Way back, in the long long ago when I was in high school, one of my first hacks was using the game controller inputs on our physics lab's Apple IIe's to read various sensors. One experiment/demonstration involved shooting a BB through two strips of foil in order to time its flight. Yes, we had a BB gun in the science lab. (I didn't witness this, but I was told that one evening BCPS's Superintendent visited and was shown this demonstration. He shot the BB himself, hit the alligator holding the foil, and barely missed hitting himself in the eye on the ricochet. So have I heard.)
So it's with an extra helping of WTF that I read about this:
Free Range Kids » Disqualified from Science Fair for Experiment Using Airsoft Gun
Dear Free-Range Kids: As a result of Sandy Hook, my 7th grader and 3 of his friends got disqualified from the school’s science fair because he and his partner used an airsoft gun and the other two used a real gun. Luckily, my child had no real interest in winning the science fair and going on to regionals and the disqualification did not affect his grade, but still…. IT WAS AN AIRSOFT GUN and a study on the pellet weight vs. backspin.
Yet another example of how hoplophobia has nothing to do with any actual danger, but is about our culture wars. Guns are evil and therefore we must keep any mention of them out of our schools.
Perhaps the saddest part is that the mother here has come to accept this sort of nonsense: "I really have the utmost respect for the administration of my childrens’ school." Good lord, woman, why? Doesn't this action demonstrate that the administration is not worthy of such respect?