Red Pine principal won't be punished in BB gun incident ...

[spin]

The principal of Red Pine Elementary in Eagan will not be disciplined for letting a parent shoot balloons with a BB gun in the school gym, a spokesman for the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan School District said Monday.

In a decision that he later called "unwise," Principal Gary Anger allowed a parent volunteer to bring the BB gun from home after a program held for Red Pine families on Dec. 8. While a few people finished cleaning up the gym, the volunteer shot down balloons that had floated to the ceiling.

District administrators said last month that they were investigating the incident after Star Tribune reporters began asking questions. That inquiry wrapped up before the holiday break, said district spokesman Tony Taschner.

***snip***

However, policy allows firearms on school grounds in certain situations. Peace officers and color guards can carry them, for example, and other people can with written permission from a principal.

Many Red Pine parents supported Anger when he came under scrutiny for letting a volunteer shoot a BB gun.
http://www.startribune.com/local/south/80673997.html?el...

The only thing I see wrong here is the stupidity of the Star Tribune reporters.

[Arctic Dave]

1. I guess thy never thought of using tape, a long string and another ballon.

[TPaine7]

2. Anything but teh gunzzzzzzzzzz! n/t

[Arctic Dave]

6. This story reminds me the guy who shot his wife the leg because he was too lazy to

get a drill.

[eqfan592]

4. Why? That seems like a bigger pain in the ass than a BB gun IMHO.

Though given the stink made after all was said and done, you may have a point. doG help us all....

[spin]

5. The BB gun sounds a lot easier and quicker ...

I knew an exterminator who used to get jobs eliminating birds flying around warehouse type stores. He used a pellet rifle. He would arrive on the late night shift when the employees of the store were cleaning and stocking. He would tell the shift manager to tell everyone to take a break and leave the area. When the birds landed, he would shoot them.

It was a quick and effective approach to the problem.

[Arctic Dave]

7. We used to use pellet guns to kill squirrels when they would chew their way into the attic.

Doesn't mean we were allowed to shot them inside.

[eqfan592]

8. I used to target shoot my pellet rifle in our fairly long basement.

My dad and I made a nice backstop for it. Not a single soul was harmed, nor was the nice wood paneling we had down there. ;)

Sorry, but I don't see what's so unreasonable about using a BB gun, especially a multi-pump (if that's what was used) to bring down balloons from a very high ceiling. It saves a lot of time and can be done safely if done with caution.

[spin]

9. I sometimes practice shooting with a pellet pistol in the house ...

I use a pellet trap.



The Beeman P1 is an extremely accurate pellet pistol and I can practice trigger pull and sight alignment and follow through. It helps my target shooting and while the pistol is expensive, the pellets are cheap.

P-1 The P1 is a unique combination of Beeman airgun experience and design with the assistance of our German partners engineering and manufacturing skills. The result is a blend of two cultures to make one of the most popular adult air pistols ever produced. A major objective of the P1 design was to give it an "American" flavor, and it seemed nothing but the famous Colt .45 Auto could come closer to being recognized around the world as one of America's finest. Although the P1 is not a replica, many of the design features between the two guns are similar as virtually all shooters hold the .45 in the highest regard. This spring piston gun is cocked by a single stroke. The "hammer" on the back is really the catch for the cocking lever. Release the "hammer" and the top cocks over the gun until it locks into place.

The pellet is loaded directly into the barrel and the unit then snaps back down, ready to fire. Accuracy is increased as the sights move with the entire cocking arm and barrel, never changing position. A scope can even be mounted on the 11mm dovetail grooves along the top of the action. At only 11 inches in length, the small size of the pistol is remarkable considering the velocity. To get the optimum power a full size compression tube must be installed, and this was accomplished by the overhead cocking design of the gun. Furthering the concept, the .177 caliber version of the piston has a dual power mode - cocking the gun to the first "lock point" will result in "low" power, around 380 fps which is still better than many other air pistols.

Cocking the gun a bit further will click into the "high" power position for a full 600 fps making the P1 one of the most powerful spring piston airguns ever made! The full compression tube also results in a nicely balanced pistol as it runs the full length of the gun. The two stage trigger is adjustable from the 28 ounce factory setting. The wide trigger blade has a serrated surface that makes the trigger pull feel extra light and gives a smooth, controlled feel to the unit. The incredible trigger is constantly one of the things that people comment on being one of the best features of the gun. Finally, we carefully and deliberately designed the dimensions of the grip and trigger area so that it is possible to fit any .45 Auto grips on the P1. Shooters can thus maintain the feel of their firearm while training inexpensively with the P1.

The rearward expanding mainspring adds to the effectiveness as a firearm trainer as the modest recoil goes into the hand, like a firearm. Shooters can be confident this air pistol will present a reliable measure of their marksmanship skills while training with a P1. The Beeman P1 air pistol is available in .177 caliber, or the popular .20 caliber. The larger .20 caliber pellets are much less sensitive to wind drift (even indoor convection currents) and provide a greater impact than .177 caliber.
http://www.airgunsbbguns.com/Beeman_P1_Air_Pistol_p/beeman2320.htm

[DonP]

3. That's a good way to get a few .177 diameter skylights I guess. ntxt

[TheWraith]

10. Nah, those won't even go through sheet metal.

But I hope that the person was wearing eye protection in case of ricochets.

[DonP]

19. I was thinking of glass

A lot of the common areas in our local schools have glass panels in the ceilings to cut down on electricity use.

[one-eyed fat man]

20. Skylights and structural glass panels

Are designed to carry the snow loads that the rest of the roof has to carry so they are not likely to be harmed by a garden variety air pistol. Some kid's father, who is there volunteering on the cleanup committee shooting down a few balloons with a BB gun is not going to scandalize "the children", or expose them to even a minuscule fraction of the culture of violence, misogyny, drugs and crime like cRap music lyrics those kids listen to on their IPods everyday.

Sounds like the whole school board and township has nothing better to do than pole vault over mouse turds!

[tburnsten]

11. BB guns aren't firearms

dummies

[oneshooter]

12. That depends on the State that you are in.

In New Jersey, long a bastion of Second Amendment freedom, even airguns be they powered by spring, compressed air or co2 are considered "firearms". And as thus, only available from FFL dealers and also require a permit to buy/own.

Oneshooter
Livin in Texas

[tburnsten]

13. New Jersey calling it a duck doesn't make it a duck

A BB gun is not a firearm. No matter what some idiotic bureaucrat says, a BB gun is not and can never be a firearm. If they decide that an air powered tiny-caliber childrens' toy/adults' training aid that packs what, 5-20 foot pounds at most, is so lethal that sales of them need to be handled by FFLs than that's their retarded prerogative, doesn't make it sensible.

[oneshooter]

14. Sorry, I forgot the "sarcasm" thingie. nt

[tburnsten]

15. Oh I know you weren't supportive of NJ idiocy

But maybe some people who wander into the guns subforum don't realize that a BB "gun" isn't the same as a "real" gun. I've got a pellet rifle kicking around, it is fairly powerful, rated 800 feet per second, however, it generates about one tenth the power of a .22LR pistol, the least powerful real gun out there.

[Euromutt]

16. Less important than power levels is common sense

Quite simply, a firearm relies on the expansion of gases caused by combustion of the propellant to propel the projectile; hence firearm. Something that uses compressed air or CO2, a spring mechanism, rubber bands, or even electro-magnetic railguns and coilguns are not firearms, and calling them that only serves to cause confusion, which is not something you want in criminal law. And it's not as if the English langugage doesn't have terms like "projectile weapon" that would be perfectly adequate for the purpose.

[Ready4Change]

17. I once used a blow gun for the same purpose.

Jury rigged it with some junk pipe, and shot darts made from straight pins and scotch tape.

Wonder if that would have been ok, since it didn't look like a gun, or if I should have been jailed?

[rd_kent]

18. What has happened to common sense in this country?

I do not see a problem with this story.