You read that right. Gum. G-U-M.
When a Lehman High School student asked for some chewing gum, another person misheard and thought the student said the word “gun,” causing a scare on campus.
School officials investigated the concern while students were held in their extended class periods. Later, Hays County CISD sent a letter out to parents stating:
“The safety of our students is always foremost on our list of priorities, so we take these concerns seriously,” the letter read in part. “We continue to encourage students to report anything they see or hear that causes them concern. Fortunately, in this case, it was a misunderstanding and there was no threat to our school or need to conduct a lock down.”
Gum doesn’t scare people. Moronic school administrators scare people.
We’re told we’re being hysterical when we point out that Ahmed Mohamad’s now-famous “clock” sure looks like a fake bomb. But we’re not the ones shutting down a school over a stick of Wrigley’s. We’re not the ones suspending kids for biting Pop Tarts into gun shapes, or making gun gestures with their hands, or wearing patriotic t-shirts that include depictions of guns, or freaking out about pretty much anything even tangentially related to guns.
It used to be that the worst thing you could do with a piece of gum was stick it under your desk. Now you can use it to shut down the whole school. Welcome to Utopia.
(Hat tip: Kyle Olson)