes you think right away a kid had a real gun at a school and basically that's all you need to know, but that wasn't the case. I don't know why, but this reporting really just pisses me off. Not sure if its the ignorance of the reporter or the fact that they are reporting on something they have no clue about.

 

[SRD]

The crapital had the same story.

 

[Mr H]

WBAL Radio got to me this morning, talking about more violence at Perry Hall HS (knife, I think?)...

The first third of the story was about that, then the remaining time was spent rehashing the shotgun incident on the first day of school.

Other than the school, there was nothing in common between the two!

 

[Redneck]

I would have suspected this from WJZ, but now WBAL.

I decided to see what WJZ had reported and was quite surprised.

http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2012/11/29/inoperable-starter-pistol-found-in-student-locker/

 

[Mooseman]

It has nothing to do with the media not knowing the difference. The sent out the message they wanted to send.

 

[StantonCree]

I know you guys are all pretty knowledgeable about guns (not being scarastic) but the fact of the matter is that 99% of people are not. Lets be honest here for a second, if tht was your childs school and a kid whipped out a starter pistol and scared the crap out of everyone you would be out raged and wondering how the gun got in the school.

I may have been a starter pistol but if it came out and got pointed how many kids would be running for the hills? How many teachers would be hiding under desks?

In fact I'd say a goot 80% of our "armed" robberies are BB guns but people don't know they difference they think they are looking down a muzzle of impending death.

I see your frusteration about putting guns in a bad light but I mean the fact of the matter is even the starter pistol could have caused mass panic inside.

 

[Mooseman]

I know you guys are all pretty knowledgeable about guns (not being scarastic) but the fact of the matter is that 99% of people are not. Lets be honest here for a second, if tht was your childs school and a kid whipped out a starter pistol and scared the crap out of everyone you would be out raged and wondering how the gun got in the school.

I may have been a starter pistol but if it came out and got pointed how many kids would be running for the hills? How many teachers would be hiding under desks?

In fact I'd say a goot 80% of our "armed" robberies are BB guns but people don't know they difference they think they are looking down a muzzle of impending death.

I see your frusteration about putting guns in a bad light but I mean the fact of the matter is even the starter pistol could have caused mass panic inside.

I agree. It is scary as hell when you have what you believe is a gun pointed at you. It does not have to be a gun to be scary. If you think it is a gun, it is a gun. My point was the after the fact coverage by the media.

 

[MJD438]

Ratchet the fear...MSM doing the bidding of their political commisars by keeping people informed of brainwashed into how the PDRofMD wants their opinions shaped in advance of the opening of the 2013 GA session.

 

[SRD]

I know you guys are all pretty knowledgeable about guns (not being scarastic) but the fact of the matter is that 99% of people are not. Lets be honest here for a second, if tht was your childs school and a kid whipped out a starter pistol and scared the crap out of everyone you would be out raged and wondering how the gun got in the school.

I may have been a starter pistol but if it came out and got pointed how many kids would be running for the hills? How many teachers would be hiding under desks?

In fact I'd say a goot 80% of our "armed" robberies are BB guns but people don't know they difference they think they are looking down a muzzle of impending death.

I see your frusteration about putting guns in a bad light but I mean the fact of the matter is even the starter pistol could have caused mass panic inside.

I agree 100% with you .I just fail to see how this is news (stated he never made any threats).IMO a letter or recorded message to the parents from the school would have been sufficient.The media is who blew this out of proprotion,which is my issue as it's just another negative towards firearms in general.

 

[Mr H]

Hysteria is powerful, and weilding it is a media specialty.

My situation never made the news, but if it had, I'd hate to see the results!!

When my oldest son was in middle school (just a couple weeks after Columbine), he confiscated a pocketknife from my youngest, which had been found in the woods. It was rusty crusty and musty, and worthless.

He forgot it was in his jacket pocket, and getting off the bus, stashed it under a rock so he wouldn't be in possession "at school". No one saw it, or even knew about it until he was getting back on the bus and retrieved it to bring it home for disposal. The one kid who did see it, reported it to the driver, and my son was brought to the ASSistant Principal, who held my son for almost 2 hours before we were notified.

Long story short, he was "allowed" to finish out his 8th grade year at home rather than a first offense expulsion.

If people are bent on making an issue of something they don't agree with, they will.

 

[Haides]

I know you guys are all pretty knowledgeable about guns (not being scarastic) but the fact of the matter is that 99% of people are not. Lets be honest here for a second, if tht was your childs school and a kid whipped out a starter pistol and scared the crap out of everyone you would be out raged and wondering how the gun got in the school.

I may have been a starter pistol but if it came out and got pointed how many kids would be running for the hills? How many teachers would be hiding under desks?

In fact I'd say a goot 80% of our "armed" robberies are BB guns but people don't know they difference they think they are looking down a muzzle of impending death.

I see your frusteration about putting guns in a bad light but I mean the fact of the matter is even the starter pistol could have caused mass panic inside.

That is true, but regardless of any perceived danger, the only real danger that exists is to the kid with the fake/starter pistol...

 

[Mark75H]

I heard WBAL radio report that it was a starter gun and that he was being charged with possession of a deadly weapon ...

If I had a starter gun and was charged with possession of a deadly weapon ... I'd be saying ... BRING IT ON! Let's let the judge decide ...

Is the illegal carry of a starter gun in school actually in the same part of COMAR as criminal possession of an actual firearm as WBAL has implied?

(I know both are in the code somewhere.)

 

[SRD]

I heard WBAL radio report that it was a starter gun and that he was being charged with possession of a deadly weapon ...

If I had a starter gun and was charged with possession of a deadly weapon ... I'd be saying ... BRING IT ON! Let's let the judge decide ...

Is the illegal carry of a starter gun in school actually in the same part of COMAR as criminal possession of an actual firearm as WBAL has implied?

(I know both are in the code somewhere.)

Good question,

I know there are certain areas that the distinction is made (DNR for one).Anyone remember the case,not too long ago,where a coach/teacher had a real firearm and blanks on school grounds and was going to use it as a starter pistol?

 

[StantonCree]

That is true, but regardless of any perceived danger, the only real danger that exists is to the kid with the fake/starter pistol...

Yes but percieved danger is all the really matters.

Say I bring a gun point it at your face and threaten you. Now I know the gun is unloaded, but you don't. Your peeing your pants while the "perceived" working end is pointed right in your mouth.

Should my consequences (if caught) be any less because the gun was unloaded and I had no intention of murdering you?

Perceived danger is the worst kind because if your dead you don't worry about anything. It's when you think your going to die that you have any issues with a situation.

 

[Mr H]

Good question,

I know there are certain areas that the distinction is made (DNR for one).Anyone remember the case,not too long ago,where a coach/teacher had a real firearm and blanks on school grounds and was going to use it as a starter pistol?

A quick application of Bing Shui reveals...

defines “firearm” to mean, among other things, “the
frame or receiver” of a weapon that “expels ... a projectile by the
action of an explosive.” PS §5-101(h)(1)(ii).

So, absent an actual threat, I can't see a starter pistol as falling in there (unless maybe it can be modified to "expel"??)

 

[FrankZ]

WBAL Radio got to me this morning, talking about more violence at Perry Hall HS (knife, I think?)...!

It was brass knuckles.

Yes but percieved danger is all the really matters.

Say I bring a gun point it at your face and threaten you. Now I know the gun is unloaded, but you don't. Your peeing your pants while the "perceived" working end is pointed right in your mouth.

Should my consequences (if caught) be any less because the gun was unloaded and I had no intention of murdering you?

Perceived danger is the worst kind because if your dead you don't worry about anything. It's when you think your going to die that you have any issues with a situation.

Pointing a gun at someone in MD is assault and carries up to 25 years, and you are correct in the mindset behind that.

 

[kalister1]

I bought a Starter Pistol from Bart's many years ago. I filled the same paperwork you use to buy a real gun and had to wait for the MSP to approve my application. i really don't feel like looking it up, but I THINK it is a GUN by Marylandistans stupid gun laws.?

PS section 5-101(p) reads, in relevant part:

(P) “Regulated firearm” means:

(1) a handgun; or

(2) a firearm that is any of the following specific assault weapons․

The portion of the definition set forth in section 5-101(p)(2), dealing with certain assault weapons, is here irrelevant. Thus we turn to the definition of “handgun” as defined in subsection (n) of PS, section 5-101, viz:

(n)(1) “Handgun” means a firearm with a barrel less than 16 inches in length.

(2) “Handgun” includes signal, starter, and blank pistols.

Section 5-101(h) defines a firearm as follows:

(h)(1) “Firearm” means:

(i) a weapon that expels, is designed to expel, or may readily be converted to expel a projectile by the action of an explosive; or

(ii) the frame or receiver of such a weapon.

(2) “Firearm” includes a starter gun.

 

[Gummy]

Our local stations on the shore use one generic picture of a handgun for just about every firearm related news story.

 

[kalister1]

Yes but percieved danger is all the really matters.

Say I bring a gun point it at your face and threaten you. Now I know the gun is unloaded, but you don't. Your peeing your pants while the "perceived" working end is pointed right in your mouth.

Should my consequences (if caught) be any less because the gun was unloaded and I had no intention of murdering you?

Perceived danger is the worst kind because if your dead you don't worry about anything. It's when you think your going to die that you have any issues with a situation.

While I understand what you are saying, BUT: If I shot you 30 times and you live, I am not in as much trouble as if I punch you in the mouth and you DIE.

 

[ridethemessiah]

hmmm, from what I intrerpret of the WJZ reporting the kid didnt do anything wrong unless there are specifics in the school policy. The kid never carried it around or did anything stupid with it. In my HS track practice we would sometimes practice with the gun and nobody made a stink of it. If the kid did some dumb shit then hell yeah he needs punishment but I don't currently see what he did. Let me know if I missed something.