The National Rifle Association apparently thinks schools are too uptight when it comes to students getting disciplined for bringing toy guns to school. That’s why, the Miami Herald reports, the Florida chapter of the NRA is backing “a proposal that would prevent children from being disciplined for playing with simulated weapons in school.”



Here’s more on the aggrieved class of students that the NRA is out to protect, via the Herald:

The Florida bill would protect schoolchildren who play with imaginary guns, miniature toy guns and toy guns made of snap-together building blocks. Children would also be free to draw pictures of guns, or hold their pencils as if they were firearms. They could still get in trouble, however, if their play disrupts class or hurts a fellow student or teacher.

Some measure of common sense is, of course, required when it comes to kids simply drawing guns and the like, but, the bill, which could conceivably be an actual law in Florida also goes one absurd step further and protects students from punishment for “brandishing a partially consumed pastry or other food” bitten in order to create a food gun. The so-called “Pop Tart” bill is a reaction to a case in Maryland where a student was suspended for nibbling away at his Pop Tart to create a confectionery gun. The NRA said enough is enough and gave the suspended student lifetime membership. The NRA, however, doesn’t want to focus on food. An NRA lobbyist told the Herald the group prefers calling the measure the “Right-to-be-a-Kid Bill.”