Brandt's Tumblr

"When history buff James Dassatti was asked to do a presentation for a U.S. history class at the Twin Valley Middle School, he wanted to pull out all the stops. As a Revolutionary and Civil War re-enactor and executive director of the Living History Association, Dassatti owns elaborate, historically accurate costumes that he wears for such occasions. One of his goals is to help people imagine what fighting in a war must have been like, and his presentation isn’t really complete without allowing the audience to see live replicas of old firearms, he said. So he was disappointed when, while making preparations, he was notified by the eighth-grade teacher that the Twin Valley School Board would not allow him to bring the historical muskets to school.
[…]
Ed Metcalfe, Twin Valley School Board chairman, said the board decided to stick to its guns when it comes to its no tolerance weapons policy because the precedent had already been set. “These are funtioning weapons, even though there is no ammunition, and basically we feel that times have changed,” Metcalfe said. “There was a time when, during hunting season, kids brought their hunting weapons to school and were taught hunting safety. But in the last few years, schools all over Vermont and the country have changed the rules about allowing weapons in school."

Historic guns cause unease. Sad. When you take a stand on principle, it should be a principle that means something, not a principle that you admit is arbitrary. Think about what the kids are learning from this example.