Parents tend to have strong views about whether or not their children play with guns. In our house, I don't allow toy guns – the reason being that I grew up in Belfast at the heart of the violent troubles, and have a hard time seeing weapons as innocent playthings. But even I don't object to the kind of teeny weeny guns that come with Playmobil or Lego figures. They're so tiny, they don't tend to spark off violent games and don't exactly look threatening.
However, a school in New York would disagree, as they threatened to suspend a nine-year-old boy who was playing with one of the miniature guns from his Lego police officers.
Patrick Timoney's mother Laura was astonished to receive a call from her son's school. She told the New York Daily News that Patrick was in tears because he was being threatened with a suspension by the school's head teacher.
His only crime was the possession of a two inch toy gun, which he'd placed in the hand of a Lego police officer during a lunchtime toy break. Patrick's father, a retired police officer, says he has "no problem with the rules" but doesn't see why the tiny gun caused such a big problem.
Here's a video report from the New York Daily News, where Patrick and his family describe the incident:
Source [ParentDish US]