Student expelled and charged with felony for forgetting unloaded shotgun in truck.

[Arin Morris]

Interesting that if the administration does it, it's a misdemeanor, but a felony if a student does it.

http://news.yahoo.com/student-expelled-charged-felony-tried-thing-forgot-shotgun-154224579.html

 

[excat]

Crap like this just encourages youth to do the WRONG thing, due to fear of what happens when you try to do the right thing.

 

[n2sooners]

Crap like this just encourages youth to do the WRONG thing, due to fear of what happens when you try to do the right thing.

Yep, the message here is if you accidentally leave a weapon in your vehicle (backpack, pocket...) don't tell anyone. Keep calm and hope no one finds out. Turning yourself in won't help. It's like the NCAA punishing schools for finding something wrong and then fixing it publicly.

 

[lilboots]

Wow, so all that had to happen was the person who "overheard" the conversation to keep their mouth shut and everything is fine. All i can say is WOW.

 

[excat]

Wow, so all that had to happen was the person who "overheard" the conversation to keep their mouth shut and everything is fine. All i can say is WOW.

**freak out** OMG HE HAS A GUN IN HIS TRUCK AND HE'S DOING THE RESPONSIBLE THING!! **freak out** (translation: time to ruin a young mans life for making a responsible and mature decision.)

It sounds like everyone needs to name their guns, so if something like this happens "Mom, I forgot "Bessie" was in the truck when I came to school this morning, can you come up to school and pick her up for me please?"

 

[henschman]

An example of when being a goody 2 shoes can bite you in the ass. When I was in high school, I had guns in my car lots of times. Sometimes I would just park off school property. Other times I just didn't care. I didn't go around yakking about them, and there was never an issue. He should have just been cool, left it there, and not told anyone. It would have taken an incredibly freakish stroke of bad luck for any negative consequences to come of it if he did. It is really too bad things worked out that way. I feel for the kid. Hopefully the DA's in juvenile court see this for what it is and let him off light on the criminal case.

FYI, that is BS about it not being a felony for school staff to carry on school property. If the employee had an OK CCL, they would have the option of charging it as a misdemeanor under the "prohibited places" section, but they could also charge them under the felony prohibition on carrying on school property, just like they did this kid: http://www.oscn.net/applications/oscn/DeliverDocument.asp?CiteID=69749

 

[MoBoost]

I find the law "wrong" - but that's the law. 18 year old is not a "kid"; break the law - suffer the consequences. I park off school property all the time - don't go to school or call mommy are not the only choices.

 

[doctorjj]

I am against all non-violent and victimless crimes being felonies. This is a quite egregious example of why such laws should never be written this way. Just like if I forget to take my CCW out of my holster when I go drop of some mail at the post office, I'm a felon. With no one being injured or even any threat of injury, no malice, no I'll intent on my part. That is ridiculous.

 

[38Super]

My brother graduated from this high school and still lives in the area. From what I hear, there are alot in the community that are really upset about the way this turned out. Would be great if public opinion could sway this in favor of the kid.

 

[henschman]

Oh, I didn't catch the part about him being 18... scratch what I said about juvie court... but I still hope the ADA who has the case realizes it is warranting of leniency. My guess is they'll let him off on a short deferred sentence with some community service or something. Hopefully he will be able to keep from winding up with a felony conviction over it.