Kids, guns and school teachers

[Regulator72 80]

Question for you all. I'm not sure how to handle this, or if I am over thinking it..

 

My son, who is 7 was at school today and during lunch he was overheard saying the word "gun" to a buddy of his during a normal conversation (OK, as normal as any 1st grade convo goes . The teacher, not his, reported this to his teacher. His teacher sent home a note saying that he was overheard saying "gun" and she spoke with him about not saying "violent" words in school.... we had to sign the note and send it back

 

How is gun a violent word? Its not capable of being violent. The person with a gun is capable but not the gun itself. Is it right that I teach my child to respect firearms, and teach him how to shoot safely, but his teacher tells him that guns are bad and violent, even to mention? He runs around with Nerf guns with his finger across the trigger guard and never aims above the chest. He's by no means a gun nut or obsessed. With them, half the time I ask him to come to the range he'd rather play Legos .

 

I understand the whole guns in school issue and the violence that has happened, but the guns didn't do it, the kids did. its a sore subject and I understand that. My issue is with the way it was handled

 

Do I send a note back and tell her that we teach our children to respect firearms and the responsibility and safety that comes along with them, or let it go???

 

What say you, people of NJGF?

[Pizza Bob 1,488]

Oh, they'd get a note back from me - probably not what they'd be expecting, but it would be the last time they would mention anything like that to me.

 

In the interest of civil discourse, I thought you did just fine as you explained it above and a note to the teacher along those lines, with a healthy dose of MYOB would be the best way to play it in MHO.

 

Adios,

 

PIzza Bob

[BRaptor 68]

I say invite the teacher to the range?

 

Or maybe schedule a brief "conference" with her to discuss what you've just said to us. She needs to be educated (pun) that guns are not "violent," and that nouns (except for a few really offensive ones) are also not violent.

 

Good luck!

[tony357 386]

I would send a note back explaining that he has a hunting family background going back how many generations?

I know their is some background their we shot trap together at the marine trades association fund raiser..

I would not let this school make my son not talk about his family's past.. who do they think they are to put A kabosh someones heritage!!!

[SpecialK 193]

Please pretty please fight this note! Staying silent only enforces this bad behavior of the teachers.

[NicePants 58]

Being the smartass young whippersnapper that I am, I would probably attach this photo along with my own note.

 

 

But that's probably because I don't have children or any sort of manners, of course.

[hd2000fxdl 422]

As Bob said, if I ever got a note home from school in reference to my kid saying Gun and they thought I was a violent word. Well lets just say I would have to write the note once, relax for a while, edit it to take out all the inappropriate comments, relax some more and do another edit so they got the message and i didn't cause more problems.

[e80hydro 120]

Shoot holes in the note and send it back to his teacher.

[tony357 386]

man their goes cowboy,s and Indian's .. out with John Wayne and Tonto in with capitalism..

[dgstinner 11]

As has already been said, I'd send a note to the teacher or arrange a meeting and discuss it face-to-face.

This reminds me of the story about the teacher who got fired for having "gun" on a homework assignment.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/ny-parents-outraged-over-daughters-spelling-words-gun-and-rob/

 

 

 

Posted using my iPhone

[Steve_G 51]

Shoot holes in the note and send it back to his teacher.

 

Nice!!!

[BRaptor 68]

Shoot holes in the note and send it back to his teacher.

 

Now, THAT'S funny!

 

And, legally, any mark you make intending it to be your signature is, actually, your signature. So, you could go this route and call it "signing" the note. Question is, do you like SWAT visiting your house?

[junkmanted 54]

Shoot holes in the note and send it back to his teacher.

 

HA HA Thats good

 

Sounds like a young teacher ! Not everyone that works for a BOE is anti gun

[LastShot 6]

Holly Crap!! Good luck with this one ,I would agree with most comments here that some sort of action should be taken on your part,

maybe at a parent/teacher conf. possibly they would like your son to use the word "Firearm" instead.

[Ray Ray 3,566]

wonder what other words qualify

 

knife? rap music? Keith Oberman? Chris Mathews? Capitalism?

[njpilot 671]

Don, I'd write a note back as PizzaBob suggested. I wouldn't get too crazy in telling her to mind her f*cking business, because that could become unproductive. Don't want to cause problems for your son, but firmly let her know your feelings and remind her it isn't her job to raise your son, that's your job.

[Regulator72 80]

Oh man, I went from pissed to laughing.. thanks guys..

 

In all seriousness tho, I plan to speak to my son in the morning about the conversation with his buddy, and correct the information he was given today at school. I will then respond to his teacher..

 

At least now he can blame his pencils for misspellings and incorrect math ..

[mcbethr 42]

My 8 year old attends school in Cherry Hill. I can't think of a more anti-gun town, but I've never had any problems.

 

He has written about target shooting in essays at school about what he did over the weekend, but the trick is that he talks about shooting in terms of a sport. Talking about shooting sports in school is fine.

 

I wrote a letter the first day of First Grade to my son's teacher. I dug it up and present it here. (Note that I am exaggerating here, but it's omission for the sake of brevity):

 

Dear Mrs. XXXXX,

 

I just wanted to make you aware of something before the start of the year. I am an amateur skeet shooter. You may be aware of this sport, it's played in the Olympics, and you may have even shot skeet yourself on a cruise ship. This is a tradition that was handed down to me by my father, and one that I intend to hand down to my son if he chooses to take up the sport. I've taken my son to the clay range on multiple occasions where he counts my score and runs the thrower. He also occasionally shoots a youth-sized single-shot .22 rifle so that he can learn how to properly and safely handle firearms. My son is well aware of the rules of firearm safety. Many times in the past, my son has written stories about adventures, whether they be baseball, going to the beach, or even target shooting. I ask you that you encourage him to write, regardless of topic and just wanted you to be aware.

 

********************

 

Now if I were you, I would say this (note, you may be a pistol shooter, but honestly, they won't know the difference).

 

Dear Mrs. XXX,

 

Thank you for sending me that note yesterday. I'm glad you brought up the subject. I am an amateur target shooter. You may have seen my sport played on television, target shooting it was one of the first nine events in the modern Olympics. My son has come with me to these amateur matches - it's a big part of my life and his life as well. My son is well versed in firearms safety and knows never to touch a firearm. I ask you to please keep this in mind and insure that when my son talks about firearms, it is in the context of a sporting or historical event.

 

Thank you for your letting me know.

 

-You

[when_shtf 4]

Shoot holes in the note and send it back to his teacher.

 

No doubt, that is the funny answer.

 

Don, I think your note represents your feelings and those feelings should be explained to the teacher. If your family has a history of hunting/shooting as Tony357 mentioned, I would explain that as well. Tell the teacher (and probably the principal once the teacher gets the note) that shooting is a family activity and that you are teaching propper handling of firearms.

 

If it esclates from there, get the media and the NRA involved.

[Ray Ray 3,566]

Shoot holes in the note and send it back to his teacher.

 

man bro, you made me pee my pants again

[Gorilla800lbs 12]

To those offering flippant advices: I wonder if you currently have any children in NJ school system, and imagine what response would follow from the school next.

[e80hydro 120]

To those offering flippant advices: I wonder if you currently have any children in NJ school system, and imagine what response would follow from the school next.

 

The SWAT team would be dispatched to your home and they would take your dog and kill your fish.

[MarkWVU02 47]

I'm a teacher and would like to offer some insight on the situation.

 

A teacher overheard your son say "gun" to a classmate. She spoke to him about how the word could be construed as violent (as in if he was saying he had or was bringing a gun to school...which he obviously wasn't). She sent you a note explaining things and didn't make a big deal about it. She had you sign the note (which usually is standard teaching practice for sending home notes). I think she handled the situation just fine. A nice note back to the teacher explaining things will probably set her mind at ease about things. Explain things calmy or even offer to meet face to face and explains talk about it...us teachers really respect involved parents. Would a pissed off rant really help the situation at all?

 

What if another student was talking about a gun, a teacher overheard it and did nothing. Then the kid shoots the place up. Would you be saying kudos to the teacher that didn't take the minute to send that parent a note?

 

Unfortunately we live in violent times and as a teacher I take everything seriously. I've had discussions with kids and parents about the seriousness of violence in the school (I have dealt with similar situations and I'm a proud gun owner). We all need to remember things are a lot different then when we were kids...no matter how old you are.

 

My advice...schedule a meeting. Talk to her about the situation and explain how your son knows firearms and more importantly firearms safety. A lot of people just don't have exposure to firearms so a conversation with you may be a good thing. Who knows you may get to teach the teacher how to shoot us she's receptive enough.

 

Good luck in what you choose.

[JackDaWack 2,895]

Don't be so quick to jump on the teacher for things like this.... for all intent and purpose she/he has no idea what type of family your kid is coming from. They are responsible by law to report many things that go on in schools... It's not something i like, but i think the teacher handled it as best they could aside from calling "gun" a violent word. Teachers have to be very careful about what they hear and see in schools today, failing to report something can result in getting fired pretty quickly if the wrong party complains, or worse.

 

I think she did the respectable thing, notifed parents that the kid was talking about guns, and let the parents decided a course of action. Some teachers would just send your kid strait to the office, and make it into a bigger problem, as if any really existed at all.

 

 

It would probably be wise to talk to your son about how things can be taken out of context, and conversations about touchy topics should not par take while in school. I cant believe the &*(&#(*@#^%@ words that come out of kids mouths these days, i'm seriously shocked that i cant walk through a hallway with out hearing profanity every 3 steps. Kinda depressing the attitude some of these kids have.

[JackDaWack 2,895]

Don't want to cause problems for your son, but firmly let her know your feelings and remind her it isn't her job to raise your son, that's your job.

 

IMHO 50% of parents expect teachers to raise there kids, otherwise they WOULD be doing it themselves...

[Regulator72 80]

I can understand her side like I said, what bothers me is that she wrote that she heard he said the word gun and "we talked about not saying violent words"

 

[LastShot 6]

I have a 7 yr old myself, and I do not know what I would do If I were in your shoes, I am thank full, you had posted this. and Delighted

with the honest though full comments, from both sides .

[MarkWVU02 47]

I can understand her side like I said, what bothers me is that she wrote that she heard he said the word gun and "we talked about not saying violent words"

 

That's why I said write a note and schedule a meeting. Discuss your points calmly and with respect and I'm sure she'll see your side. I said before an involved parent is a good parent and the teacher may have no experience with guns. No need to attack her.

[NickC 23]

Great post...

She obviously overreacted and was just making sure that you were aware that he said such a horrific word... Hypersensitivity, zero tolerance and fear is driving this kind of BS. Simply explain that you are currently teaching your child the proper way to respect firearms and if she'd like to discuss it in detail you'd be more than welcome to meet with her and the schools principle. Don't worry too much about it.

 

I too have a 7yo who shot my MKIII for the first time this past Saturday. He's been extremely excited to tell anyone who'll listen how well he did. As am I.

I'm expecting to get a similar note or call.

 

Good Luck!

[Tactical Turtle 11]

I wouldnt sign the letter, but I would take it to the school talk to the principal and explain what's what and that gun firearm shot gun, rifle, and other miss or verbs associates with the sport are not violent in the correct context. Now if the kid said "hey I'm gunna get my gun and shoot you" there's a problem, but hey my dad got a new nail GUN. Totaly harmless