Pellet-Gun Incidents at Elgin High School Serve as School-Safety Reminders
Two incidents at Elgin High School this past week serve as reminders about school safety as the 2014-15 school year begins.
According to a Monday article in the Daily Herald, police charged two students with disorderly conduct and a city-ordinance violation for possession of an air rifle, after they separately displayed a pellet gun firing bb pellets at the school Monday morning. While there are places to play shooting games such as Airsoft (bespokeairsoft.co.uk) it is not permitted within schools.
NBC Chicago on Tuesday reported that there were two incidents at the high school in as many school days. Elgin High School was put into a “hold-in-place” emergency status for about 15 minutes Friday after someone reported that a student had been seen with a gun, NBC5 said.
Elgin High School Principal Jerry Cook used the separate incidents as a “teachable moment” for students and parents.
According to an article in The Courier-News, Cook said that, based on interviews with students, it was clear that many are participating in “BB gun/paintball battles.” In a message to Elgin High School parents, he reminded them that “weapons of any kind, even toy weapons, can never come to school.”
“I urge you to have conversations with your children about the dangers of carrying look-alike guns in public,” he said. “These guns look very real and can have very dangerous consequences.”
Perhaps he means they look very real and have severely overblown consequences?