Kids who bring toy guns to school could go to jail if bill passes
BATON ROUGE -- Louisiana students, technically as young as kindergarteners, who bring toy guns to school could face criminal penalties under a proposal state lawmakers will consider during a session that begins Monday.
House Bill 43, by Rep. Dodie Horton, R-Haughton, would ban the possession of “imitation firearms, projectiles or ammunition” in Louisiana schools, at school-sponsored events or within 1,000 feet of campuses. It includes BB guns, firearm replicas, CO2 propellant guns and other firearm devices that are “substantially similar in coloration and overall appearance to an existing firearm as to lead a reasonable person to perceive that the device is a firearm.”
Violators -- students and non-students -- could be subject to six months in prison and a $250 fine for a first offense. A second offense would mean a six-month jail sentence and $500 fine.
Horton said her proposal is not intended to target 5-year-olds, but the measure, as it stands, includes no exemption for age, applying to all schools, from elementary through college.
Read more: http://www.houmatoday.com/news/20170408/kids-who-bring-toy-guns-to-school-could-go-to-jail-if-bill-passes