A first-grader in Alabama was suspended after using his finger as a fake gun and saying “bang bang” while playing with a friend — as school officials forced him to sign a detention notice with his blocky name.
Six-year-old Jackson Belcher was forced to sign a Class III trespass citation for “threats and intimidation” after he “used his fingers to shoot another student” during a lighthearted game between cops and robbers at his Jefferson County elementary school. Alabama.
His father, Jerrod Belcher, said it “furious” him that his son was essentially “interrogated” before having to “confess” and sign his name.
Belcher said his son was “terrified” and “quite shocked” by the interrogation. .
Now the family is considering legal action over the school’s actions that humiliated the boy and the family.
Jackson Belcher is a first-grade Bagley Elementary School student in Jefferson County, Alabama
The youngster was playing a game of cops and robbers with his classmates when he got in trouble for making a finger gun and saying ‘bang bang’
The six-year-old was forced to sign an acknowledgment of his Class III misdemeanor for ‘threats and intimidation’
The violation that little Jackson had to sign amounts to charges of arson, assault, theft, bomb threats and explosives, Belcher family attorney M. Reed Marts said. Fox news.
A Class III violation is considered the most serious by the school system and results in students not being able to return to school grounds until a conference is held to discuss the violation.
The organization Gun Owners of America has threatened legal action if the incident is not removed from the child’s file.
A letter from the group demanded that any record of the infringement activities against Jackson be deleted, along with any record of related disciplinary actions.
It also demanded that the existing policy that led to the improper punishment of the first-year student be publicly amended to allow for appropriate play for children so that other children are not unfairly punished for innocent games.
The child’s father, Jerrod Belcher, shared his anger on Fox News after his son was questioned by the school’s administration office
Belcher said his son was “terrified” and “quite shocked” by the interrogation
Other charges that fall under a Class III misdemeanor include arson, assault and bomb threats – all crimes far more serious than making an innocent finger gun
After the incident, the father spoke Fox news to express his anger.
Belcher asked his son’s teacher to tell him what happened and she told him that his son and another boy were playing with each other and using their index fingers as guns.
He said the teacher told him that “in this climate” and “in these times” the school must take all incidents very seriously.
Belcher said, “What they should have done was pulled him aside and said, ‘Hey, this isn’t appropriate for school,’ and that should have handled it, or they could have called me, and I would have handled it .
Belcher’s son returned to school the next day.
Dr. Walter Gonsoulin, Chief Inspector of the Jefferson County School System, released a statement saying: “In this specific case, parents were contacted and took the student home for the rest of the day due to the initial information we received. After further investigation of the circumstances, it was determined that no further action was necessary other than a conversation with the student. The next school day the student was back in class. We stand ready to meet with parents to discuss any remaining concerns.”
Gun rights group Gun Owners of America (GOA) has taken legal action against the Alabama elementary school to defend the six-year-old.
Erich Pratt, senior vice president of Gun Owners of America, said in a statement: “This incident only highlights how entrenched the anti-gun mentality is in so many communities, including in red states like Alabama.
“This was a gross mishandling of a situation where children were just being children.
‘I imagine that most men, young and old, who hear about this can remember playing in a similar way in their own youth.
“We will continue to demand action until a full apology is made and all disciplinary records relating to this incident are permanently destroyed.”
The decision by Bagley school officials shows the situation in America, as administrators grow fearful that their community could become the site of the next mass school shooting.
Since 2009, there have been at least 288 school shootings in the US, including at elementary schools in Connecticut and Texas.
In Virginia, another six-year-old child was expelled from school after deliberately shooting his teacher in his first-grade classroom, seriously injuring her.
The gun the six-year-old used to shoot their teacher was legally purchased by their mother and brought to school from their parents’ home.
Three weeks ago, a Texas student fired a gun at a school bus carrying 37 passengers on its way to Jefferson Elementary School. No one was injured during the shooting, but passengers were scared and the bus driver had to confiscate the youth’s .25-caliber pistol.