Why weren’t these incidents reported in some fashion at a regularly scheduled Principal’s Meeting?

The no gun / no toy policy could have then been reviewed in an assembly at my child’s school.

This lack of communication is a huge issue. When you have good school districts, there is a general degree of knowledge of trends so they do not become issues.

For future reference — with more notice before an event (preferably two weeks, at least), you can submit information to our community calendar editor at tribcal@oaklandtribune.com.

Please spread the word, come and support Bret Harte Middle School for this special event (SLWRP) this Saturday, October 25th (9 to 4). Thank you.

Andrew McMaster, Pres. BHMS Student Recycling Committee (RARU); V. Taylor, Faculty Advisor

P.S. Where can I email a flier?

Of particular concern are toy guns the look like real weapons. Brandishing one can get a child shot in this day.

It would be best if suitable children were given gun training. Especially the girls. These kids will likely need gun skills in their lifetimes. I was shooting bottles of a log at Russian River when I was 5 – using rifles and handguns. We kept guns in the house for self defense throughout my childhood. I have a handgun and carry permit as an adult.

So I know what damage a gun could do. In the ’60s I remember my father being called out at night to repair gunshot injuries from parties. I never got to go to those parties. Never got to do target practice parties. It would have been fun. They had a lot of fun in the 50′s and 60′s in Oakland. I understand that some of the target shooting parties were at nightclubs on Telegraph. I wasn’t allowed to go to the nightclubs either.

But we all had motorcycles, and those weren’t safe either. Don’t have a cycle now, but I’m glad I learned to ride one as a teen. Still have the cycle endorsement on the license. I used to take a cycle to high school – along with friends.

My point is guns don’t kill people, nutty people who probably can’t legally touch a gun anyway kill people. Armed people can save themselves from victimization.

Teens shouldn’t have guns in public (that means school also) when not on a gun range and supervised by a rangemaster.

Hell, we’re having trouble with the marshmallow shooter my daughter wants for her birthday because of the “gun” implications.

I know there are responsible people who give toy guns to their children for gifts, but there needs to be more parental oversight of children who are given these kinds of “toys.”

Way back when I was in school, the janitor/busdriver taught hunter safety every fall. On Saturdays, on the school grounds. In November and December, kids bragged about getting their first deer. I never wanted to hunt, but my sister became a local celebrity at age 12 when she got her first deer before noon on the first day of the season, with one shot “clean through the heart”.

But *NOBODY* would have brought a gun (or any weapon, toy or real) onto school property during the week. It was unthinkable.

After the janitor/busdriver had kicked the kid out of hunter safety class – permanently (and without that hunter safety certificate, a kid couldn’t get any kind of game tags before 18) – and after the principal had taken the weapon, and paddled the kid, and expelled her/him…

After all that happened at school, the kid’s parents would have had their turn at discipline!

I love living in an urban area for a lot of reasons, but this is city-dwellers behaving like the idiots that country folk think they are. Nothing else could, but this makes me nostalgic for those (ignorant, bigotted, mean, small-minded, etc.) country folk, who at least understood the risks and power of weapons and the consequences of failure in teaching children safety and respect for life.