We're pleased to announce a new feature in the Friday Grassroots Alert -- the "Outrage of the Week!" Each week (or as often as we can), we will report on a true outrage that affects the pro-Second Amendment community. In order for this section to succeed, however, we need your help! While NRA-ILA staff will keep its eyes and ears open for outlandish statements and activities on which to report, we want you to do the same. If you see something that you feel would be a good candidate for the "Outrage of the Week!" section, please send it to: [email protected].
17-Year-Old Future Olympian Disciplined For Shotgun Shells In Vehicle: In yet another case of over reactive, one-size-fits-all, "zero-tolerance" enforcement, Arizona high school senior and shotgun-shooting Olympic hopeful Kim Peters was recently charged by local school officials with "possession of a dangerous instrument" and subsequently suspended, an October 29 azcentral.com article reports.
What was the "dangerous instrument" that Kim was in "possession" of, and why did school officials feel the need to suspend her? Well, apparently a security guard writing parking tickets noticed two unopened boxes of shotgun shells on the back seat of Peters' SUV as it sat in a school visitors parking lot. Hence, the "dangerous instrument(s)" in this case were the unopened boxes of shells the student-athlete used in practice for her sport, and the "possession" was because the unopened boxes were sitting on the back seat of Kim's parked, and presumably locked, vehicle.
After discovering the shells, the student and her vehicle were "thoroughly searched" by school officials. No firearms of any sort were found, nor were firearms involved in the incident in any way.
The 17-year-old Peters -- one of only 18 athletes in the nation to attend this year's Junior Olympic shooting camp in Colorado Springs, CO -- practices 12 hours a week and has won many trophies. Peters said that her hectic practice schedule and the fact that she was running late on the morning in question were to blame for her forgetting to remove the shells from her vehicle.
The family is fighting the local school district over the excessive punishment, fearing that if the charge is not expunged, colleges will refuse her admittance. So far, school administrators are not budging in their decision and have rejected the family's first appeal.
So, in their zeal to enforce "zero-tolerance" rules, these high school administrators have thrown common sense out of the window. This accomplished, Olympic-class shooter, who practices multiple hours per week, now faces an uncertain future due to the rigid, overzealous enforcement of a general rule, by administrators who refuse to reasonably consider common sense and extenuating circumstances. That's outrageous.
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