Arsenal Tech High School in Indianapolis expelled openly gay 17-year-old junior Darnell Young late Monday for carrying a stun gun to school to protect himself from bullies. After months of what Young calls relentless taunting and physical violence, his mom, Chelisa Grimes, gave him the stun gun for self-defense, and to reverse Young's sharp slide in grades and degrading emotional health. On April 16, surrounded by six antagonists, Young fired the gun in the air, prompting police to arrest him and his school to eventually expel him for a year. His mother says she had complained to the school at least 10 times, to no avail, before arming her son. (She claims the principal did little more than suggest her son stop dressing flamboyantly.) "I do not promote violence — not at all — but what is a parent to do"? Grimes tells CNN. Was Grimes right to give her son a weapon?
Bullying isn't an excuse to arm your child: There should be no tolerance of "extreme bullying" in schools, says The Indianapolis Star in an editorial. But there also "can be no excusing the use or even possession of an unlawful weapon by a student." The Indianapolis school board made its decision, according to its rules and best judgment, and now local and state officials have to step up to tackle the scourge of bullying that drove Young to take such "an extreme act of self-defense."
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