Three-Year-Old Deaf Boy’s Name Violates Gun Policy

Apparently there is a school in Nebraska that believes that a deaf three-year-old boy’s name is in violation of their gun policy. You have to go read this.

Go here to see what the letter “H” looks like in sign language. My son is deaf and his name starts with the letter “H” and even when I was not a big fan of guns did I ever confuse that sign for a gun. And not only that, but  when I have seen someone actually make a “gun” with their fingers I have never been afraid.

You can’t change a person’s name. A child’s name is not for the school to decide. Beyond that, no one, not even the other 3 year old kids in this deaf child’s class think his name is gun nor are they afraid of his tiny little fingers. I guarantee it.

Our friend’s have a little boy named Gunner. Named after…gasp a gun. His dad is a former Marine sniper and his mommy has 2 gun tats and one is large. Whenever we call his name or she shows her belly, even in public, even with small children around, no one has ever ducked for cover or ran screaming in terror.

Our son went to a Headstart like preschool and 2 different times the school tried to get me to change his name sign. Once because his name sign is very close to the sign for boy and the teachers thought the other special needs kids would be confused. The second those in charge wanted a change was because sometimes when he signed his name, his middle finger would stand a bit too tall for their liking. I said no. Deal with it.

I figured the kids, even the slow ones were able to tell the difference between my son’s name and the word boy. It’s kind of like how if a little girl is named Lily no one in the room gets up and tries to stuff her into a vase full of water.

In addition, my son is Chinese and sometimes he actually signs using his middle finger straight up, on purpose, for the whole world to see. This is because in Chinese Sign Language that is the sign for brother. Different cultures, different languages. My son came to us at 4 with no language of any kind. None. We have taught him English, American Sign Language and some Chinese, both spoken and signed and guess what..even his late blooming brain knows the difference. For example, if he wants to sign in, Chinese Sign Language that his brother is here, we let him. BUT, if we are at the dinner table and he is none to pleased with eating his peas, he is not allowed to flip us off. I am sure you will be shocked to know he has never, not once confused the two.

Idiots.

30 thoughts on “Three-Year-Old Deaf Boy’s Name Violates Gun Policy

  1. Kids are SMART! A lot smarter than some adults. My guess after reading the article is that this is some school administrator on a power trip. People like that do not need to be in charge of anything but finding the door as the exit it!

    • Lol, yes. I find it sad that often those in education are the ones who expect the least from children, especially those that need the support the most.

  2. I wish I could say I was appalled at these stories – the one from New Hampshire and the one about your son’s preschool. But I’m not, because I have too many friends and family in the deaf community, and I am only too familiar with the paternalistic attitude of officialdom toward the deaf. Which is bad enough, but apparently “bureaucrat” + “fricking idiot” = bad results for all concerned.

    • Too funny and yes sad. We are blessed really. With the exception of that one program our kiddos have had great, great teachers, but that is not the case for many kids…period.

  3. I wish you were pulling a joke with this but I know too well you are not.

    What the heck is wrong in and with this world? Maybe it IS the water. Or pre-ZA syndrome.

  4. Read this story earlier – required damn near a full roll of Duct tape to hold my head together. At times it makes me think that we are so very near the end that only a true “crash and burn” to weed out the idiots is our only chance to survive as a species.

  5. As a special education teacher, I can’t even imagine anyone in the field being upset about his sign name. We would be wonderfully pleased that he understood that there is a sign to represent his name! The administrators of that school need to get a life!

  6. I saw that article earlier….do they seriously expect the entire deaf community to re-learn a new sign for the letter “H” (and “G”, as well, if my memory serves me correctly), all because someone thinks it may be mistaken as a gun? A 3-year-old’s fingers. Seriously.

    There’s simply no words in the English language (spoken or signed…although the Chinese sign for “brother” may be substituted) for the sheer stupidity of this.

  7. Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity…and I`m not sure about the universe.
    Albert Einstein

  8. Sigh, I’m a day late and a dollar short… I just put up a post that contained this one too! I’ll go point mine to here, as YOUR commentary is worth the time! 🙂

  9. “if we are at the dinner table and he is none to pleased with eating his peas, he is not allowed to flip us off.”

    You’re interfering with his free expression!!11elevenses!!1!!1

    Bad parent! Bad parent!

    (Mrs B worked with the deaf for a while in college. She is really good at that sign language thing. She can teach him the dirty words while you guys aren’t looking)

    • We don’t allow free thought or expression in our house.

      My kids could probably use your wife’s influence. They are a little stuffy.

  10. They better be glad I am not the boy’s dad. I would probably be in jail after ‘sorting out’ these idiots. I don’t suffer fools very well.

  11. I think this is the point where the kids get to learn the sign language we all know the school administrators need to be shown.

  12. Like NFO, I got home all incensed and was about to post the same thing. I was going to title it, The World Has Officially Gone Off the Rails. I’m glad I didn’t now. You’re post is so much better than mine would have been and with personal experiences I’m not even close to. Thanks for this.

  13. Wow, this just gave me a great idea for my new grandson who’s coming in Dec…. let me think:
    John Browning?
    Beretta?
    HK?
    Sigsaur?
    Smithwesson?
    Ruger?

    hummmm let me think on this….

    Now wonder kids ain’t learning nothin’ these days…Somebody put the retards in charge.

  14. These School Administrators need to worry about other things, this is a childs name. Not policy!!! I believe School Administrators feel they have the freedom to do as they please and as parents, we need to make sure they understand their not God, Police, or Parents to our children.
    I’m agree with Duke (above).

    • They most certaintly have other things to worry about. Looks like there was more to the story than just breaking the gun policy.

  15. I think this is just the tip of the iceberg. Really. Lessee, kids cannot take a pocket knife to school, they can’t fight back against a bully, they are taught that giving close to the right answer in a math question is fine, oh, yeah, I forgot, they can’t do or say anything that might offend someone. Put all that together and we now have kids that cannot think for themselves. Matter of fact they can’t do anything on their own either….they may hurt themselves or others. The word “Zombies” comes to mind. Oh well, welcome to George Orwell’s world…it is 1984…….bunch of damm bullshit that is going to bury us!

    • Your right. The schools are teaching our kids not to think. Really, we are fortunate where we live, but in general, it’s not good.

  16. what about words in foreign languages? According to Peter Farb in “Wordplay, What Happens When People Talk”, there is an indian tribe in British Columbia where it is embarassing to learn English because the English word, “Such” is almost identical in pronunciation with a vulgar indian word for a female body part used in reproduction. And what about German? “What did you do then with it.” translates to ..Was tut Sie dann, Damit,” which is close to cursing. Who decides? Should English always yield or should people grow a pair and get some perspective on a childish obsession?

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