Outrage Of The Week

There's still no shortage of cases involving school officials' over-zealous, one-size-fits-all, zero-common sense enforcement of "zero-tolerance" rules.

The latest outrage involves a 7-year-old Hammonton, N.J. student who, according to a recent NBCPhiladelphia.com article, faces criminal charges for the egregious offense of firing a Nerf-style toy "gun" at his school.  The fearsome weapon shoots small, soft, ping-pong-type balls and there was no evidence of anyone being threatened or injured by the child's actions.

The incident was actually investigated by the Hammonton Police Department after school officials reported "suspicious activity."  Police then charged the pint-sized perpetrator with possessing an imitation firearm in or on an education institution.  Unbelievable!

Is this what we've come to?  Insisting the police investigate and charge a 7-year-old for "shooting" Nerf-style ping-pong-like balls?  What's next; throwing children in jail for tossing beanbags in class?  Imagine the damage a marshmallow could inflict.

We all can agree that we want our children to be safe at school, and that reasonable safety measures should be followed.  But when administrators and law enforcement allow "zero-tolerance" to become "zero-common sense," we've gone beyond unreasonable and arrived at outrageous.