I think the warning is appropriate. Were is a five year old learning about guns??? I think a messege needs to be sent.

I agree with the warning completely, Kids need to know that no form of guns or weapons are allowed in school. With the gun and violence problems we have these days a toy gun could get a child shot.

What is the matter with you people? Idiotic adults need to learn the difference between guns and legos.

Legos == not guns.

I agree. Is there a written policy against Lego guns at HyWest? Any five year old near a television these days will be exposed to images of gun violence on a daily basis. There should be a school-wide conversation with written follow up to parents, in 20 languages if necessary, about the need to educate kids on this issue. Five year olds mimick the things they are exposed to. Parents and schools need to work together. It appears that the school is more worried about covering their institution than enlightening minds. It's no wonder parents are turning to charter and private schools at an unprecedented rate.

Just one more example of miss guided political correctness! Next we'll expel the kids for pointing their index fingers and saying bang when they are playing war or heaven forbid cowboys and Indians. Ya, I know both are not PC, so sue me that's what we do best. Keep the lawyers employed, remember we have more of them as a percentage of our population than any other country yet afe far from the safest!

Duh! If Lego Guns are outlawed, only Outlaws will have LEGO GUNS! (People in favor of more Lego control are all a bunch of self-righteous idiots! And these morons are possibly 'teaching' our children?)

If you constantly try to fix it so that your kids are never hurt, scared, disturbed, exposed to the unpleasantness of life, you are going to have MAJOR problems with them. Prepare your CHILD for the road ahead. Do not strive to prepare the ROAD ahead FOR your child. Some of us are trying to walk it as is. And doing fine.

Maybe they should be teaching Lego Gun safety courses instead of messing with kids just trying to be kids. I'm sure glad I taught my daughter that most public school teachers are complete "PC" idiots! She's studying to be a doctor and loves to exercise her right to shoot real guns exactly because she took what some of what her idiotic teachers professed with a grain of salt.

How crazy is that? He is 5 has no one ever played cops and robbers or cowboys and Indians. Suspension is way over the limit. Just tell the little guy not to make guns in Lego club or school and be done with it.

If you want your kids to be successful free thinkers who are safe, don't send them to public schools.... especially in Massachusetts. (and if you absolutely have to send them to public schools, vigilantly DE-program them with alternative points of view on a daily basis... don't expect the public schools to teach them what they will really need to be successful... in fact, count on public schools indoctrinating your kids with their own political agendas when they should be focusing on skills and the freedoms guaranteed in the Constitution... trust me, most school teachers DO NOT know how to raise your children better than you)

My father had two gun cabinets filled with pistols, rifles and shotguns. He taught each of his seven kids how to shoot and respect firearms at an early age, thereby removing any mystery or romantic ideas about guns. I'm teaching my son as I was taught. It's ridiculous to hail 18 year old American soldiers as heroes for killing people with guns but punishing five year olds for wanting to make a fake replica of the hero's weapon. There are no easy answers, but punishing a kid who is only two years out of diapers for a natural expression of his world is counter-educational.

You're a good mom Taryn. I know your child won't grow up to be a brain-washed public school zombie... I feel bad for this 5 year old... hopefully he has parents or someone that will step up and explain to him that the teacher that is bullying him and squelching his creativity is absolutely full of horse-[bleeb]! Poor kid.... HE'S FIVE!... we played with toy guns and shot real rifles in my 'hood... several of us went into law enforcement, one FBI agent... some soldiers... but most of us went on be successful in other fields with a healthy knowledge and respect for firearms... it's scary that such limited minded ignorant union kool aid drinkers are teaching our kids!

The HyWest principal is new, and looks to me to be about 12 years old. Considering the demographics of kids in her school, it's quite possible the parents won't even have the language skills to address the problem with the school.

It is Catholic schools week, and we have three great ones here on Cape covering every grade. We bailed on public schools after 4th grade when it became obvious the system is broken.

Now is the time to apply to Catholic or charter schools. Financial aid is available both through the diocese and directly through the school in some cases. Kids grow too fast to waste time fighting schools on stupidity like this.

Do they have glue guns at school? They should ban those too. Think of the message they send.

"While someone might think that suspending a 5 year old is justified in the name of political correctness, to other 5-year-olds, that might be a scary experience."

Nothing more than the on going indoctrination.

Here's the real story.... what is wrong with playing with toy guns? Nothing... it puts nobody in danger and is part of our culture and heritage...

Did the 5 year old harm anyone? No.

Could his Lego "gun" harm anyone? No

Did he have live Lego bullits? No.

Are the "educators" being idiotic? YES.

Were there any kids scared by the Lego gun?

If so, the real problem is not the Legos.... it's kids being scared by unrealistic threats...

This is just another example as to why parents need to avoid "public schools..."

This poor 5 year old boy is being bullied by IDIOTS!

These 'educators' are not pyschologically fit to be working with children!

Abusive Bullies!

So let me get this straight.... It is perfectly ok for adults to militantly defend their right to bear arms, own any gun they want, and even carry a concealed weapon; but none of this is supposed to influence our children? Children are never supposed to discuss guns until they turn the magical age of 18 when it is suddenly ok to start carrying a REAL weapon. Make up your mind and get real. Kids are going to model what they see and hear from their role models... adults!

Why was this child's name published?

This is the town of Barnstable after all certainly we can't expect common sense to apply .

This world is going crazy... really suspend a child for playing with a LEGO GUN... how are children suppose to play cowboys and indians? or is that now politically incorrect? Can they play with a toy bow and arrow? because that is a weapon? or what about a toy car? because if you use the car inappropriately it could run over the lego man holding the lego gun and then it could be a legocide... So I guess we should just make our children sit in chairs and read...but wait... There are so many books that are politically incorrect now, we can't have them read Christmas stories, or ones that talk about violence, sex or racial inequality so that leaves the newspaper out....OMG, our poor children must just sit, they are up against idiotic educators that have years of education but lack common sense.

Adults who cannot tell the difference between a child playing with toys and a true threat to their safety should not be allowed around schools.

This is one of the most idiotic things I've read in months. If this were my school district, I would seriously push to get these "educators" away from my kids.

Although I realize the school probably had to make some sort of statement to the child about the gun not being appropriate in school... suspension is RIDICULOUS! Since the beginning of time boys have played cowboys and Indians, army men, cops and robbers etc.I work in a preschool and boys by nature find things to be guns... sticks, blocks, etc. I constantly tell them that they NEVER EVER point the guns at each other (if they do, the object is taken away), and you can never ever point guns at people. I hope this boy grows up to be a designer for Winchester and makes himself some big $$ . I am a mom, and a teacher and I oppose guns in general, but I don't think there is anything wrong with using your imagination to build ANYTHING... and I don't think kids who use Legos to make guns will become mass murderers in the future. TALK to the children, do not threaten and punish them!

If our soldiers or police all carried Lego guns we'd be screwed! There is nothing wrong with guns... (Guns are an important part of culture and heritage.... not to mention being protected under the constitution... that's pretty important stuff) but a ban on hammers is something to look at... yes I said hammers... according to recent FBI statistics, you are more likely to be murdered with a hammer than a rifle... how many kinder kids are banging away with those plastic toy hammers right now as we speak? Maybe the IDIOTS in the Barnstable Schools need to be focusing measures to protect kids from hammers! They can join up with the police and sponsor a hammer buy-back program to take hammers off the streets.... then they can pass their "knowledge" on to the building department so we can have a town wide ban on hammers and any project requiring these dangerous weapons. Next we can have a candle light vigil on the town green to mourn all the unnecessary hammer deaths... How many more will be murdered by hammers.... I'm a teacher too... and I oppose HAMMERS! (and don't get me started on forks... 400,000 die every year from obesity... oh nooooooooooooo!) Of course I'm just being facetious...

teachers and government need to stop banning and censoring free Americans PERIOD. They need to stop picking on 5 year olds and do their jobs... I hope the all “educators” involved are reading this piece of advice: “You need to apologize to that child and his family... then you need to pack your pencils and elitist ideas about how to brainwash our children... pack all that BS into you little environmental friendly green-mobiles and leave town. US History is what it is... and yes, it involved lots of guns to protect our rights and freedoms... I'm proud of that. You apparently are not. Move to England where you belong.” P.S. THAT FIVE YEAR OLD BOY THAT YOU ARE TORTURING WILL HAVE TO REGISTER FOR THE DRAFT/ SELECTIVE SERVICE AT AGE 18 TO DEFEND HIS COUNTRY.... SHOW HIM SOME RESPECT.. IF HE WANTS TO PLAY WITH LEGO GUNS AT HIS AGE TO FEEL GOOD ABOUT WHO HE IS, WHO ARE YOU TO CENSOR HIS CREATIVITY?

The real threat here isn't a child using creative toys to build a toy gun.

The threat is that the school is willing to punish a child for being a child.

The after school program teacher/supervisor should be fired and replaced with someone who has the capacity to understand the mind of a 5 year-old. Praise the boy for being creative, then gently explain that guns hurt people and a school is a place for learning and caring.

I just saw this little boys photo with his mom... he looks like a very bright child... here's something nobody is talking about... did anyone ever consider that having a toy gun in some way may actually comfort this child in light of recent school shootings? As a teacher I have seen many little boys use toys to make them feel more secure.... this boy probably knows full well that his teachers are not prepared to defend him should some nut walk in with a real weapon... smart boy being punished for being realistic? who knows.. I hope he gets better teachers soon.

It's abusive to instill so much fear in our very young children. If it's going to remain PC to ban toy guns fine. Ban stupid threats as well. Redirect the child's attention to another activity, and talk to the child about having concern for others. It's what we do in polite society. It's not dangerous to swear or fart in public, but we generally avoid it out of consideration for others' feelings. I suppose Lego guns in aftercare could be explained the same way, but suspension or any other punishment is going too far.

It's actually nice to see a story on here that actually makes people want to respond to it. Doesn't happen very often on Cape Cod news stories. I'm also glad to see so many rational adult responses instead of everyone being politically correct.

This child is 5 and obviously doesn't understand guns are dangerous and inappropriate for school or in general. And for people who say this child should get suspended is absurd because guns are EVERYWHERE now! From tv shows, childs cartoons, even the news!! Kids heard about the guns specially with the horrible day at Sandy Hook, since parents watch the news and the children are there to listen... So whoever thinks they should be suspended think AGAIN!!!!!

Missing the point. A kid making a toy gun and pointing it is one thing.... A kid being told to stop doing something that is disruptive is totally another.

The warning said the boy "used toys I appropriately". It was only after the mother went to the press that the administration made a villain out if the 5 yr old. The good news is that mom may have a new multi-age charter school to send her son to in a year or so.

For those interested, you can write this "Principal at Amato_Kathi@barnstable.k12.ma.us and let her know your thoughts.

Now the superintendent is saying the reprimand had nothing to do with the gun, but the boy's repeated bad behaviors towards other children. The fact that she talked about Sandy Hook Elementary as part of her response to the reprimand damages the credibility of her story, and by association, administrators at HyWest.

NICE TRY Czajkowski! Are you kidding me? We're talking about about a 5 year old making a "gun" out of LEGOS and making shooting sounds? Did he go “bang bang?” or did he go “Pooosh Pooosh?” -whatever it was, it must have been 'terrifying" for both you and your staff - perhaps counseling for a major post traumatic event is in order. GIVE ME A BREAK! And it astounds me that you'd rather take the side of one of your full grown adult teachers (and why don't you release his/her name?) than to realize that you're dealing with a very normal 5 year-old child! Show me one red-blooded American who has not done the same thing while playing! This child did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING wrong and you are projecting your inadequacies onto this very young and innocent kid. Do we know live in a culture where the only thing some insecure "educators" can do to rationalize their inability to keep children safe is to pick on the very children they serve... c'mon, give me a freakin' break! this child has been harassed by both you and your 'teachers' and you know it! I've said it before, and I'll say it again, you owe this child and his family and friends a sincere apology... until that happens you can expect zero support from me and other members of the community... have you ever considered how this boy's classmates feel? knowing that they can be singled out and chastised and threatened just for expressing themselves in a playful manner? You all make me sick. Shame on you.