My jaw dropped when I first read the news headline, “9-Year-Old Manassas Boy Arrested, Charged With Taking Gun to School.” My thoughts flashed to some of the violent attacks at schools in the past few years. Fortunately, this story read differently than I expected.
A fourth grader at an elementary school in Manassas, Virginia did indeed bring a handgun to school. According to the report, the boy’s grandmother explained that her fourth grade grandson acted out of fear. The child was being bullied and beat at school, to the point of death threats. So, he brought a cased and partly disassembled handgun to school with him.
Allegedly, the boy shared the information of what he had with him with a few other students, showing the gun to a few of them. Before long, word caught the ear of one of the teachers. The school administration was contacted, the gun confiscated, and the police called. The child was arrested for possessing a firearm on school grounds. The report stated that one of the boy’s relatives has been charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor for their part in providing the fourth grader access to the firearm in the first place.
According to the report, the child shared with the police that he brought the firearm to school to feel safer about the bully who had threatened him. The grandmother’s statement also supports that the boy had been the victim of bullying at school. If it had been your child bringing a gun to school, how would you handle it?
Featured image courtesy of contributor tillsonburg via istockphoto.com
