A Tennessee 10-year-old was expelled from school for a full year after he pointed his finger in the shape of a gun and made mock "machine gun" noises, according to a ProPublica investigation.
The boy was expelled as part of a "zero tolerance" law in Tennessee that mandates any student who makes a threat of "mass violence" be expelled for at least one year. While the law, originally signed in 2023—following a shooting by a former student at a private school in Nashville—was recently amended to direct schools to expel students only for "valid" threats, the provisions of the law are still vague, and schools have considerable enforcement leeway.
In the process, expulsions for threats have considerably increased in many school districts. ProPublica reported that during the 2023–24 school year, Metro Nashville public schools expelled 42 students for making any threats, including 16 threats of mass violence. The prior year, only 22 students were expelled, despite the district investigating a similar number of alleged threats.
Another school district reported expelling 33 students for making threats in the 2023–24 school year—including a whopping 27 for mass violence threats. The year before, the district had more alleged "incidents," but only six students were expelled for making threats. When asked by ProPublica to explain the increase in expulsions, a school district spokesperson cited a change in state law "that required expulsions for mass threats."
A lengthy suspension is incredibly disruptive to a student's education. Expelled students are frequently forced to learn through ineffective online programs or sent to alternative schools, if they can even find schooling at all. While these requirements might make sense for a student who is a genuine danger to others, Tennessee's law has ended up punishing students who were clearly making jokes rather than serious expressions of violent intent.
For example, one high school student who was "known as a class clown" made "an offhand joke about committing an act of violence" last school year, according to ProPublica's report. "Rumors spread among the students about his comment, warping it in the process. He was called to the principal's office, where a waiting police officer asked whether he had a gun in his backpack. He showed them that he didn't and insisted that he had just been making a joke….School officials initiated a threat assessment and gathered statements from the students who heard the joke, which were then used as evidence against him. He was expelled for a year."
In the case of the 10-year-old featured by ProPublica, his mother decided to homeschool him rather than appeal the expulsion. Her son, who was already struggling in school, had further challenges at home. "It is pulling teeth every single day," the boy's mother told ProPublica.
In an attempt to prevent mass shootings and other acts of violence, lawmakers have enacted a law that has ended up punishing students who did nothing truly threatening. The state has embraced panic and gone after finger guns.
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