Paper Gun Plot Thwarted!

I know I should probably avoid political and controversial subject matter on this blog; but hey!  We Origami enthusiasts sometimes live on the edge; and what's life without a bit of controversy?

From a school in Massachusetts:

A 6-year-old kindergartner sparked an uproar at his Massachusetts school when he was spotted brandishing a tiny plastic Lego gun on the school bus last week.
Mieke Crane, the child’s mother, insists that officials at Old Mill Pond Elementary School in Palmer overreacted when another student saw the toy, which is slightly bigger than a quarter, and alerted the driver Friday.
‘She [driver] said he caused quite a disturbance on the bus and that the children were traumatized,’ Crane told the local station WGGB.

It's not the first time this has happened in Mass; nor elsewhere in the States.  Now if you want to see a Lego toy that's a step up in menace-potential, check out this Lego assault rifle with the high capacity mags.  I’m sure this has got to be the handiwork of a nerdy lone-builder.

In some schools, even a photo of a gun will get you a reprimand.  

All of this reminds me of this story from January involving the hot-button issue of gun control laws....and the controversy of *gasp*....PAPER!:

A fifth grader at a South Philadelphia elementary school made the mistake of pulling out a gun constructed out of paper in class last week.

An official at D. Newlin Fell School searched the student, Melody Valentin, in front of her entire class, reports FOX 29. After the search failed to turn any more weapons (paper or non-paper), the staffer intensely scolded the little girl – also in front of the whole class.

~~~ 

“He yelled at me and said I shouldn’t have brought the gun to school and I kept telling him it was a paper gun but he wouldn’t listen,” the fifth grader told the station. Describing the paper firearm, the girl’s mother, Dianna Kelly, said it looked similar to a folded sheet of paper. The little girl’s grandfather had made it for her the day before, she added. Valentin told FOX 29 that she had put it in her pocket and forgotten about it. She said she only got it out to throw it away. She added that her classmates had jeered her and called her a “murderer” after the incident.

And what does her grandfather's handiwork look like that is so menacing to the public?

Paper is dangerous.  That kid could have seriously incurred a self-inflicted paper cut from mishandling that paper firearm. But then, paper doesn't kill people...

Hmm....I suppose folding a Morisue Kei Peacemaker would qualify as paper with a high-capacity magazine fold?

Folded by Lige Gan

Senator Graham's Fast Hands