Two 7-Year-Old Boys Suspended for Using Pencils Like Guns [POLL]

Remember playing cops and robbers as a kid, or cowboys and Indians, or rather cowboys and native Americans?  Remember when everything you had could be used as a gun, even your pencil? We if you did that today, it could get you a couple of days off from school.

In Suffolk Va, 7 year old Christopher Marshall and his classmate were suspended for pointing their pencils at each other and making machine gun noises.

Christopher’s father Paul is an ex-marine and explains the situation below:

"When I asked him about it, he said, 'Well I was being a Marine and the other guy was being a bad guy,'" "It's as simple as that."

Marshall, a former Marine, said he believes school officials overreacted.

But Suffolk Public Schools spokeswoman Bethanne Bradshaw said a pencil is considered a weapon when it's pointed at someone in a threatening way and gun noises are made.

"Some children would consider it threatening, who are scared about shootings in schools or shootings in the community," Bradshaw said. "Kids don't think about 'Cowboys and Indians' anymore, they think about drive-by shootings and murders and everything they see on television news every day."

Bradshaw said the policy has been in place for at least two decades. It also bans drawing a picture of a gun and pointing a finger in a threatening manner.

Marshall said his son has good grades and no history of being disruptive in class. On the suspension note, the teacher noted that the boy stopped when she told him to do so.

He said school administrators failed to use common sense.

"Enough is enough," said Paul Marshall. "I see it as the tail is now wagging the dog." Do you agree? I do. Take our poll and let us know what you think.