Boy punished for air soft guns in yard

Re: Boy expelled for air soft guns in yard

PirateMk1 said:

Airsoft pellets don't go at "high velocity" unless you have high end stuff used for training and even then its velocities are less than a BB guns and more importantly the projectiles they shoot lose whatever little energy they have VERY quickly. The stuff sold as toys are just that toys. You really have to be trying to hurt yourself to get hurt with one of those. Like breaking it into a sharp object trying.

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Well we're lacking a lot of detail.

Re: Boy expelled for air soft guns in yard

rcart76 said:

J-mac

This is rare but I 100% agree with you. Just read the story and saw the video twice just to make sure I wasn't missing anything here. Why is the school getting involve with something that happened on private property? If the boys were shooting at the bus stop, then I would have to understand the school getting involved. I agree with Maggie as far safety is concern, but I have to lean to the right a little on this issue because I think the school over step their boundaries.

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Yep, that's exactly how I see it too.

Re: Boy expelled for air soft guns in yard

Lutherf said:

If I read the story correctly at least one of the kids is named "Carballo". If they were being smart about this they would claim that the kid is here illegally and he has to be educated under Plyler v Doe and sue the school district for racial discrimination.

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Except both were offerred alternative schools to attend during the longterm suspension. The boy you mentioned will be attending the alternative school.

Re: Boy expelled for air soft guns in yard

PirateMk1 said:

Hey Maggie this is what they were playing with.
Amazon.com: Zombie Hunter Destroyer Kit 2 Guns + 2 Sets of 400 BBS: Toys & Games
Its cheap Chinese toy.

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I'm not sure how you know this, but I'll take it at face value. Here's what one of two reviews says:

These pistols are deadly accurate and pierce through zombie targets easily, i highly recommend buying this product. These pistols are the Stinger P311 but a little upgraded with a green barrel and about 50 fps upgraded from the original 325 or 315 fps(these are truly 360 fps.) Any way great pistols and awesome target catcher than conserves ammo. The only cons are target catcher also catches the paper shot off from firing so u have to separate torn paper and bbs(or just throw all bbs and paper away to save time, ur choice.) BUY THIS PRODUCT FOR A FUN AND GREAT TIME. REMEMBER THOUGH IF U MISS TARGETS BY FOOLING AROUND AND IT HITS PLASTIC TARGET HOLDER,THEY DO FLY BACK AT U SO WEAR EYE AND FACE GEAR BECAUSE THEY ARE POWERFUL GUNS. BE SAFE AND BUY THIS....

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(Reviewer's all-caps; not mine.) Ahem.

Re: Boy expelled for air soft guns in yard

MaggieD said:

It's all innocent fun until somebody puts an eye out.

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Spoken like a mom! :lol:

Re: Boy expelled for air soft guns in yard

Mason66 said:

YOu are right. Shame on Montecresto for putting the Word expelled in the title of the OP.

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Moderator's Warning:

Let's stop with this kind of stuff. Montecresto was following the rules which require the titles of threads in the *Breaking News* sections to exactly match the title of the article. These kind of comments need to cease

Re: Boy expelled for air soft guns in yard

clownboy said:

Except both were offerred alternative schools to attend during the longterm suspension. The boy you mentioned will be attending the alternative school.

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Except, as far as I know the school district has the obligation to make sure that ALL children of school age are mandated to be in school, so it's not really an offer of anything....The parents should stick to their guns, and force the school to reverse their over the top action here.

Re: Boy expelled for air soft guns in yard

Montecresto said:

I can't wait to see this defended. It seems zero tolerance should be for the real thing. Boys have been known to show up with real guns in back packs. No tolerance for that is appropriate.


VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) - A seventh grade Virginia Beach student previously suspended for shooting an airsoft gun has been expelled, WAVY.com has learned.

During a hearing Tuesday morning, Aidan Clark was expelled in a unanimous vote. The fate of Khalid Caraballo remains unknown at this time.

Like thousands of others in Hampton Roads, Khalid Caraballo plays with airsoft guns. Caraballo and his friend Aidan were suspended because they shot two other friends who were with them while playing with the guns as they waited for the school bus.

The two seventh graders say they never went to the bus stop; they fired the airsoft guns while on Caraballo's private property.

Aidan’s father, Tim Clark, told WAVY.com what happened next lacks commons sense. The children were suspended for possession, handling and use of a firearm.


WAVY - Has zero tolerance gone too far | WAVY.com | Virginia Beach

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I'd just like to say that I can't remember a thread where my opinion was so highly disagreed with. But I'd like to restate my opinion to see if some have lost sight of the original thought.

I think these airsoft guns are dangerous when not used with eye protection. Firing willy-nilly around a school bus pick-up point is stupid, at the very least. Dangerous at most. (One boy was running away and got hit...that's enough for me.) If it was my kid, he'd have the gun taken away for a good long time -- until he learned to respect the rules. Because I would most certainly have rules that one never shoots it when there is any chance a kid might be hit who isn't part of the game and who isn't wearing eye protection -- including my kid.

I'd be furious that the school suspended him for using a "firearm". I would do everything in my power to get that amended to "replica firearm" which is, apparently, what these things are.

While it may be over the top for the school to get involved, because it happened in or around a school bus stop, I can't say I'd blame them. That would be the least of my concerns if this was my kid.

He could have blinded someone.

So. There.

Re: Boy expelled for air soft guns in yard

As someone else stated, the school should not have been involved unless the incident happened at the bus stop. This was a matter for parents to resolve.

That said airsoft guns can be very powerful. I have one that shoots over 550 fps but has had work done to it and quite expensive. The guns these kids had were rated at 350fps and I have serious doubts they are that powerful. Most come in out of box at around 275 to 300 feet per second. You would have to be real close to someone and I mean real close to do any real damage. 70 feet with that gun is too far away to do more than sting. The higher power guns are another story. I have seen severe eye injuries, teeth knocked out, and skin penetration that required removal of the pellet. The guns they had were typical spring style guns that lose strength over use. They are usually broken quickly as well. The more powerful guns are either gas, electric, or modified spring guns. These can be quite powerful.

Bottom line is these kids should find a place designated for this activity. Some of these guns are very realistic looking and accidental shootings by Police are not unheard of. Shooting around in the front yard is not a good idea as people can walk into the game unknowing a game is in session.

Re: Boy expelled for air soft guns in yard

j-mac said:

Except, as far as I know the school district has the obligation to make sure that ALL children of school age are mandated to be in school, so it's not really an offer of anything....The parents should stick to their guns, and force the school to reverse their over the top action here.

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That's still the case here. The one boy's folks went with the alternative school offerred, the other is homeschooling. It's an "offer" only because the parents have other options to satisfy the law.

Re: Boy expelled for air soft guns in yard

MaggieD said:

I'm not sure how you know this, but I'll take it at face value. Here's what one of two reviews says:



(Reviewer's all-caps; not mine.) Ahem.

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While the pellets something like this would fire will puncture a sheet of paper out to 20' or so they aren't particularly dangerous. Sure, eye protection is always a good idea when you're messing with anything that might fling a projectile but getting hit by something like this even on bare skin isn't going to do much damage. The pellets are lightweight plastic so even at 400FPS they don't have much energy. One of these pellets would exert roughly 35 footpounds of energy on the target while a baseball thrown at 40mph would be closer to 550 footpounds of energy*.

*Assuming my math is right.

Re: Boy expelled for air soft guns in yard

MaggieD said:

I'd just like to say that I can't remember a thread where my opinion was so highly disagreed with. But I'd like to restate my opinion to see if some have lost sight of the original thought.

I think these airsoft guns are dangerous when not used with eye protection. Firing willy-nilly around a school bus pick-up point is stupid, at the very least. Dangerous at most. (One boy was running away and got hit...that's enough for me.) If it was my kid, he'd have the gun taken away for a good long time -- until he learned to respect the rules. Because I would most certainly have rules that one never shoots it when there is any chance a kid might be hit who isn't part of the game and who isn't wearing eye protection -- including my kid.

I'd be furious that the school suspended him for using a "firearm". I would do everything in my power to get that amended to "replica firearm" which is, apparently, what these things are.

While it may be over the top for the school to get involved, because it happened in or around a school bus stop, I can't say I'd blame them. That would be the least of my concerns if this was my kid.

He could have blinded someone.

So. There.

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Let's not forget that there was also a 911 call concerning at least one of these kids and his airsoft just three days prior. Most likely he was informed of the rules at that time.

Re: Boy expelled for air soft guns in yard

MaggieD said:

Really? Well, maybe I don't understand what an airsoft gun is. I understand it shoots plastic pellets using compressed air. If you hit someone in the eye with one, can you blind them? If you can, then it has no business EVER being aimed at a human being. Nor being shot anywhere someone could accidentally get hit with it.

Sometimes I think I'm in the Twilight Zone.

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It would take quite a bit of bad luck to get blinded by this type of airsoft gun. I once took a shot in the eye (eyelid closed) and it stung a little but nothing even minor. To lose an eye, you'd have to get shot in the eye, eye open, from a pretty close range (less than 5 yards, probably) and still have some bad luck crazy stuff go on. These things don't really even bruise you. If you get shot in the chest wearing more than a t-shirt, even from a couple yards away, you won't feel much.

In high school, friends and I would shoot these at each other all the time. You could literally see them coming at you from 10 yards away. We'd have issues because people wouldn't feel themselves get hit. A paintball gun is much much much much much more dangerous than the toy airsoft guns kids will have.

Re: Boy expelled for air soft guns in yard

Zyphlin said:

Moderator's Warning:

Let's stop with this kind of stuff. Montecresto was following the rules which require the titles of threads in the *Breaking News* sections to exactly match the title of the article. These kind of comments need to cease

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That is all well and good but the title of the linked article is "Boys punished for airsoft guns in yard"

Notice the difference in the wording.

I already told him I was being sarcastic and joking. No big deal.

Re: Boy expelled for air soft guns in yard

Montecresto said:

And so the point here is getting expelled for the rest of the school year on a firearms charge. Yet what keeps being discussed is whether or not children should have and use an airsoft.

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He's getting expelled for an incident that had nothing to do with the school and did not take place on school property. "Firearms charge" is not appropriate since an airsoft toy is not a firearm. The school has now extended their reach into the parents home which deserves a law suit. The parents should have a very good legal case to slap the hell out of that school system and teach them a valuable lesson to keep their nose out of other people's business when incidents do not occur on school grounds.

Re: Boy expelled for air soft guns in yard

clownboy said:

That's still the case here. The one boy's folks went with the alternative school offerred, the other is homeschooling. It's an "offer" only because the parents have other options to satisfy the law.

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As long as they are happy with the outcome then fine....But, I hate giving these lifelong bureaucrats any semblance of the power they think they should have.

Re: Boy expelled for air soft guns in yard

Ockham said:

He's getting expelled for an incident that had nothing to do with the school and did not take place on school property. "Firearms charge" is not appropriate since an airsoft toy is not a firearm. The school has now extended their reach into the parents home which deserves a law suit. The parents should have a very good legal case to slap the hell out of that school system and teach them a valuable lesson to keep their nose out of other people's business when incidents do not occur on school grounds.

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No, they really don't have a case at all. First, under CA and local law these ARE classed as firearms. Second, there is a good indication in the OP the boys were, at the very least, firing at kids walking to the bus stop (that IS indeed something that falls under the school's legal responsibility).

Re: Boy expelled for air soft guns in yard

clownboy said:

No, they really don't have a case at all. First, under CA and local law these ARE classed as firearms. Second, there is a good indication in the OP the boys were, at the very least, firing at kids walking to the bus stop (that IS indeed something that falls under the school's legal responsibility).

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Well, although for the most part we agree on a great many things clownboy, on this you may have a few things mixed up....

1. This happened in Hampton Rhodes, VA. NOT in California.

2. The article says that the boys were playing with two other friends, and had not gone to the bus stop, so it's kind of unclear weather or not the other boys were passing by, or actually on their property, either way they were as the article says more than 70 yards away from the bus stop, so it's not like it is right in front of the house...I guess I am trying to say that at best the action taken by the school was an over reaction, at worst a gross over step of authority.

Re: Boy expelled for air soft guns in yard

clownboy said:

No, they really don't have a case at all. First, under CA and local law these ARE classed as firearms. Second, there is a good indication in the OP the boys were, at the very least, firing at kids walking to the bus stop (that IS indeed something that falls under the school's legal responsibility).

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j-mac said:

Well, although for the most part we agree on a great many things clownboy, on this you may have a few things mixed up....

1. This happened in Hampton Rhodes, VA. NOT in California.

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A fairly comprehensive guide to what is and is not a firearm according to Virginia.
The Definitive Guide to Virginia’s Air Gun Laws | Monachus Lex

That said, I cannot find anything in Virginia law that identifies how a schools authority extends outside of the school grounds when pertaining to a student. This sounds like a clear case of over reach and the school board should brace themselves for a lawsuit.

Re: Boy expelled for air soft guns in yard

clownboy said:

Reread the OP, they were suspended, not expelled.

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They were suspended until June, the entire school year pretty much. While not a permanent expulsion, its certainly more than a mere school suspension. At this point, the term for their punishment is just semantic BS. The punishment here doesn't fit the crime. Again, the school shouldn't even be involved. The police aren't making an issue out of this, why the hell should the school.

Re: Boy expelled for air soft guns in yard

Lutherf said:

While the pellets something like this would fire will puncture a sheet of paper out to 20' or so they aren't particularly dangerous. Sure, eye protection is always a good idea when you're messing with anything that might fling a projectile but getting hit by something like this even on bare skin isn't going to do much damage. The pellets are lightweight plastic so even at 400FPS they don't have much energy. One of these pellets would exert roughly 35 footpounds of energy on the target while a baseball thrown at 40mph would be closer to 550 footpounds of energy*.

*Assuming my math is right.

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It does depend on the gun. The cheapo spring loaded things are not very powerful, but the eye is not terribly strong. Now if you move onto the CO2 powered ones they can break the skin at 400 fps with the plastic BBs. I do say can because it does seem to vary whether or not they will. Yes, you should be wearing eye protection. It does not need to take your eye out to scratch it, infect it, or reduce your vision permanently. Just for the pain aspect imagine what it feels like to get some debris in your eye, now imagine that debris was moving at 400 fps and was a plastic BB. That is a pretty decent pain.

Re: Boy expelled for air soft guns in yard

MaggieD said:

I'd just like to say that I can't remember a thread where my opinion was so highly disagreed with. But I'd like to restate my opinion to see if some have lost sight of the original thought.

I think these airsoft guns are dangerous when not used with eye protection. Firing willy-nilly around a school bus pick-up point is stupid, at the very least. Dangerous at most. (One boy was running away and got hit...that's enough for me.) If it was my kid, he'd have the gun taken away for a good long time -- until he learned to respect the rules. Because I would most certainly have rules that one never shoots it when there is any chance a kid might be hit who isn't part of the game and who isn't wearing eye protection -- including my kid.

I'd be furious that the school suspended him for using a "firearm". I would do everything in my power to get that amended to "replica firearm" which is, apparently, what these things are.

While it may be over the top for the school to get involved, because it happened in or around a school bus stop, I can't say I'd blame them. That would be the least of my concerns if this was my kid.

He could have blinded someone.

So. There.

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You are absolutely correct. Airsoft guns are often considered much more toy like because they fire plastic BBs. Eye protection should be worn at all times. I have seen the results first hand. One of the refs at the PB field i worked at was shot in the face without protection by one of these guns on FA and had to get stitches in his cheek. I do not know what others around here may be thinking, but had that been an inch or two up he would have lost his eye. What is worse is the field owner was the one who accidentally shot him because of a light trigger pull.

You can do a lot of things with medicine, but replacing an eye is not one of them. Plus, wtf are they doing shooting it up around people? It is one thing if everyone is playing a game and is part of it, but the projectiles do not stop simply because you miss. I have seen some dumb ass renegade player who pick some of the stupidest places right in the middle of regular people to play. What the hell are those stupid parents thinking? I do not buy they were not at the bus stop. If you are in the middle of nowhere with no one around playing, how the hell is someone going to see you and report you to the school? No, these kids are lying like any other kid who did something stupid, and I do not buy it. Oh, and you can bet your ass if they were shooting at unprotected people the pets in the area have gotten a few shots too. I have spent way too much time with stupid people and "toy" guns to think these kids were playing safely and do not deserve a good punishment. Unfortunately since the parents are dumbasses they will have to deal with a long suspension from school. I wish the parents got punished along with them for being stupid enough to let kids run around their neighborhood shooting unprotected people with something that could blind someone.

Oh, and before someone says something stupid about they might not aim for the face, I spent many years as a ref, and it doesn't matter if a person is not aiming for the face, sometimes you get hit there.

Re: Boy expelled for air soft guns in yard

tererun said:

You are absolutely correct. Airsoft guns are often considered much more toy like because they fire plastic BBs. Eye protection should be worn at all times. I have seen the results first hand. One of the refs at the PB field i worked at was shot in the face without protection by one of these guns on FA and had to get stitches in his cheek. I do not know what others around here may be thinking, but had that been an inch or two up he would have lost his eye. What is worse is the field owner was the one who accidentally shot him because of a light trigger pull.

You can do a lot of things with medicine, but replacing an eye is not one of them. Plus, wtf are they doing shooting it up around people? It is one thing if everyone is playing a game and is part of it, but the projectiles do not stop simply because you miss. I have seen some dumb ass renegade player who pick some of the stupidest places right in the middle of regular people to play. What the hell are those stupid parents thinking? I do not buy they were not at the bus stop. If you are in the middle of nowhere with no one around playing, how the hell is someone going to see you and report you to the school? No, these kids are lying like any other kid who did something stupid, and I do not buy it. Oh, and you can bet your ass if they were shooting at unprotected people the pets in the area have gotten a few shots too. I have spent way too much time with stupid people and "toy" guns to think these kids were playing safely and do not deserve a good punishment. Unfortunately since the parents are dumbasses they will have to deal with a long suspension from school. I wish the parents got punished along with them for being stupid enough to let kids run around their neighborhood shooting unprotected people with something that could blind someone.

Oh, and before someone says something stupid about they might not aim for the face, I spent many years as a ref, and it doesn't matter if a person is not aiming for the face, sometimes you get hit there.

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Seems like you are making a whole lot of assumptions of your own to come to your conclusions here. Next thing you know this will get all distorted and the kids will be talked of as being future terrorists or something...:roll:

Re: Boy expelled for air soft guns in yard

MaggieD said:

If you're complaining about the reason, I'm with you there. If I were that student's parents, I would fight to get that changed. Right after I threw his "replica firearm" in the garbage.

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I'd enroll my kid in a firearms course.

Re: Boy expelled for air soft guns in yard

PirateMk1 said:

They suspended these kids over a fricken TOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here's a link to what these kids were shooting. Any of you defending the school think now they should be suspended???
Amazon.com: Zombie Hunter Destroyer Kit 2 Guns + 2 Sets of 400 BBS: Toys & Games

Lord love duck. The stupidity of the administrators, makes me wonder if they will drown themselves looking up into the rain.

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We can but hope.