Pen Mightier than Sword; Paper Mighty as Firearm

Hamadi Alston, 8, stood up in his second-grade class in Irvington, N.J., pointed a piece of paper folded into the shape of a gun at his classmates and told the kids, “I’m going to kill you all.” Where did he get such an idea? He saw his friend Jaquill Shelton, also a second-grader, do it earlier in the day with the same paper “gun.” It must be a conspiracy: police were called and the two boys were booked on charges of making terrorist threats. Police Chief Steven Palamara defended the school’s decision to bring in the law. “It may appear to some as though we went a little overboard because it was a paper gun,” the chief told reporters. “But what would those same people say if this incident was ignored and in a day, week or month the same student came to school with a firearm?” School Superintendent Ernest Smith agreed, noting that “children have to be taught they can’t say certain words in public.” (AP) ...Yep. Someday soon, one will be arrested after shouting, “Give me liberty or give me death!”