Student Arrested And Charged With 'Terrorizing' For Shooting Classmates... With An iPhone App

from the reportedly,-assailant-also-made-'pew-pew-pew'-noises-with-his-mouth dept

Mon, Sep 16th 2013 5:24am — Tim Cushing

Much like non-terroristic threats are now the new terroristic threats, in today's climate of zero tolerance policies, fake weapons have become the new real weapons. Pop tart bitten into a vaguely gun-ish shape? That's a weapon. Fingers clasped together in a gun-like fashion? That's a weapon. Drawing of a gun? That's a weapon. And now, virtual, video-game, only-appear-on-a-powered-up-iPhone guns? Those are weapons.

In a story that sounds as absolutely made-up and ridiculous as the name of the high school at which it occurred (which I would love to believe is a mashup of H.L. Mencken and the upper middle class twits he would have tweaked bitterly and mercilessly), a student has been arrested for "shooting" his classmates with an augmented reality app. NO. I AM SERIOUS.

A student at H. L. Bourgeois High School accused of using a mobile phone app to simulate shooting his classmates was booked and jailed in Terrebonne Parish.

There's no part of that preceding sentence that isn't mind-flayingly ridiculous. Want to see how lifelike this "simulation" is? Here's some "exciting" video of the app (Real Strike) in action.

If you'll note, the other mall patrons don't seem the least bit alarmed that someone is firing off round after virtual round at them with an iPhone. In fact, everyone looks completely unaware, not to mention unscathed. I suppose it might be a bit more unsettling if this were uploaded and publicly viewable [oh wait...], but the emphasis is on "a bit." Unless you're Major Malcolm Wolfe of the Terrebonne Sheriff's Department.

[Major Malcolm] Wolfe's office says a 15-year-old was arrested after posting a video on YouTube using the Real Strike app to shoot other kids at school, “He said it was a result of him being frustrated and tired of being bullied. He said that he had no intentions of hurting anybody. We have to take all threats seriously and we have no way of knowing that without investigating and getting to the bottom of it.”

He says the student was arrested for terrorizing and interference of the operation of a school.

Wolfe says "investigating," but nothing else in his statements indicates any sort of investigation has taken place. As for the charges, they seem disproportionate, to say the least. No one was terrorized or interfered with while the video was being recorded. After the video was uploaded, there still wasn't much "terrorizing" or "interfering" occurring. People were being not being physically shot by an arsenal of fake weapons contained entirely within a kid's cell phone, nor were they being threatened in any specific sense. Just because it was (temporarily) uploaded to YouTube doesn't suddenly make the "shooting" more "real."

Here's the actual wording for Louisiana's "terrorizing" statute, not much of which seems to fit the student's actions.

§40.1. Terrorizing

A. Terrorizing is the intentional communication of information that the commission of a crime of violence is imminent or in progress or that a circumstance dangerous to human life exists or is about to exist, with the intent of causing members of the general public to be in sustained fear for their safety; or causing evacuation of a building, a public structure, or a facility of transportation; or causing other serious disruption to the general public.

B. It shall be an affirmative defense that the person communicating the information provided for in Subsection A of this Section was not involved in the commission of a crime of violence or creation of a circumstance dangerous to human life and reasonably believed his actions were necessary to protect the welfare of the public.

C. Whoever commits the offense of terrorizing shall be fined not more than fifteen thousand dollars or imprisoned with or without hard labor for not more than fifteen years, or both.

That's a whole lot of time served and a hefty fine for playing an iPhone game. It's going to be pretty hard for a prosecutor to make this stick as none of the above really applies to the teen's actions. Some concerned parents contacted the authorities after viewing the video, but it's hard to believe the student's actions resulted in creating "sustained fear" or a "serious disruption." The school wasn't evacuated or put on lock down so other than someone in administration overreacting (and there's no details suggesting anyone has), there's really no "interference" there.

But I guess this all depends on whether the prosecutor is as easily moved to overreaction as the Sheriff's Department is. Wolfe sounds overly worried. Let's hope that's not contagious.

“You can’t ignore it,” says Major Malcolm Wolfe. “We don’t know at what time that game becomes reality.”

I don't know, Maj. Wolfe, but I'll try to guess. It becomes reality when the student has access to 25 military-grade weapons? Or access to any weapons? The willingness and ability to actually gun down his classmates with real weapons? His parents stated their son didn't have access to any guns. But still: safety.

Here's the money quote, the one that indicates that "safety" means overreacting.

“With all the school shooting (sic) we’ve had in the United States, it’s just not a very good game to be playing at this time,” according to Wolfe.

With all the school shootings? As a member of law enforcement, it might do Wolfe some good to exchange his hysteria for facts. The number of mass shootings (school or otherwise) isn't rising. Just because something happened recently doesn't mean it's increasing and just because you want to arrest a kid for exercising a little non-violent catharsis doesn't make this belief any more true.

And for all the tough talk by school districts and other authority figures about fighting bullying, it's the bullied kid who ends up in cuffs. Nice one, Team Safety First.

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Filed Under: arrests, augmented reality, kids, overreaction, police, terror

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silverscarcat (profile), 16 Sep 2013 @ 4:48am

This is...
What the fucking hell?!

This is what our country has become.

The land of the watched and home of the cowardly.
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Ninja (profile), 16 Sep 2013 @ 4:55am

Well, phones can be turned into weapons in San Diego so maybe the trend has reached Louisiana?

I hope the kid wind the mandatory lawsuits and this moron loses his job in law enforcement.
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silverscarcat (profile), 16 Sep 2013 @ 5:03am

Re:
You really think that he'll lose his job?

When police in D.C. can make threats at the First Lady and still not be arrested, you think anything will happen?
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Chuckt, 16 Sep 2013 @ 5:38am

Why it is necessary to suspend or kick students out
The reason they do this is because even though it was a prank, someone's feelings might get hurt and someone may try to get revenge and might bring the real thing to school so they have to have rules to protect everyone.
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The Real Michael, 16 Sep 2013 @ 5:40am

Welcome to the witch hunts of the 21st Century, where guilt is assumed by default and everyone is a suspect.

The terrorists are winning.
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Ninja (profile), 16 Sep 2013 @ 5:44am

Re: Re:
Threats at Michelle? Really? When? (can I get a link? xD)
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Sep 2013 @ 5:45am

"A. Terrorizing is the intentional communication of information that the commission of a crime of violence is imminent or in progress or that a circumstance dangerous to human life exists or is about to exist, with the intent of causing members of the general public to be in sustained fear for their safety; [...]"

Wouldn't this mean that whenever the government tells the public about terrorist threats, that should be considered terrorizing?
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Sep 2013 @ 5:49am

Re: Why it is necessary to suspend or kick students out
Someone's feeling may have been hurt so let's jail the bullied kid. Just W A O W.
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Skeptical Cynic (profile), 16 Sep 2013 @ 5:50am

Ah, those crazy kids...
Thinking that virtual reality is not really reality and that by doing something that could not possibly cause any harm to anyone to express your frustration is OK and legal.

I mean where do they get these ideas. That it is OK to be upset or even GOD FORBID angry because someone treated you unpleasantly.

Next time you just need to write in your diary is only the most vague terms that people are upsetting you and that you are sad by this, otherwise you will be upset by the amount of time you spend in jail.
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Skeptical Cynic (profile), 16 Sep 2013 @ 5:51am

Re:
I like your logic here, but you do understand that the government never violates any of it's laws. Never. Unthinkable.

So yeah, not really.
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Beta (profile), 16 Sep 2013 @ 5:58am

Re:
I like this part:

A. Terrorizing is [...] causing evacuation of a building, a public structure, or a facility of transportation..."

Remember kids, don't touch that fire alarm, even if the school's on fire!
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Sep 2013 @ 5:58am

Reaping years of ever-inflating "terrorism" definition
Anyone with half a brain saw it coming starting post-after 9/11 jumping on the "terrorism" bandwagon to justify their actions, policies and budget requests. And now they believe in their own lies it seems. And citizens are the one to get terrorized by the surveillance society.
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Skeptical Cynic (profile), 16 Sep 2013 @ 5:59am

Re: This is...
When we allow ourselves to become defined by a fear that is spurious those that feel it their job to protect us from a fear react in a way that is spurious.

So we either grow a set or agree to have them removed.
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Paul, 16 Sep 2013 @ 6:04am

Re: The Real Michael
The terrorists are winning

The robber barons won a long, long time ago. Welcome to the new dark ages
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Sep 2013 @ 6:10am

Re: Re: Re:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/10/police-officer-michelle-obama-threat_n_3574164.html
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aethercowboy (profile), 16 Sep 2013 @ 6:15am

I guess Pat Robertson was right...
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Zakida Paul (profile), 16 Sep 2013 @ 6:20am

And the US just keeps on getting more idiotic every day.
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Skeptical Cynic (profile), 16 Sep 2013 @ 6:29am

Re:
I wish it was just the US. That way I would have some place I could move to.
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Sep 2013 @ 6:35am

Re:
The terrorists already won. That's why this sort of ridiculous thing happens.
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Sep 2013 @ 6:37am

Re:
I've been saying that for about a year now, since the more idiotic crap policy started getting in the internet's face.
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RyanNerd (profile), 16 Sep 2013 @ 6:40am

Bang! Bang! You're Dead!
This reminds me of a story from 2009. My wife is from England. My kids remember this news report and sometimes tease their mother when she asks them to do something they don't want to -- by saying in a thick British accent: Bang! Bang! You're dead!
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RyanNerd (profile), 16 Sep 2013 @ 6:41am

Sorry here's the link...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/6112560/Soldiers-banned-from-training-with-live-rounds.html
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Sep 2013 @ 6:50am

Re: Re:
A guy in my high school class did that once, pulled the fire alarm. On a day there had be some vaguely threatening rumor floating around the internet he thought it'd be hilarious to pull the alarm. IIRC, he was just expelled, no other authorities involved.
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Tim R (profile), 16 Sep 2013 @ 6:54am

Guilty as charged...
I do cardio kickboxing sessions once or twice a week. For at least 20 minutes, I throw punches and kicks at a large, heavy bag. I'm obviously a threat to the citizenry.

Excuse me while I become a fugitive from the law.
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Sep 2013 @ 7:04am

Re: Guilty as charged...
That's just working out, not a threat to anyone. For that you'd need to put a picture of someone's face on the bag, or possibly just draw a smiley face on it.
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Andreas (profile), 16 Sep 2013 @ 7:10am

We should hand out sticks to all teachers and professors, so they can shoot back in defense. Come on umerica, get some common sense.
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Michael, 16 Sep 2013 @ 7:10am

Does anyone know where to get that app? That's pretty cool!
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Sep 2013 @ 7:19am

Re: Re:
Well, he's got an affirmative defense...

"It shall be an affirmative defense that the person communicating the information provided for in Subsection A of this Section was not involved in the... creation of a circumstance dangerous to human life and..."

Except if you read this carefully, if the student (or teacher) accidentally set that fire, he's still on the hook if he pulls that alarm. The law states that the communication of information must be intentional, but the affirmative defense does NOT state anything about intentionally creating the circumstances.

And he cannot tell someone ELSE to pull the fire alarm, or even tell anyone about the fire, because then he would be communicating information causing evacuation/disruption/fear for safety.

What's the point of electing all these lawyers to public office if they can't even get the laws right?
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TheLastCzarnian (profile), 16 Sep 2013 @ 7:22am

Duh!
Of course the authorities go after the kid who gets bullied! Do you think we get bullied because we are strong, cool, well-spoken, or rich? No, we get bullied because we are weak and poor, wearing 10-year-old fashions because we shop at the Good Will instead of Abercrombe.
Did you think people who get into positions of authority were the bullied, or the bullies?
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Ninja (profile), 16 Sep 2013 @ 7:23am

Re: Re: Re: Re:
Aaah now I remember, thanks a lot!
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Sep 2013 @ 7:25am

Hmmm. Interesting statute
A. Terrorizing is the intentional communication of information that the commission of a crime of violence is imminent or in progress or that a circumstance dangerous to human life exists or is about to exist, with the intent of causing members of the general public to be in sustained fear for their safety; or causing evacuation of a building, a public structure, or a facility of transportation; or causing other serious disruption to the general public.

IANAL. This seems like it could be used against many a police department, government agency, and media outlet. I have received a great deal of communications from these and other groups that try to keep us in a sustained state of fear so that we will comply with their desire to expand power...OMG! The terrorist have already won!
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PRMan, 16 Sep 2013 @ 7:28am

Re: Re: Why it is necessary to suspend or kick students out
Yeah. How about they do their jobs and suspend the bullies for bullying instead? Oh, that's right, because it's probably the principal's son and his buddies.
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PRMan, 16 Sep 2013 @ 7:31am

Re: Re:
When I was in school there was a kid that got suspended for pulling the fire alarm when there was a fire. Granted, it was a small, out-of-control fire in the science lab that was quickly put out, but he did the right thing. All the students got together and refused to do any work in any class until they agreed to drop the suspension and bring the student back the next day.
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PRMan, 16 Sep 2013 @ 7:32am

Re:
Maybe he's popular in Louisiana...
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Sep 2013 @ 7:40am

these fucking morons arrest people for the most ridiculous and ridiculously innocent of things JUST BECAUSE THEY CAN! they as is more and more usual in the USA, have authority so abuse it rather than use it. i often wonder how these so-called upholders of the law, these pinnacles of society, who are sacrificing so much to ensure we are safe from being murdered or worse by a kid with the ultimate of offensive weapons, a mobile phone, would act and react in a real world situation? i wonder if the bluster than give out when they, accompanied by hoards of other like minded upholders of a free society, are arresting someone half their size, would disappear literally down the toilet?
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CR, 16 Sep 2013 @ 7:47am

Edukasun
enough about the app... what about the nearly unintelligible person commenting. This is English? THREE-Ds really? I watched it twice and still missed much of this mush mouth rhetoric and retarded monolog from this rocket scientist.

Education is the barrier that we permanently separate us in our new two class system... Those with private school education and those doomed and damned by the Public Schools...
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sharp as a marble, 16 Sep 2013 @ 7:49am

this reminds me of the kids in the hall "head squishing" videos. it's sad that this day and age something like that would be a terrorist threat.
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art guerrilla (profile), 16 Sep 2013 @ 7:59am

Re: Re: Re:
good on you...

that is about the ONLY way we can roll back this bullshit: people standing together and simply saying "NO!, we're not putting up with this bullshit any longer..."

unless/until we sheeple bare our fangs and bark back, The They (tm) will keep ratcheting down the strictures...

TAKE BACK our country, TAKE BACK our freedoms, RESTORE the Constitution and Bill of Rights, and shove those motherfucking eagles up The Man's butt...

art guerrilla
aka ann archy
eof
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Digger, 16 Sep 2013 @ 8:21am

*Whoop ... Whoop* Retard Alert - Retard Alert
Time to post hundreds of thousands of "I squish your head" thumb-forefinger pics of the Sheriff and the School Administrators there - they are all grade-a, class-1 retards that should have been terminated in-vitro before they were allowed to contaminate the rest of the population.
Now we'll have to excise a larger portion of the population in order to control the spread of this insidious cancer called "lunacy-incredulitis" that has obviously spread.

Nuke em from orbit, it's the only way to be sure.
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artp (profile), 16 Sep 2013 @ 8:29am

Re: Duh!
Meanwhile, the International Bullies Union had no comment.
:-(
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R.H. (profile), 16 Sep 2013 @ 8:33am

Re:
That reasoning falls afoul of Subsection B:

B. It shall be an affirmative defense that the person communicating the information provided for in Subsection A of this Section was not involved in the commission of a crime of violence or creation of a circumstance dangerous to human life and reasonably believed his actions were necessary to protect the welfare of the public.

The emphasis is mine. Since they believe that it's in the welfare of the public, no law was broken.
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Sluggo, 16 Sep 2013 @ 8:40am

�You can�t ignore it,� says Major Malcolm Wolfe. �We don�t know at what time that game becomes reality.�

Correction, Major Malcolm Wolfe: You don't know that the game DOES become a reality.
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John Fenderson (profile), 16 Sep 2013 @ 8:50am

Re: Why it is necessary to suspend or kick students out
Dumbest reason ever.
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DOlz (profile), 16 Sep 2013 @ 9:07am

It helps with that feeling of impotence
They over regulate on imaginary weapons because the NRA hasn't gotten to that on their to do list yet.
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Michael, 16 Sep 2013 @ 9:08am

�We don�t know at what time that game becomes reality.�

Thank goodness we have guys like this looking after our safety. I would have looked at this game and said "It's just a video game."

Luckily, he has the foresight to think ahead to a time when video games start to leak out of our devices and become reality. Or, we enter some kind of virtual reality in which these games BECOME the reality and can actually do some real physical harm.

I thought all that kind of thing was just science-fiction, but I suppose like the Star Trek communicator, we should really be worried about science-fiction turning into science.
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Internet Zen Master (profile), 16 Sep 2013 @ 9:22am

On the fence about this
While it's obvious that Real Strike is harmless and provides about as much training with actual weapons as the real [sarcasm]"violent evil murder simulator"[/sarcasm] Call of Duty, I can understand why some of the students' parents reacted the way they did. Maybe some of them thought: "if this boy had access to real guns, he'd probably do something like this in real life!" Flawed, stupid logic? Yeah, but they're just parents thinking about their kids.

The sheriff's department, on the other hand, are completely blowing this out of proportion. "Terrorizing"? Really? Maybe if he was trying to intimidate everyone who was bullying him by posting the video to YouTube, but I kinda doubt it.

Maybe if the guns in the app fired lasers instead of bullets we wouldn't have this problem.

I highly doubt this kid will be get convicted, but who knows these days.

As the Zen Master says, "We'll see."
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Bah!, 16 Sep 2013 @ 9:23am

BS
Come on FFS! can we please limit the label "terrorist" to people/groups attacking our nation with the political agendas like destroying our nation through fear, destructive laws, and mass expenditures of our budget?

Just a thought..
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Berenerd (profile), 16 Sep 2013 @ 9:37am

Re: Re:
Police live by different rules because they need to protect us don't ya know
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OldGeezer (profile), 16 Sep 2013 @ 9:47am

When my son was about 8 years old in the mid 90's he was already pretty good at programing. He couldn't stand the popular boy band the Hansons so he re-wrote an open source video game to substitute their photos as the bad guys to shoot at. When one of his teachers saw the floppy with the label "Kill the Hansons" she freaked out a bit but she called us instead of law enforcement. I convinced her that my kid only meant it as a joke and he really wasn't going to stalk a boy band to kill them. If that had been today he probably would have been suspended and hauled to juvenile lock up and faced charges.
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Deranged Poster, 16 Sep 2013 @ 10:00am

Re: Why it is necessary to suspend or kick students out
This stupid post hurt my feelings and may of hurt others feelings, the Poster Chucket needs to be arrested!!! After all someone may try to get revenge for their stupid postings and we have to have rules to protect everyone !!!
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Brazilian Guy, 16 Sep 2013 @ 10:02am

Well, if the 3D printer manufacturers are being harassed because their products could be used to create guns, so the defense should just motion that all the major phone manufacturers be included in the legal proceedings as illegal and unlawfull weapon dealers. Also, the major game publishers for those platforms. Let's see if that would get enough money to maintain the case until the issue is settled in court.

This kind of logic that law enforcement around the world is taking, this retrograde stance totaly divorced from the reality, is as bad as those troll patent firms that go after consumers of printers because they were infringing the patent by not licencing it. And should be dealt in the same way.
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Daniel Joseph Calvanese (profile), 16 Sep 2013 @ 10:06am

Already in a dystopia.
Attempts at profiling school shooters have ended up concluding that they only have two things in common: that they are likely to be male, and that they are likely to be bullied. [Source: http://www.amazon.com/Going-Postal-Rebellion-Workplaces-Columbine/dp/1932360824]

Then, the police look for answers everywhere except for the scene of the crime. They end up blaming triggers instead of our culture of stress and fear.

The victims end up as super victims, and we don't care. Cheating, bullying, and fear-mongering win here. We're already in a dystopia. We aren't much different than the world in this show: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psycho-Pass
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Deranged Poster, 16 Sep 2013 @ 10:06am

Re:
I don't know, maybe from the Link in the story ?
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/real-strike-original-3d-augmented/id507884100?mt=8
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Sep 2013 @ 10:14am

I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It's a depression. Everybody's out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel's worth, banks are going bust, shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter. Punks are running wild in the street and there's nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there's no end to it. We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat, and we sit watching our TV's while some local newscaster tells us that today we had fifteen homicides and sixty-three violent crimes, as if that's the way it's supposed to be. We know things are bad - worse than bad. They're crazy. It's like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don't go out any more. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we are living in is getting smaller, and all we say is, 'Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials and I won't say anything. Just leave us alone.' Well, I'm not gonna leave you alone. I want you to get mad! I don't want you to protest. I don't want you to riot - I don't want you to write to your congressman because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write. I don't know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crime in the street. All I know is that first you've got to get mad. You've got to say, 'I'm a HUMAN BEING, God damn it! My life has VALUE!' So I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window. Open it, and stick your head out, and yell, 'I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANY MORE!' I want you to get up right now, sit up, go to your windows, open them and stick your head out and yell - 'I'm as mad as hell and I'm not going to take this any more!' Things have got to change. But first, you've gotta get mad!... You've got to say, 'I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this any more!' Then we'll figure out what to do about the depression and the inflation and the oil crisis. But first get up out of your chairs, open the window, stick your head out, and yell, and say it: "I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANY MORE!"
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Deranged Poster, 16 Sep 2013 @ 10:19am

Re:
Not one for much Lying are you ?
(I would say extradition, but that's not descriptive enough)
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Tech Dirt, 16 Sep 2013 @ 10:29am

Retarded
E-mail the principal of the Highschool and let him know thats hes a retard: matthewhodson@tpsd.org
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A Holland, 16 Sep 2013 @ 10:42am

Seems like an updated version of
"I'm crushing your head"
and equally harmless.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwlAvsPvPfg
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bleedsblue, 16 Sep 2013 @ 11:34am

I actually find the conditioning of this app terrifying.
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Uriel-238 (profile), 16 Sep 2013 @ 11:39am

Well, I, for one, feel terrorised by the events of this case, since it sites yet another example of someone being arrested and jailed by our overreaching Law Enforcement due to the arbitrary panic of others. Is my son going to end up in jail for some random-but-innocuous behavior? Am I?

�We don�t know at what time that game becomes reality.�

I don't know, Maj. Wolfe, but I'll try to guess. It becomes reality when the student has access to 25 military-grade weapons? Or access to any weapons? The willingness and ability to actually gun down his classmates with real weapons?

Pretty much anyone who is old enough to understand a Looney Tunes cartoon is able to differentiate fantasy from reality (with few exceptions, such as Major Wolfe). Even young children playing FPSes rated well outside their age range (e.g. M for Mature) can tell the difference between a COD title and picking up an AR-15. There's a certain gravity to real weapons much like that of walking close to an unprotected ledge.

We're seeing more and more increased liquifaction of the law, as the police are more forgiving of its own missteps and so of the public's, where it's become acceptable to incarcerate someone just in case something is dangerous or an indicator of crimethought, rather than being an actual crime.

It is already the tolerated norm, but for internet reprisal. I expect it's already being abused to harrass people who are disfavored by those in power. Oh, wait...

As of this posting I have not received a US National Security Letter or any classified gag order from an agent of the United States
Encrypted with Morbius-Cochrane Perfect Steganographic Codec 1.2.001
Monday, September 16, 2013 11:10:09 AM
soldier napkin kitchen guitar jealousy mole stardom blanket
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Sep 2013 @ 12:30pm

Re: Re: Re:
On TechDirt

Teen's Joke 'Threat' Lands Him In Solitary; While Cop Saying He Wants To 'Kill' The First Lady Walks Free

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130709/18282723752/teens-joking-threat-lands-him-solitary -confinement-cop-says-he-wants-to-kill-first-lady-walks-free.shtml
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Sep 2013 @ 12:56pm

My friend posted a video of himself using this app to shoot his dog. I'll alert PETA, the ASPCA and the sheriff's deptment immediately!
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Nick Burns (profile), 16 Sep 2013 @ 1:16pm

I have this app on my iPad...hell, I've had this app pretty much ever since the the iPad 2 came out. There's even a warning that comes up when you start to play

Do not target at innocent people or animals who are not aware of this app.

Notice that second part. Once my pets become aware of this app... I'm in much bigger trouble than firing an augmented reality weapon. :)
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Cowards Anonymous, 16 Sep 2013 @ 2:38pm

Obviously, the correct way to handle a kid who is being bullied in school is for the school administration and the Sheriff's Department to join in and bully him too. I'm sure that the more he gets bullied the less likely he is to snap and go on a rampage, right? Maybe he'll just commit suicide so the rest of the school can feel safe knowing he won't "shoot" them with his iPhone camera (in the photography sense).

/sarcasm. I really do not condone the actions of the school or Sheriff in this case.
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Deborah (profile), 16 Sep 2013 @ 8:46pm

Welcome to the New World Order
I told my kids, at times I was going to kill them when they made a big mess or when they did something really bad. They knew this was just words. They are in their late twenties and thirties now.

We are becoming a police state, big brother is everywhere. We are no longer a free society. As George Bush Sr put it, "where law and order will abide". Welcome to the New World Order! We are now programmed to believe whatever they want us to believe! America can't even see it's own demise!
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Fred, 17 Sep 2013 @ 9:34am

Speak English & no you're not allowed to redefine it
Speak English & no you're not allowed to redefine English (language) in ways that turns non criminal actions into crimes. How can a picture of a gun be possession of a weapon. Unfortunately many school districts have punished children for this very "crime". This activity predates 9/11. Children are being taught that they're guilty of things that they never did because their behaviour was redefined as a criminal action after the action was taken. Allowing authorities to redefine the language gives them absolute control. As bizarre as this individual case may seem there are many more and very likely a few in your school district. Yes, I'm basically saying that the world has gone nuts. You should check out the policies of your local school board and if they (most likely they do) punish kids for drawing guns then you should take action to reform the school board, otherwise some kid will be unjustly punished for possession of a weapon. Many years ago my god son was punished for searching "Columbine" in Google. He had heard about it but didn't know what it was about and was curious. You might ask how it's possible that someone wouldn't know about Columbine, but if you do then you certainly don't realize that most kids today weren't even born when it happened. After another similar incident his teacher said that he didn't raise his hand in class and participate in discussions anymore like he used to. Wonder why? As long as we allow authorities to refined our language whenever they choose we will never be free.
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Fred, 17 Sep 2013 @ 9:41am

Re: Already in a dystopia.
Truth is that most kids that bully are also bullied, and almost all boys & girls will be both, therefore the only thing they have in common is that they're boys.
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Anonymous Coward, 17 Sep 2013 @ 6:38pm

Re: Re: Re:
No they don't. Courts have ruled they have no duty to protect us. Their entire job is enforcement of statutes!
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