Montana honor student vs. Zero Tolerence

[XNavyNuke]

Montana honor student faces expulsion over gun in trunk (http://www.kxlh.com/news/montana-honor-student-faces-expulsion-over-gun-in-trunk/)


Demarie DeReu, a 16-year old honor student at Columbia Falls High School, is facing expulsion after leaving her hunting rifle in her vehicle on school grounds.

DeReu, who is also a member of the Student Council and a varsity cheerleader, told Montana's News Station that she had no intention of breaking any rules or laws, or harming anyone.

She went hunting over the Thanksgiving holiday with her family and forgot to unpack the rifle; it remained unloaded in a case in the trunk of her car.

So much for the Rocky Mountain states being the last remaining bastion of common sense and freedom.

XNN

[specsaregood]

So much for the Rocky Mountain states being the last remaining bastion of common sense and freedom.


But you left out that it is a federal requirement:



Calls made to Mike Nicosia, the superintendent of Columbia Falls have not yet been returned, although Nicosia did provide a written response to Aaron Flint of the Northern News Network which read, in part:

The Columbia Falls School Board is required to follow the mandates of the Federal Gun Free Schools Policy. In our state, this law creates many difficult situations each year. Our people hunt, our people transport weapons and sometimes we forget. Unfortunately, the Gun Free Schools Policy does not discriminate between a student bringing a gun to school to do harm and a student who forgets that he or she left a gun in the car trunk after hunting. I must say that our students are reminded of the Gun Free Schools Act and its requirements regularly and they are fully aware of the consequences. In a cases such as the one described below, I am confident that the trustees of Columbia Falls School District Six would levy the least possible term of expulsion.

[Toureg89]

home school. if enough people home school, theyll have to eventually get rid of empty schools, and then we can rebuild an infrastructure of independent private schools via the free market.

[TonySutton]

If the gun was manufactured in Montana it would not fall under the Federal Gun Free Schools Policy. Montanans should only buy guns manufactured in their state!

[Pericles]

Here are the persons responsible for the federal gun free schools policy:

http://feinstein.senate.gov/gun_free_schools.html

I invite your attention to the following from said web page:

"Each day in America, it is estimated that 100,000 guns are brought into schools."

And with this tidbit from the link referenced above - "With reports in from 29 states and the District of Columbia, a total of 6,276 students were intercepted with dangerous weapons and expelled during the 1995-96 school year."

Thus, the Senator claims that this law intercepted 6.276% of the guns in schools for one day in the course of a school year.

[youngbuck]

The only thing we should have zero tolerance of is zero tolerance policies.

[XNavyNuke]

But you left out that it is a federal requirement:

A clearly exempted one in her case (from the Federal standpoint.)


18 U.S.C. 922

(B) Subparagraph (A) does not apply to the possession of a firearm—
(i) on private property not part of school grounds;
(ii) if the individual possessing the firearm is licensed to do so by the State in which the school zone is located or a political subdivision of the State, and the law of the State or political subdivision requires that, before an individual obtains such a license, the law enforcement authorities of the State or political subdivision verify that the individual is qualified under law to receive the license;
(iii) that is—
(I) not loaded; and
(II) in a locked container, or a locked firearms rack that is on a motor vehicle;

It was legal for her to hunt, the weapon was unloaded and locked in her trunk.

XNN

[Jandrsn21]

Montana honor student faces expulsion over gun in trunk (http://www.kxlh.com/news/montana-honor-student-faces-expulsion-over-gun-in-trunk/)



So much for the Rocky Mountain states being the last remaining bastion of common sense and freedom.

XNN

Yeah that is a bit overboard, they can still be a bastion of "common sense" by not allowing kids to bring guns to school ;) Granted she forget and perhaps expulsion is a bit far, but she needs to learn not to be so sloppy.

[Jandrsn21]

If the gun was manufactured in Montana it would not fall under the Federal Gun Free Schools Policy. Montanans should only buy guns manufactured in their state!

Did they actually get that past the courts?

[Merk]

Yeah that is a bit overboard, they can still be a bastion of "common sense" by not allowing kids to bring guns to school ;) Granted she forget and perhaps expulsion is a bit far, but she needs to learn not to be so sloppy.

When I was a teenager in Oregon in the '80's it was still common to see rifles/shotties in the rear window rack. It was open carry so no one was worried. Get some dinner on the way home from school...

No law will prevent someone who means others harm with a firearm from bringing it onto school grounds.

She wasn't "sloppy", rifle was unloaded and cased. That's a padded club in a locked trunk.

[Merk]

Did they actually get that past the courts?

Are you in the right place? What "courts"? Federal district courts? The Montana firearms freedom act simply ignores an unconstitutional federal notion that they can regulate commerce within the borders of a state.

Montana is sovereign, the people voted, it was signed into law. No courts involved. Just the feds and the BATFE complaining and they can go fuck off.

[osan]

Montana honor student faces expulsion over gun in trunk (http://www.kxlh.com/news/montana-honor-student-faces-expulsion-over-gun-in-trunk/)

So much for the Rocky Mountain states being the last remaining bastion of common sense and freedom.

XNN

I heard about this on the news this morning. Poor kid. She should have kept her yap shut and gone home, but she tried to do the right thing and took it in the neck for it.

I'm beginning to wonder if dissolution of the Union might not be a bad idea after all.

Zero-tolerance == zero need for thought or accountability.

[osan]

...she needs to learn not to be so sloppy.

What?! FTW, this could happen to ANYONE. This is pure bullshit. We reserve the NATURAL RIGHT to possess objects and no law proscribing that right in any way is valid. The complaint lies with the infringement of her rights, not with her being "sloppy".

Jesus.

[osan]

The only thing we should have zero tolerance of is zero tolerance policies.

+1

[osan]

home school. if enough people home school, theyll have to eventually get rid of empty schools, and then we can rebuild an infrastructure of independent private schools via the free market.

That would be true if we lived in a free nation. We do not. When homeschooling reaches a level such that it earns the displeasure of the masters, it will be actively stomped out of existence, with force if necessary.

[Krugerrand]

She should be shot - for her own safety, of course.:rolleyes:

[XNavyNuke]

School officials back down.
School board votes to clear hunter's record (http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=239465)


Attorney Sean Frampton represented DeMarie DeReu before a hearing of the Columbia Falls school district tonight, where possible penalties for the infraction ranged up to and including expulsion. He told WND his client was pleased with the outcome.

He said the board motion before a packed crowd included allowing her to return to class immediately, expunging her record of the suspension she already has served at the end of this school year, and "to do everything in the school's power" to help her make up her work so her grades are not affected.

The district superintendent, who earlier had written to DeReu and her family that he would recommend expulsion, moved to withdraw his recommendation and stated he would have the school work with her to get her work in order.

XNN

[Madly_Sane]

home school. if enough people home school, theyll have to eventually get rid of empty schools, and then we can rebuild an infrastructure of independent private schools via the free market.

There is a problem with that theory, often times it is more expensive for people to be homeschooled, they have to provide the money for books, which is actually pretty expensive, even while paying taxes for public schools that their children aren't attending. If public schools were abolished people wouldn't have to pay taxes for education (whether it be for their childs education or other peoples children) and would have the money to for the needed supplies to homeschool.

[XNavyNuke]

300+ School Students Secretly Expelled From Montana Schools For Legal Hunting Rifles (http://www.ammoland.com/2010/12/19/school-students-secretly-expelled-from-montana-schools-for-legal-hunting-rifles/)


Operating in a common pattern across Montana, school officials advise parents of to-be-expelled students that school board hearings to finalize expulsion will be closed to the media and public, ostensibly to protect the privacy of the student involved.

Parents are led to believe that such privacy closure is required. They are not informed that they can waive privacy and allow media and the public to attend and witness such hearings. This sometimes real concern about student privacy also conveniently allows school officials to hide these too-common expulsions from public awareness – to sweep this common practice under the school rug.

XNN