Soon showing a picture of a bullet will be illegal too. See them while you can!
MILL VALLEY / Physics teacher under fire for gun experiment / Parent’s complaint raises issue about legality of stunt — Now you can’t even teach physics in American High Schools if anti-gun nuts are in the neighborhood. Let’s find out who the parent was exactly.
Every year, physics teacher David Lapp brings his Korean War era M-1 carbine to school, fires a shot into a block of wood and instructs his students to calculate the velocity of the bullet.
It is a popular experiment at Mill Valley’s Tamalpais High School, where students are exposed to several unique stunts that Lapp performs in his five classes every year to illustrate inertia, velocity and other complex formulae.
Turns out, it also may be illegal.
It is a felony to bring any rifle, loaded or unloaded, onto a school campus without the written permission of the school district superintendent or his designee, according to Marin County District Attorney Ed Berberian.
“I’m hoping that this is not happening in Marin County,” said Berberian, who groaned when informed that it was. “If he just did this in an open classroom with a block of wood, there could be ricochets. That in itself would be a presumption of recklessness.”
The rifle demonstration would not even be an issue if an anonymous parent had not complained.
So now this teacher, for merely teaching physics, might become a felon. Only in America. And ricochet off a block of wood? Oh brother.
found by Rick Salsman
Sounds like another over protective parent. I feel for that kid.
As a parent, if i was aware of the experiment and had asked some general questions to the teacher then i would not have a issue.
It sounds like this is a popular thing to see and people knew about it.
So what i think we are seeing is a lazy parent wake up and scramble. “O i have to be a good parent, so let me find something that i cna complain about.”
Tip to tattle telling parent: Ask your kid about thier school. get involved.
It’s sad to see what our enlightened, progressive society has turned into.
My Grandfather’s high school yearbook, from when he was a kid growing up during the 50s in Englewood, CA, has pictures in it of the school rifle club (of which he was a member). All of the students are posing with their rifles in the pictures. And he tells me he would take his to school every day, check it into the front office during school hours, and then leave with it after school to go shoot squirrels.
Now, you can’t even have a squirt gun without fear of being expelled.
I’d like to personally thank the generation that followed (who casually cast aside their parent’s notions of decency and class) for helping make this country what it is today.
Yeah, that’s the kinda kid who ends up shooting up a school…
The fact that connections to gun violence or Columbine are made in this piece makes me sick. They quote a psychologist about the “impact” of this…of what?!? I mean, THAT there is a gun used to create a high velocity particle for a demonstration?! Absolutely crazy.
The experiment has a very low probability of killing or injuring someone compared to the very high probabilty of getting killed or injured in a car wreck.
Being devil’s advocate, did the professor asked permission for the rifle? I mean, if you’re gonna do it, cover your back. He fumbled there, no doubt.
On the other hand, the annonimous parent (what, affraid to bite the bullet?) seems to be a real weapons expert, bullets ricocheting from wood
Since all of you like to rag on the religious right for similar stupidity, its time the comment stupid liberal nut jobs appears here. There, I said it. Someone had to.
erm, hello? I’m not american so probbably don’t understand this blogs reaction but a gun, in a school? Infact a gun, being shot in a school? No wonder parence were a little shocked. Only in america would this be allowed to happen for so long
A bit needs to be cleared up here — there’s no frikkin’ way the guy shot off an M-1 in a classroom. The noise in the confined space would be sufficient for injury, let alone any issue with the actual projectile.
So let’s leap to the conclusion the teacher is not clinically insane and fired it outside the building. Given that this is an annual event that occurs for five classes on a given day, let’s also conclude that he fired the weapon in a well-controlled area with appropriate safety measures in place.
What remains is that he brought a weapon onto the school “campus” which likely means the far corner off the baseball field with a tree-covered hill behind it to catch any errant shots.
So, given that, what remains is that the local government has deemed it a felony to bring a weapon onto the school campus, and this teacher’s annual demonstration has become illegal. Fair enough. Make an appropriate exception for demonstration purposes or move the demonstration to (and this would likely be a bright thing to do anyway) to an official firing range.
This isn’t some pea shooter the guy is sneaking into school in his jacket — an M-1 is a big honkin’ rifle that puts out one hell of a noise when it’s fired. The only thing louder than the M-1 on my local firing range is the .50 calibre muzzle loading rifle percussion rifle, which by the way, is me (hee hee). This is simply a poorly reported story.
This wouldn’t have been newsworthy in a flyover state.
Sag.
I’m currently 21, but when I was in 4th grade my father and I were really big into registered (professional) trap shooting. I would go out every Thursday night to practice at the local club and occasionally forget to empty my coat pockets of extra shells.
One day a classmate noticed that one shotgun shell had fallen out of my pocket and I was promptly escorted out of the school by the city police.
Aparently, in my town. . . you can’t even have a bullet or shell due to the fact that it might just happen to go off . . . . ??? huh ???
My physics teacher was a lot like this man and it was a great learning experience. With any luck, the parent gets a clue and drops the charges. Teachers dont need fear of lawsuits and felony charges looming at them while they educate our young.
Well, I just read the entire article. He fires an M-1 in a classroom. Well shut my mouth. The teachers in the next room must just LOVE that.
The guy is nuts. Rifles with that amount of power should never be fired in an enclosed space where you can’t verify what’s downrange.
Take it outside dude.
Sag.
Sag, the gun cognicenti oft’ times say the the M1 carbine is too underpowered. Personally, I disagree and think it has a place.
When bitching against guns, many well intentioned folks are unwitting dupes of an international, well financed conspiracy to take guns away and rule an unarmed world of slaves. It is extremely insulting to myself, and many other freedom loving Americans, that the U.N is going to conduct it’s largest ever gun ban conference on U.S. soil on July 4, 2006.
Please note: There is a HUGE difference in power, noise, etc. between an M1 (which uses a .30-06 round) and an M1 Carbine (uses a much smaller .30 cal. pistol-type cartridge). The carbine is the subject of the article presented. No, the teacher should never fire even an M1 carbine inside of a classroom, but there is a difference.
In a confined space, even a .38 or .40S&W pistol can cause permanent hearing loss.
The more I think about it, the more I question that someone really shot an M-1 carbine inside a classroom. It does not make sense to me. Either the story is wrong or he really is nuts. Ricochets? I’d worry about the bullet going through the wood (and the wall). An 8mm mauser can pass a bullet through the web of a train rail; this gun isn’t much smaller than that.
I agree with you, SAG — DUDE! Take it outside! Please!!! Show respect for your weapon.
I have to agree with Sag here. The guy is nuts; the experiment should have been performed with reasonable safety precautions just as he illustrated.
It’s nothing to do with “stupid liberal nutjobs” its to do with irresponisble teaching (he should have made sure he had permission to do an obviously over the top demonstration), and over-reacting parents.
Nothing liberal about it, but stupid and nutjob apply equaly on both sides I think…
#9 So, given that, what remains is that the local government has deemed it a felony to bring a weapon onto the school campus, and this teacher’s annual demonstration has become illegal.
No, the State of California has deemed it a Felony, since 1995. The law is titled: “[the] Gun-Free School Zone Act of 1995″.
http://law.onecle.com/california/penal/626.9.html
Highlights:
(b) Any person who possesses a firearm in a place that the person knows, or reasonably should know, is a school zone, as defined in paragraph (1) of subdivision (e), unless it is with the written permission of the school district superintendent, his or her designee, or equivalent school authority, shall be punished as specified in subdivision (f).
(d) Except as provided in subdivision (b), it shall be unlawful for any person, with reckless disregard for the safety of another, to discharge, or attempt to discharge, a firearm in a school zone, as defined in paragraph (1) of subdivision (e).
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From the article: “If he just did this in an open classroom with a block of wood, there could be ricochets. That in itself would be a presumption of recklessness.”
That District Attorney knows his law, doesn’t he…? He didn’t have to check a reference to understand how ugly this could get for the teacher.
17. this DA either does not know the law or misspoke – imposing “a presumption of recklessness” would likely be an unconstitutional violation of the presumption of innocence.
and the richochet? I would like to think that a DA, whose office probably handles numerous gun-related cases, would know a bit more about firearms, too.
#12, does the UN have the power to ban guns? Last time I checked, the UN was about as powerful as a high school student. They can’t inforce anything, and when they try to, they back down.
Thanks for the information, Sag. I suspected the teacher was a crazed gun nut. The information you have provided proves it. He deserves to be prosecuted. It is the only thing that will come between him and his delusions.
The country leads the world in gun related injuries and deaths. The most common use of a firearm by an owner is suicide. The mere presence of a gun in a home increases the probability of serious injury or death astronomically. And, still, so many Americans delude themselves about the inherently dangerous nature of guns.
Hopefully, no one is foolish enough to believe it is necessary to fire a gun in a classroom to teach physics.