9 year old, is busted for bringing 2-inch-long toy gun

[min0 lee]

An irate Staten Island mom blasted a grade school principal Wednesday for treating her son like a pint-sized Plaxico Burress after he brought a 2-inch-long toy gun to school.
"This principal is a bully and a coward, and needs to be held accountable," said Laura Timoney, 44, after her teary fourth-grader was nearly suspended for playing with the tiny toy at lunch.
"The school should be embarrassed. This is a common-sense issue."
Patrick Timoney, 9, was terrified when he was yanked into the principal's office to discuss the teeny-weeny plastic "weapon."
"The gun was so little," the boy said. "I don't understand why the principal got so upset. I was a little nervous. They made me sign a statement."
Patrick and a friend were playing with Lego figures in the school cafeteria on Tuesday when he pulled out the faux machine gun and stuck it in the hands of his plastic police officer.
Boom! Trouble ensued, with Patrick's mom getting a phone call from Public School 52 Principal Evelyn Mastroianni saying her son had somehow gone from straight A's to the NRA.
"I was in disbelief," the still-fuming mother said. "Why didn't anyone step up with an ounce of common sense and put an end to the harassment of my child?"
Timoney said her boy loved the toy figure because her husband is a retired police officer.
The elder Patrick Timoney, a former 72nd Precinct cop, couldn't believe his son was nearly busted over something so obviously inauthentic.
"It's a 2-inch gun," he said. "She went overboard. She should have said, 'Put the toys away,' and that would have been the end of it."
After a meeting between the principal and the parents, the boy was spared any disciplinary action. City school officials said Patrick agreed to leave the "gun" at home.
"I'm never bringing a toy to school again," said Patrick, whose favorite subject is math.
Laura Timoney remained upset. Her son, a typically eager student, asked to stay home yesterday because he thought the principal was mad at him.
The mother said she expects an apology and may sue.
"The toy gun is not the issue," she said. "A lack of common sense is the issue."
Several parents at the school felt the principal overreacted, including Kim O'Rieley - whose son was playing with Patrick in the cafeteria.
Her boy's Lego man was toting a tiny ax, which the principal deemed less threatening.
"It's ridiculous," said O'Rieley, 36. "He felt so bad for his friend. They're taking things way too far ... No one is saying guns are okay.
"Come on, it's a Lego."
mlysiak@nydailynews.com

Read more: Laura Timoney fumes after son Patrick, 9, is busted for bringing 2-inch-long toy gun to PS 52
​

 

[Dark Geared God]

I smell a lawsuit,is a must after outrage

 

[KelJu]

That is pretty typical of educators. The most brain dead people on the planet always end up teaching the youth.

 

[T_man]

Honestly? Common sense really isn't that common

 

[DOMS]

That is pretty typical of educators. The most brain dead people on the planet always end up teaching the youth.

In all fairness, they're not the sole problem. It's also the politically correct asstards that make this sort of crap possible.

When I went to elementary, if you were caught brining a pocket knife into school, the teacher held onto it until school was over and it was given back.

Now we have this crap. The principle, and the reporting teacher, need to be fired. Now.

 

[Little Wing]

someone should hammer the gun into the stupid bitch principal's urethra.

 

[T_man]

thats like being jailed for thinking bad thoughts lol

 

[KelJu]

In all fairness, they're not the sole problem. It's also the politically correct asstards that make this sort of crap possible.

When I went to elementary, if you were caught brining a pocket knife into school, the teacher held onto it until school was over and it was given back.

Now we have this crap. The principle, and the reporting teacher, need to be fired. Now.

Political correctness isn't to blame here. The pussification of our children is to blame, imo. It was a lego man gun. It took many adults not thinking to lead up to this. I hope they lose their jobs over this. Imagine what a mind like that could do to impressionable kids?

I agree to with the knife thing. We had students with gun racks and hunting rifles in their truck. I carried a case knife for most of my high school years. Most of the boys carried a knife.

 

[danzik17]

In all fairness, they're not the sole problem. It's also the politically correct asstards that make this sort of crap possible.

When I went to elementary, if you were caught brining a pocket knife into school, the teacher held onto it until school was over and it was given back.

Now we have this crap. The principle, and the reporting teacher, need to be fired. Now.

Yup. I remember when I was in maybe 3rd or 4th grade accidentally bringing my pocket knife to school since I left it in my pants. Had no problem straight up telling the administrators since I didn't want it to be an issue - just had to leave it there and pick it up at the end of the day like you said.

I wouldn't do the same these days, I'd probably be labeled a terrorist.

 

[DOMS]

Political correctness isn't to blame here. The pussification of our children is to blame, imo.

Where, pray tell, do you think the pussification of our children comes from? The non-politically correct people that tell you to be proud no matter who you are--even if you're white? The non-politically correct people that tell you a gun is not a privilege, but a right?

You get the idea.

It's the PC people that made this situation possible. The started banning random shit and telling kids to do stuff like "bullying" until anything caused an outrage from them to the point where the faculty had to do stupid things to try to make them happy.

Yeah, they faculty need to use their brains, but I understand one of the reasons that they're so messed up: the PC people.

 

[DOMS]

Yup. I remember when I was in maybe 3rd or 4th grade accidentally bringing my pocket knife to school since I left it in my pants. Had no problem straight up telling the administrators since I didn't want it to be an issue - just had to leave it there and pick it up at the end of the day like you said.

I wouldn't do the same these days, I'd probably be labeled a terrorist.

They'd call the police on you. I'm not joking.

 

[KelJu]

Where, pray tell, do you think the pussification of our children comes from? The non-politically correct people that tell you to be proud no matter who you are--even if you're white? The non-politically correct people that tell you a gun is not a privilege, but a right?

You get the idea.

It's the PC people that made this situation possible. The started banning random shit and telling kids to do stuff like "bullying" until anything caused an outrage from them to the point where the faculty had to do stupid things to try to make them happy.

Yeah, they faculty need to use their brains, but I understand one of the reasons that they're so messed up: the PC people.

I see what you are saying. I just feel that the pussification part comes from the PC and non PC crowd. I see this as a backlash from the fear generated by the Columbine High School type stuff.

After Columbine, our school banned all kinds of shit. They even went to uniforms my senior year. This is a tiny rural school. They were as conservative as it gets, and even they went limp as a noodle when kids starting shooting up the schools.

I could be wrong, but I don't see this as a PC thing. I see it has a scared baby boomer thing.

 

[DaMayor]

YouTube Video

 

[maniclion]

Political correctness isn't to blame here. The pussification of our children is to blame, imo. It was a lego man gun. It took many adults not thinking to lead up to this. I hope they lose their jobs over this. Imagine what a mind like that could do to impressionable kids?

I agree to with the knife thing. We had students with gun racks and hunting rifles in their truck. I carried a case knife for most of my high school years. Most of the boys carried a knife.

Thats Small Town USA, I remember pulling out my knife so many times in school to cut steak at lunch, for art class, to clean dirt from under my fingernails, but my first 2 years of High School were inner city and we had to walk through metal detectors just to get in; it's so implausible how many worlds away some places seem only 60 miles apart.....

 

[Dark Geared God]

Political correctness isn't to blame here. The pussification of our children is to blame, imo. It was a lego man gun. It took many adults not thinking to lead up to this. I hope they lose their jobs over this. Imagine what a mind like that could do to impressionable kids?

I agree to with the knife thing. We had students with gun racks and hunting rifles in their truck. I carried a case knife for most of my high school years. Most of the boys carried a knife.

I agree shoot. i used to take a cap gun to school to play with but that was an age long ago mid 70's