No. Obviously, blow up dolls are not as dangerous as guns. But that’s not how one Indiana high school sees it. Tyell Morton, an 18 year-old senior, thought he had the perfect class prank by leaving a blow up doll the girl’s bathroom. Yes, he may be really shitty at pranking people, but the school didn’t take this lightly. Morton had to sneak into the ladies room to accomplish Operation Blow Up Doll, and surveillance cameras caught a “hooded figure wearing latex gloves entering a women’s bathroom carrying a suspicious package and leaving empty-handed.”
Authorities were called and a full-on bomb squad evacuation took place. But not only did Morton’s joke backfire, he has been charged with felony criminal mischief and could serve a maximum of 8 years in prison! To put this in perspective, if he had carried a gun to school, he would only be facing a Class D felony with up to three years of jail time. I understand the school is most upset about having to perform an evacuation, but once they found out the truth, why pursue criminal charges against a student with no prior history?
What kind of humorless world do we live in where a blow up doll is treated more seriously than a gun?
That’s really F’d up that this is looked upon as more worthy of a stricter punishment than bringing a Gun, although there’s some jokes that could be made about that I must say it’s really not even funny it just shows the potential stupidity of some lawmakers.
“What kind of humorless world do we live in where a blow up doll is treated more seriously than a gun?”
– I’LL TELL YOU WHAT KIND OF A HUMORLESS WORLD!!!! THE WORLD OF SCHOOL!!!!! A PLACE JUST AS BAD AS JAIL!!!!
I’m not certain how Lott defines “gun-free zones” but I suspect it does not cover the totality of areas where the right to self-defense is severely infringed. I consider permit schemes that deny the right of self-defense to all but the wealthy to be infringements.
Additionally, if it is true that most multiple victim shootings occur in “residential areas such as public streets, apartment blocks, and parking lots” then you must know that much of these areas are blanketed by the Federal Gun Free School Zone (1000 feet from the perimeter of all K-12, public and private schools, nationwide).
This is little more than a blank check zone for criminals, as to legally defend yourself, you have to have a permit, and if you are a sane, law-abiding adult who cannot obtain one, your bodily integrity is no longer your own.
As far as the particular firearm favored for self-defense at school, most marksmanship classes used .22LR rifles, perfectly fine for breaking out of the safe/cage in the case of an attack, whether by students or teachers. Ideally, teachers would conceal carry pistols.
If we can’t trust teachers to keep our children safe, then why are we consigning our children to effective prisons where anyone can go in with impunity, and make those inside come out in body bags?
My worry is why no one has a sense of humor anymore – it was a simple prank that went too far and no one has the guts to say “geez this was just a joke” and to just give an old fashioned detention to the kid who did it.
My point is that I am skeptical of your claim that guns used to be common in classrooms with no history of classroom killings during same period.
The fact of the matter is that school shootings are exceedingly rare, but sensational and thus garner greater media distribution. Mr. John Lott has biased his results by specifically defining “public multiple shootings” to only include those areas that meet his personal agenda.
Contrary to his assertions, multiple shootings in public areas do NOT most often occur in “gun-free zones” as he asserts, but rather in residential areas such as public streets, apartment blocks, and parking lots. These are areas in which armed permit holders are quite capable of exercising their right to defend themselves with deadly force, yet it still continues to happen. Why?
Because criminals that use firearms rely on surprise, overwhelming force, and yes I agree, the expectation of an unarmed victim. I am certainly in favor of responsible gun ownership both for self defense and generally as a Constitutionally protected right. However, I fail to see how the Second Amendment can be construed to include children not old enough or responsible enough to constitute a “well organized militia.”
Simply put, you and Mr. Lott will have to do a MUCH better job of convincing me that the benefits of allowing handguns in schools for the purpose of self defense outweighs the concerns about their misuse under other circumstances.
And gun control dates back to the late 1800s and before, in order to deny various races their inherent (preexisting any government) human right to self-defense. Your point?
Alwin,
School shootings have a long, long history dating back to the late 1800’s. In fact, if they had had national news coverage back then like we do today you’d be saying that they were downright common.
Take a look at this list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_school-related_attacks
There’s a large difference between the possibility and actually having to serve a maximum of 8 years in prison.
At this hour this kid rots in jail while his family desperately seeks to raise bail money:
http://tomdegan.blogspot.com/2011/06/tyrell-mortons-brush-with-hysteria.html
This is still America, right? Never mind.
Tom Degan
Insert libertarian spiel about Nineteen Eighty-Four and gun control here.
You are weird.
This was the alternate beginning to “1984”, no?
as a fellow texan i couldnt agree more with Stephen… according to the pranks my parents did in the 70’s and 80’s her whole HS class would have been rounded up and sent to prison by todays standards. what happened?? was it 9/11?? my friends that have kids dont feel this way…who is it? people in their 50’s? 60’s? that all of a sudden think the boogieman is around every turn..or that every kids deep down wants to kill everyone(its not happening more and more its just being reported more and more by the news) let kids be kids, suspend him.. give him detention… something fitting of a prank. i honestly dont know a single parent in their 20’s 30’s or 40’s thats like “throw the book at him” and i live in texas lol
“Are Blowup Dolls More Dangerous Than Guns?”
“No.” – Possibly the greatest opening to a headline ever. Amazing.
I go to university in Texas, undoubtedly the psycho/gun-crazy capital of the world (suck it, Mogadishu), and regardless of politics, everyone can agree a gun is not something to be taken lightly – but apparently a joke is?
The issue is not that someone snuck in to a bathroom with a hood (Oh noes!), it’s that CCTV caught a literally harmless joke and blew it so far out of proportion that an eighteen-year-old (barely an adult) could have his life ruined because he had the gall to do something (tastelessly) he thought was fun and harmless – something that was, in fact, fun and harmless.
At this point in time they could threaten them with years of hard punishment – and that’s kind of the point of the story. The story just points out how ludicrous it is that, today, we can’t even stage a (by yesteryears standards, even) tame prank, which, yes, is honestly kind of a tragedy.
It may seem contrite, but it’s just like you learn in any PoliSci class – “He who sacrifices freedom for security deserves neither.”
ive lost all confidence in my parents generation(boomers) to lead anything yet their the ones with superior “values” so they say lol .. their scared of their own shadows… and im the one thats been to war lol
and i just learned that dodgeball was just banned at my old middle school!! :/
what kinda world are they leaving us…
Dude, Class D for a gun in school? Talk about overkill. Why is it a crime? Does anyone seriously think that school shooters will arm up, dress in their black trenchcoats, and march to the school door only to be deterred by the “No Guns Allowed” sign?
What?
It’s OBVIOUS that the blow up doll is more powerful and dangerous than a gun.
Losing the ability to love humans is worse than living itself!
But really. I have to say. That’s preposterous.
He’ll be the butt-rapin’ joke of jail if he gets convicted.
Blow-Up Bill
Rubber Randy
Bad Prank Pete
I could go on.
You’re oversimplifying how the authorities viewed, and what exactly his ‘prank’ was.
“What kind of humorless world do we live in where a blow up doll is treated more seriously than a gun?”
The charges have nothing to do with a blow up doll, forget there was a blow up doll in the equation.
The charges deal with him sneaking into a bathroom with a hood on and a suspicious package under his arm, and the consequences of that.
The whole thing is stupid, I agree, but you’re missing the point.
Why should anyone take reasonable or rational action when there is a gross miscarriage of justice available?
I think that forcing the kid to pay the costs associated with his prank is fair. Granted it will be a lot of money, that seems a better teacher than years spent cowering in fear in a prison cell.
To be fair, I would argue that simply possessing a gun on school property is less of an offense than a bomb threat. JUST LISTEN!! I know he didn’t intend for this to be a bomb threat and he surely will not charged with that. You wrote that he was facing 8 years and I’m simply pointing out that that is because it had not been ruled out immediately that he was not committing criminal mischief. You are being a bit of a sensationalist and I’m trying to put things in perspective.
This is what happens when many politicians run as tough on crime. They make everything scary. At worst this kid should be looking at a few weeks or a month of community service. I am sure that school’s janitors could use someone to clean out all of the toilets over the summer.
“They’re BLOWING it out of proportion”, said Morton. Chortle, chortle.
P.S. According to case law, mere possession of a firearm to defend against murder and great bodily harm is not a crime, except for students trapped at defenseless K-12 campuses nationwide.
Sad, that following “gun free zone” massacre, after “gun free zone” massacre, no lessons have been learned, and you can still walk in and out of many schools without being challenged by anyone, let alone an armed officer or staff member.
Google John Lott’s research and you will see “gun free zones” = “killing fields”. Kids and teachers used to bring rifles, shotguns, and pistols to school, and there was no blood running through the halls, up til the point guns were banned from the hands of the law-abiding victims.
Nice picture. Simple prank gone wrong.