ZERO TOLERANCE, ZERO SENSE.(Brief Article)

"Zero tolerance" for weapons has become standard procedure in our schools. The motive is admirable, but in practice the idea is often carried to counterproductive extremes.

A young child was suspended for bringing to school a toy soldier holding a tiny plastic gun, for example. In response to a "women in history" program, a girl wanted to come dressed as sharpshooter Annie Oakley. The teacher told her toy guns were forbidden. Her parents suggested a broom, but this too was forbidden. Two five-year-olds were suspended for playing cops-and-robbers while simulating guns with their fingers. A nine-year-old was sent to therapy for threatening to "shoot" a classmate with a spitball. Elsewhere, children were disciplined for bringing in books or papers dealing with guns.

It gets worse. A high school senior had been accepted by the Coast Guard Academy and wanted her yearbook photo to show her winning a rifle-marksmanship prize. The principal objected because the picture would "promote violence." A student wanted to write a paper on the Marine Corps but could find no references in the high school library. The librarian told him "violent" books were not allowed.

Our abhorrence extends not only to the idea of guns, but also to the idea of using force to ...