Alabama first grader is SUSPENDED for making a finger gun gesture and forced to sign a punishment slip before being sent home from Bagley Elementary School
- A six-year-old was interrogated by school administration after he made a finger gun and said ‘bang bang’ during a game of cops and robbers
- The first grader was forced to sign a Class III infraction by the school
- The child’s father and a gun advocacy group are fighting back against the school board over the punishment
A first grader in Alabama was suspended after using his finger as a mock gun and saying ‘bang bang’ while playing with a friend – as school officials forced him to sign a punishment slip with his blocky name.
Six-year-old Jackson Belcher was forced to sign a Class III infraction document for ‘threat and intimidation’ after he ‘used his fingers to shoot at another student’ during a lighthearted game of cops and robbers at his elementary school in Jefferson County, Alabama.
His father, Jerrod Belcher, said it ‘infuriated him’ that his son was basically ‘interrogated’ before being ‘made to confess’ and sign his name.
Belcher said his son was ‘terrified’ and ‘pretty shaken up’ about the interrogation. .
Now, the family is considering legal action because of the school’s actions that humiliated the boy and family.
Jackson Belcher is a first grader Bagley Elementary School 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 that he acknowledged his class III infraction for ‘threat and intimidation’
The infraction that little Jackson was required to sign is equivalent to charges of arson, assault, robbery, bomb threats and explosives, Belcher family attorney M. Reed Marts told Fox News.
A Class III infraction is considered the most serious by the school system and results in students being unable to return to school grounds until a conference is held to discuss the violation.
The Gun Owners of America organization has threatened legal action if the incident wasn’t removed from the child’s record.
A letter from the group demanded that any record of the activities of infraction against Jackson be removed along with any account of related disciplinary action.
It also demanded that the existing policy that led to the improper punishment of the first-grade student should be publicly amended to allow age-appropriate play for children so that other kids aren’t unfairly penalized for innocent games.
The kid’s father Jerrod Belcher went on Fox News to share his infuriation after his son was interrogated by the school’s administration office
Belcher said his son was ‘terrified’ and ‘pretty shaken up’ about the interrogation
Other charges that fall under a Class III infraction include arson, assault and bomb threats – all far more serious crimes than making an innocent finger gun
After the incident the father spoke to Fox News to express his fury.
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 a gun’.
He said that the teacher told him ‘in this climate’ and ‘in this day and age’, the school has to take all incidents very seriously.
Belcher said: ‘What they should have done was pulled him to the side and said ‘hey, this is not appropriate at school,’ and that should have solved 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, Superintendent of the Jefferson County School system, released a statement saying: ‘In this particular case, the parents were contacted and took the student home for the remainder of the day because of the initial information we received.
‘After further review of the circumstances, it was determined that no further action, other than a discussion with the student, was needed.
‘The student was back in class the next school day. We stand ready to meet with the parent to talk about any remaining concerns’.
The Gun Owners of America (GOA) gun rights organization took legal action against the Alabama elementary school to defend the six-year-old
Gun Owners of America senior vice president Erich Pratt said in a statement: ‘This incident just goes to show how embedded the anti-gun mindset is in so many communities, including in red states like Alabama.
‘This was a gross mishandling of a situation where children were simply being children.
‘I imagine most men, young and old, hearing about this can recall having played in a similar fashion in their own youth.
‘We will continue to demand action until a full apology is made and all disciplinary records tied to this incident are permanently destroyed.’
The decision by Bagley school staff shows the situation in America as administrators become fearful their community could become the location of the next mass school shooting.
There have been at least 288 school shootings in the US since 2009, including at Elementary Schools in Connecticut and Texas.
In Virginia, another six-year-old was removed from school after he deliberately shot his teacher inside his first-grade classroom, leaving her critically wounded.
The gun that the six-year-old used to shoot their teacher was legally purchased by their mother and brought to school from their family home.
Three weeks ago, a Texas student fired a gun on a school bus with 37 passengers on the way to Jefferson Elementary School. Nobody was injured during the shooting but passengers were frightened and the bus driver had to confiscate the .25-caliber handgun from the youngster.
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