The Massachusetts town of Winchendon held a Memorial Day celebration in the town park. As part of the festivities, veterans fired rifles loaded with blanks. Fourth grader Bradley Geslak, aged ten, was delighted when one of the uniformed vets gave him two empty brass shells as a souvenier. His dad, uncle, and both grandfathers are veterans, and the gift meant a lot.

He took one of the empty casings to school the next day, whereupon his teacher confiscated his memento (effectivey stealing it) and suspended him for five days, causing his mother to miss work as well.

The school refused to return Bradley’s property, and threatened to assign a probation officer to him. There is concern that the school has put a weapons charge in his records, but the authorities refuse to comment.

The Worcester Telegram carried the primary coverage of this outrageous affair. For a slice of Americana, the hundreds of comments following the article are worth reading. My personal favorite:

I am absolutely speechless. How could any adult with the IQ of a grape categorize a spent shell casing as a weapon? I can’t believe that, even in Massachusetts, there was not a single enlightened adult who was able to recognize the object for what it was; before traumatizing a totally innocent child for bringing what, to him, was a keepsake from a patriotic celebration to school.

Several concerns come to mind. How stupid are the people who are teaching our children? If they teach the next generation to be paranoid about gun related materials, where will our soldiers come from? How did MA get from the intrepid Revolutionary soldiers of Lexington and Concord to these pansies in less than 240 years?

There’s a discussion at Free Republic.

There’s another discussion at Liberty Forum.

And the National Rifle Association offers these opportunities to express your opinion:

If you’d like to express your concern over this incident, please visit the school website. To leave a voice message for Brooke Clenchy, Superintendent of Schools, please call 978-297-0031.