Police

Iowa Student Suspended for BB Gun Found in Car Parked Off Campus

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cop says they're a life or death situation
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Another student has been suspended for a BB gun. Did he brandish it in the school halls? Show it off in a classroom? Was it a random search? No. But it did involve the parent of another child calling authorities. This time, a parent in Iowa saw the BB gun in a car that wasn't even parked on school grounds. Via the NBC affiliate in Waterloo, Iowa:

Dubuque Community School District director of school and community relations Mike Cyze said in a press release a parent noticed the BB pistol in the student's car and called police, who responded, located the student and confiscated the BB gun.

Cyze said there was never a threat to students or staff because the BB gun never left the student's car until police arrived and confiscated it.

"This incident is an important reminder that the school district and area law enforcement do not take the presence of these weapons lightly," Dubuque Senior High School principal Dan Johnson said to parents in an e-mail and voicemail that went out to all Dubuque Senior High School families this morning.

The school suspended the student even though there was no threat and the toy gun wasn't found on campus because, according to a district spokesperson, "there was a significant disruption to the learning environment and having the student on campus would have continued that disruption throughout the day." The suspension, the spokesperson said, could be followed by more "disciplinary action" after an investigation is completed. It's too bad disrupting the learning environment for students is something that could yield administrators a suspension the way it does for children