Lynn school weapons ban now in force

LYNN – A City Council vote last summer to ban all weapons from Lynn schools was officially adopted Tuesday as local law.Once passed by the council, the ordinance had to lay over for 60 days to allow for opposition.”Nobody opposed it, so now it’s the law in Lynn and will hopefully make our schools safer,” Ward 3 Councilor and Ordinance Committee Chairman Darren Cyr said Tuesday.During the public hearing on Aug. 10, Lawrence Wentzell, a Lynn police detective assigned to the juvenile unit, noted that over the past three years, local police responded 57 times to disturbances in the city schools and were called on an additional 30 occasions for weapons-related incidents, but only six arrests resulted.Although state laws make illegal such devices as throwing stars, pepper sprays, brass knuckles, studded bracelets and double-edge knives, it does not address many other weapon-like devices, including paintball guns, box cutters, BB guns and blades under 21/2 inches in length. The new Lynn ordinance encompasses all such objects.The topic of school weapon bans made national headlines this week when a Delaware first-grader was suspended for bringing his favorite camping utensil to school – a combination knife, spoon and fork. The student, Zachary Christie, 6, was ordered to spend 45 days in his district’s alternative school for troublemakers after he tried to use the utensil to eat lunch at Downes Elementary School in Newark.Christiana School District officials say the zero-tolerance policy on weapons must be enforced, giving them no choice but to act regardless of the boy’s age or what he intended to do with the device. A public outcry ensued and, by late Tuesday, the seven-member board had voted unanimously to reduce the punishment for kindergartners and first-graders who bring weapons to school or commit other violent offenses to a suspension ranging from three to five days.Lynn’s new ban works similarly, giving police much-needed legal teeth to fight against what described by Wentzell as an amazing flow of weapons into the schools.”I understand what they did in Delaware, but common sense has to prevail,” said Cyr. “The kid was only six years old.”Kenneth S. Trump, president of the consulting firm National School Safety and Security Services, told reporters following the Delaware case, “When that common sense is missing, it sends a message of inconsistency to students, which actually creates a less safe environment. People have to understand that assessing on a case-by-case basis doesn’t automatically equate to being soft or unsafe.”Zachary Christie said in an interview on CBS’ “Early Show” that he understands weapons don’t belong in school. “I agree that they shouldn’t bring dangerous weapons to school but I don’t think the punishment should be this bad,” he said. “It’s not fair.”The boy said he misses his classmates and wants to return to school.Newark school officials concede the ban needs additional flexibility.State Democratic Rep. Terry Schooley sponsored a bill that gave Delaware school districts more flexibility on punishments, but the law applies to expulsions, not suspensions. Schooley was moved to act after a fifth-grader in same school district was expelled last year for bringing a birthday cake and a serrated knife to cut it with; the expulsion was overturned.”A state law can’t cover every little circumstance that happens in a school district,” she said.Robert Ferrari, the Lynn police officer in charge of school security and emergency planning, previously told councilors the local ordinance needed amending and clarification so that law enforcement officers can arrest those in possession of any kind of knife, spray or other weapon-like object in a school or public building.”We want the kids to understand that if you bring a weapon to school, the action against you will be sure and swift,” he said. “There’s absolutely no reason to carry a weapon to school.”