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School cleared out because of grenade in boy's backpack
Classrooms were evacuated after students told teachers that a 9-year-old boy had the explosive in his backpack. Later it was discovered the grenade had been de-activated. "He just brought it to show his friends," says a school spokeswoman. (Arizona Republic)
November 14, 2007 | Permalink
Comments
Dummies for dummies.
Does this qualify as a fake bomb?
Posted by: thomas | Nov 14, 2007 5:34:41 AM
I can't really see bringing them up on weapons charges, but I would make the parents pay for wasting the time of the police and the school. Send them a nice big bill for not securing the grenade and having a kid stupid enough to bring it to school.
Unless they are war buffs or something I'm not sure why someone would buy a grenade.
Posted by: G-Man | Nov 14, 2007 5:40:43 AM
Sounds like a perfectly reasonable response. Child bring ordanance of unknown provenance to school. School properly takes control of it, evacuates the school, and calls the guys WHO do know whether something is likely to explode or not.
Teachers are supposed to specialist in teaching, not in arms, munitions, or bomb disposal.
This wasn't hysteria or overreaction. It was the sensible thing to do.
Posted by: NellAgain | Nov 14, 2007 5:42:08 AM
Kick his ass out of school and send him to a reform school. Damn nine year olds should no better than this and arrest his parents and take the kid away from them as well. They clearly are incompetent parents and should not allowed to raise a child.
What would have happened if it was a real bomb. He could have killed the whole school. Someone think of the children, please think of the children.
Posted by: The Asshole Guy | Nov 14, 2007 5:43:29 AM
The apple doesn't fall too far from the tree.....only a kid with a parent idiotic enough to have a grenade, de-activated or not, in the house would be stupid enough to bring it to school to show his friends. What next?...hey, look at the cool 357 my dad has, wanna hold it?
Posted by: jimmyjohn | Nov 14, 2007 6:19:44 AM
It seems like the school acted appropriately.
At his age, he probably brought the thing to school for show and tell and didn't realize what a reaction it would create.
Posted by: Cherie | Nov 14, 2007 6:32:30 AM
Gee, I brought a deactivated grenade to school in the 70s and the teacher thought it was cool. Nanny state scores again. Maybe the giant hole in the bottom of the grenade would be a clue it was deactivated, but that would require thinking on the part of the teacher, which is not allowed.
Posted by: Culture | Nov 14, 2007 7:21:02 AM
OH MY GOD! A rotted wooden instrument of destruction was found by a university student here yesterday! After clearing the area, officials called in experts to disarm the device. Officials said that the weapon was disarmed by experts using a robot. The wooden device of destruction was said to look like a U with a handle. It also had two strips of a material experts said looked like some sort of exotic rubber with a pouch attached in the middle made of a leather like material. It was later determined that it was of minimal threat to the students as it was determined by experts that is was not loaded at the time and was not very dangerous if handled properly...... Fanatical idiots!
Posted by: Yall | Nov 14, 2007 7:33:53 AM
Culture,
Thank you for pointing out the obvious hole in all dummy grenades. It's not a feature easily missed or figured out by simply looking at it. They don't explode by being stared at. These novelties used to be quite common, and offered for sale in older comic books. That has probably changed.
Off to search the web.
Posted by: thomas | Nov 14, 2007 7:54:47 AM
Of course, lets arrest the kid and scar him for life for bringing the equivalent of a cool looking paperweight to show his friends. He's nine, he knew it was harmless, so he most likely thought that would be obvious to others.
Oh and TAG, when was the last time you heard of a single grenade killing mass numbers of people? If you want to talk explosives, do your homework.
Posted by: rusty shackleford | Nov 14, 2007 8:18:29 AM
People are blowing things way out of proportion these days. Yes, the kid probably shouldn't have brought the grenade to school. Yes, if the school thought it was real, they should evacuate.
But the kid most likely didn't understand the potential consequences. Give him a week of detention and let it go.
There is no law against owning a deactivated grenade. So the only thing that should be questioned is whether the parent knowingly allowed/encouraged the kid to take the grenade to school -- if they didn't know, then nobody is "at fault". Its just the cost of dealing with immature kids.
Posted by: Aaron | Nov 14, 2007 8:21:41 AM
Back again, and VERY surprised considering todays fearful climate, that there are dozens of sites offering dummy grenades in different styles for about 5.00$ a whack, not including shipping or careful handling.
Posted by: thomas | Nov 14, 2007 8:23:37 AM
Times have changed. We used to have grenades in school all the time when I was a kid. And by "grenade" I mean an empty paper lunch sack. You'd fart into it, then quick close up the top. You could then walk up to someone and "pop" the bag, releasing the unwholesome flatulent goodness within. Many is the time out on the playground or in the cafeteria that you'd hear a cry of "Grenade!!!" followed by a pop and sounds of outrage and disgust.
Posted by: Howie Feltersnatch | Nov 14, 2007 8:27:33 AM
"There is no law against owning a deactivated grenade. So the only thing that should be questioned is whether the parent knowingly allowed/encouraged the kid to take the grenade to school -- if they didn't know, then nobody is "at fault". Its just the cost of dealing with immature kids."
Thomas - There is no law against owning a knife or a chainsaw either, but that doesn't mean you are allowed to bring one into school. As a parent you are liable for your the actions of your kids, whether you know what they are planning or not. And it's not up to the school to try to determine if a grenade is live or not. Once they find out some kid has a grenade they would be irresponsible not to clear out the school immediately and call the police. When people do something stupid like that everyone in the town pays for it because it wastes resources that should be going to real emergencies. That's why the parents should pay a hefty fine so the taxpayers don't have to.
Posted by: G-Man | Nov 14, 2007 8:50:59 AM
without exception that i can think of, all the deactivated grenades (which you can find at almost any army surplus store) have been visibly deactivated. The teacher if she was concerned about it, could have conficscated it, inspected it, and then returned the grenade at the end of the day, or to the kids parents.
Posted by: boynamedsue | Nov 14, 2007 8:55:32 AM
"They clearly are incompetent parents and should not allowed to raise a child"
------
Posted by: The Asshole Guy | Nov 14, 2007 5:43:29 AM
When I was an elementary school kid in the early 80's, kids in my school would bring in deactivated ordnance all the time and it was not ever a big deal. They would show it for show and tell.
I understand why it is and should be a big deal, but maybe these kids parents are not unfits, but grew up under similar circumstance, and just didn't stop and think that these are different times.
Definitely a bonehead move though.
Posted by: sometimesilie | Nov 14, 2007 10:09:57 AM
WTF? I am shocked at how many people see this as some sort of harmless thing. What 9 year old that isn't the spawn of some sort of military freak "knows that a deactivated hand grenade is harmless"? I suppose that it should be okay for kids to also bring pistols with no clip and discarded hospital waste in sealed properly marked bags to school too. cooooool
Posted by: jimmyjohn | Nov 14, 2007 10:10:52 AM
"What would have happened if it was a real bomb. He could have killed the whole school."
With a hand grenade? Like to exaggerate do ya? Guess you weren't spanked enough as a child.
Posted by: | Nov 14, 2007 10:12:07 AM
Typical overreaction by the socialist morons that run the public schools. Why any loving parent would willingly send their child to a public school escapes me.
Posted by: Dick Tater | Nov 14, 2007 10:25:14 AM
"I am shocked at how many people see this as some sort of harmless thing. What 9 year old that isn't the spawn of some sort of military freak "knows that a deactivated hand grenade is harmless"?"
Definitely worth an extra 5 minutes in time out. TWENTY MINUTES!
Posted by: Naga Please! | Nov 14, 2007 10:33:51 AM
http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?from=R40&_trksid=m37&satitle=dummy+grenade&category0=
Geez, they're all over!
I remember having a loaded rifle in the back of my car in the High School parking lot. You city folks is weird.
Posted by: Military Brat | Nov 14, 2007 10:54:40 AM
"With a hand grenade? Like to exaggerate do ya? Guess you weren't spanked enough as a child."
LOL Anon (and Rusty), you take things too literally. Mr Guy's playful sense of humor has apparently gone right over your head.
I remember dropping a bomb of a different sort at school when I was that kid's age. I didn't discover until I got home that I had been carrying it around with me for hours. I farted, you see. Or at least I thought I farted.
Posted by: Dave | Nov 14, 2007 11:43:45 AM
Posted by: jimmyjohn | Nov 14, 2007 10:10:52 AM
Dimwit remarks will get you no where. Oh... you are already no where....
Posted by: | Nov 14, 2007 12:54:11 PM
Dave,
One of the worst symptoms of advancing age.
Sometimes a fart, isn't.
Posted by: | Nov 14, 2007 1:54:09 PM
Hang on a minute. Perhaps this explosive device should have been treated with more reverence and respect. Who knows? It could very well have been...the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch? "Three shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three..."
Posted by: Dave | Nov 14, 2007 2:33:11 PM
