A five-year-old girl at Southeast Elementary School in Southeast Brighton, Colorado, was suspended on Monday for bringing a bubble gun to school.

The toy, which is made of clear plastic and accepts a screw-on can of suds, shoots out a stream of bubbles when a child squeezes the trigger.

In explaining the suspension, 5 News described the toy as a “weapon.” The girl’s mother, using the pseudonym “Emma” to protect her privacy, said it was not necessary for the school to do anything more than ask her to come pick up the toy and bring it home. Instead, the school called and told her to pick up her daughter, who was suspended for the remainder of the day.

Emma said she did not know her daughter had taken the toy to school. The five-year-old apparently placed it in her backpack when her mother was not looking. But Emma said the solution could have been as easy as a call from the school to say, “Make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

Instead, Southeast Elementary School released a statement defending its decision to suspend the child:

While we hear and understand the parents of this student being concerned about this discipline in light of the student’s age and type of item, this suspension is consistent with our district policy as well as how Southeast has handled similar situations throughout this school year. This has involved similar situations where students have brought items such as Nerf guns to school and also received one-day suspensions. The bringing of weapons, real or facsimile, to our schools by students can not only create a potential safety concern but also cause a distraction for our students in the learning process. Our schools, particularly Southeast because of past instances with students bringing fake weapons to school, make a point of asking parents to be partners in making sure students are not bringing these items to school. This includes asking parents to check backpacks.

AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.