Our war on terror has nailed another domestic terrorist in our midst. This one is Taylor Trostle who was found lurking in the Bleyl Middle School in Houston, Texas. Trostle, 13, made her move at the end of math class when she suddenly turned on a teacher pointing her finger at her and said “Pew! Pew!” Thankfully, the teacher survived and Trostle was charged with terroristic threat.
Now, there are going to be some bleeding heart, terrorist-loving liberals who are going to question why an adult teacher, school administrator, police and prosecutors would ever allow such charges to be brought. However, they have not seen videos from Al Qaeda camps where recruits drill in the use of finger guns.
Indeed, Al Qaeda operatives have been spotted in other schools with finger guns, here. Notably, using “Pew” rather than “Pow” indicates the use of a silencer — which is also illegal in all states.
Taylor Trostle’s mother, Kristin Trostle, insisted “I was shocked because it just seems ludicrous and appalling.” Yes, it is appalling to see a terrorist raised in our homeland and taught to use finger weapons. One can only image the arsenal of finger weapons at the Trostle home: arm bazookas, fist grenades, and, yes, thumb plunger bombs.
What is astonishing is that she was suspended for just three days. What will protect the children upon her return? She is known to carry her fingers wherever she goes. In the meantime, how about this courageous seventh grade math teacher who faced a fully loaded index finger? I can only imagine the Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) issues that will follow in the years to come.
We have been following the zero tolerance policies imposed by school officials around the country, here and here and here and here. For prior columns, click here and here.
What concerns me is that such finger weaponry has been displayed in sports events (left) and has been used in finger gun suicides (right).
Yet, these school administrators are likely to be portrayed as total morons who teach children to impose rules without a modicum of judgment or logic. They are the ones on the firing line facing this menace. Here is what they face:
I will remind you that any given child has an arsenal of eight potential finger guns as well as such devices as thumb plunger bombs. In any given school, that is a potential stock of thousands of finger weapons with unlimited ammo. Unless we are going to outfit all teachers with palm shields and make believe body armor, we have to remove these terroristic tots before they organize and attack in mass.
Now, I know I will be hearing from the National Finger Rifle Association and how if finger guns are crimes only criminals will have finger guns. However, videos below show how people often treat these weapons as toys:
For the full story, click here
That makes me worry about the “teachers” and the others involved in charging this child. Are they really that stupid?! I wouldn’t want my child near any one of those idiots. Maybe she should have used the middle finger! lol
Hey, that’s Raider Red! Wreck’em!
1. Some commenters have correctly noted that we’re getting only one side of the story. However, click through to the news report and you’ll see that the school and the teacher refused to be interviewed.
2. According to her mother as quoted in the news report, the kid is on the honor roll.
3. According to the student, the teacher accidentally turned around while she was pretending to shoot at the blackboard. The teacher’s complaint form says the gun was pointed “in my direction”, not “at me”.
4. Look at the complaint form. The teacher does not manage to confine her writing within the lines provided.
5. As Jonathan Turley notes, maybe the teacher was traumatized because of the finger pointed in her direction and therefore had difficulty writing.
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Having said the above, I’ll add that the kind of horseplay the report describes seems inappropriate during school hours in front of a teacher. The school’s overreaction is ridiculous in this case, but I’ve read about other situations in which parents sided with their disorderly child when the school tried to apply legitimate discipline. Where has America’s common sense gone?
CEJ,
Well played. 😀
No, sorry. Anyone supporting the schools in this is a complete idiot. The entire zero-tolerance concept is as brain-dead of a idea as political correctness & “hate” crimes.
Just one more example of why the government schools should be shut down.
CEJ lol
If only she had gotten’ a permit!
i only have two questions, one did she cock her thumb back. if she didn’t then her finger couldn’t have gone off, finger guns being single action only. two, did she follow up with an f-bomb.
i’m just glad my school days are over
Another reason why we should let Texas secede from the Union. This is a monumental over reaction by the teacher and the school. But, what do you expect from Texas?
Only liberals/progressives/and leftists are guilty of these sorts of persecutions. This is because they are mentally disturbed.
It’s all a matter of the context in which this happened. If kids really were just playing, there shouldn’t have been any punishment and the student is getting screwed by the system. I just wanted to point out that someone really could make a threat by “pointing a finger and saying ‘pew pew'” — it’s not an inherently ridiculous charge for a teenager, the way it is for someone in elementary school.
Finger-related violence is a constant tragedy in this country, as seen by the following video. (Warning: Not for the (very) weak-hearted.) The right to bear fingers has been abused for too long.
Also, guitars.
Your not entirely alone James M., kids as young as 11, 12, 13, 14 have shot at and killed fellow students and teachers in America. It doesn’t happen often, it’s the great exception to the rule but I’d look twice at a 13 year old kid that made that kind of motion to a teacher or fellow student.
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0777958.html
13 year old kids may have poor impulse control but they’re not stupid or tots. I wonder if the student was having trouble in math, or some other kind of trouble because a gesture like that to a teacher may be a play for attention.
I was going to write the following:
“but a 13 year old is old enough to understand the “zero tolerance” hysteria that the adults in the school operate with, so she should have known better…”
But then I realized that I was basically writing:
“but a 13 year old is old enough to understand that the hysteria that adults in North Korea operate under would make any vague joke about the Dear Leader problematic…”
yeah, we’ve gotten ourselves THAT messed up.
I have a client whose 4th grade son received a detention for a finger-pointing bang bang incident – on the playground no less. It was characterized as a “low risk violent act” for which the school system has zero tolerance. What do you do in such situations? It makes me wonder if I have to get my 10 year old and 8 year old Star Wars nutty kids to stop playing with make believe light sabers.
By the way, just got back from the bank. They were all laughing at me when my finger jammed.
James M.
Although I do understand where your coming from on this, surely a few sharp words along the lines of “Now pack that in girl!” would have been sufficient.