We've seen this situation before. A student brings a hunting rifle or shotgun to school and leaves it in his or her vehicle. The gun is found and the student is expelled.
This Monday a Flomaton High School student was suspended after his hunting rifle and compound bow was found inside his locked vehicle. At this point in time the student has been suspended, but our bet is he will likely be expelled once the case filters through the process.
We saw a Flomaton teacher lose his job when his gun was found inside a bag, which was inside his locked room that got noticed by a nosey custodian.
We understand that guns don't belong on school campuses. We understand that the safety of our students and teachers is very important and very necessary. Parents send their children to school and trust they will be safe and return home.
At some point, common sense has gone out the window. We've gotten to a point of political correctness that we don't want to look at the circumstances, just the offense. We don't want to look at the individual involved, just the fact that he or she brought a gun on campus – whether it was an accident or not.
In the criminal court system we look at circumstances and we look at intent before we pass judgment.
We're not blaming the Escambia County School Board, because we feel it is being blackmailed by the federal government over money to have this 'zero tolerance' for guns on school campuses.
Zero tolerance for guns hasn't stopped school shootings and won't stop school shootings. Our bet is these zero tolerance rules are designed to take the 'intent' discretion away from officials, which we feel is wrong. Each case should stand on its own merit.
