My 2 Cents: 'Common Sense' Zero Tolerance Act Goes Too Far

A 2nd grader chews his pop tart into the shape of a gun. A teacher sees it and the 7 year old is suspended from his school in Maryland. That's called "zero tolerance", and it's exactly that kind of thing that a bill filed by an Oklahoma state legislator aims to pre-empt here.

It's called the "Common Sense Zero Tolerance Act". Who can argue with a little common sense right? But this bill goes quite a bit further than that.

Paraphrasing, it says no student shall be punished for brandishing food chewed into the shape of a weapon. But it also says no student shall be punished for possessing a toy weapon of five inches or less, or one built with building blocks.

A district can't punish a student for using their hand to simulate a weapon, or for drawing an image of a weapon.

I expect our districts to use some common sense to consider the intent of the student, but we're starting to open the door a little wider there, wider than we need to in my opinion. And quite frankly, what's getting a lot of people's hackles up about this bill is who filed it: Rep. Sally Kern who's been extremely polarizing on social issues.

What do you think? Do we need a law to protect our children from zero tolerance weapons rules at school?