WINNIPEG — A Winnipeg teenager has been suspended from school after he was overheard saying he had a gun in his pocket.
But the teen, who doesn’t own a gun or know anyone who does, claims he was just trying to make a point about the futility of Prime Minister Paul Martin’s campaign promise to ban handguns.
Brendon Hardt, a 14-year-old student at John Pritchard school, said he made the comments while discussing current events with his class on Friday morning.
Last week on the federal election campaign trail, Martin pledged that a Liberal government would ban handgun ownership in Canada.
‘‘I said, ‘I have a gun in my pocket right now, how would the government know about it?’,’’ Brendon said. ‘‘I was trying to show how unsafe schools could be, and how anyone could just walk in with a gun, and no one would know.’’
He said he made the comments to a friend, but a teacher overheard him. Brendon was sent to the principal’s office, where he said he was questioned for the next several hours.
He said the principal then drove him home and told him he was suspended for much of the next week.
‘‘He was saying he thought that I was a threat,’’ Brendon said. ‘‘He said, even if he was 95 per cent sure (that I wasn’t), he still couldn’t take that chance.’’
John Carlyle, superintendent of the River East Transcona School Division, did not return calls for comment.
http://www.brandonsun.com/story.php?story_id=13260
But the teen, who doesn’t own a gun or know anyone who does, claims he was just trying to make a point about the futility of Prime Minister Paul Martin’s campaign promise to ban handguns.
Brendon Hardt, a 14-year-old student at John Pritchard school, said he made the comments while discussing current events with his class on Friday morning.
Last week on the federal election campaign trail, Martin pledged that a Liberal government would ban handgun ownership in Canada.
‘‘I said, ‘I have a gun in my pocket right now, how would the government know about it?’,’’ Brendon said. ‘‘I was trying to show how unsafe schools could be, and how anyone could just walk in with a gun, and no one would know.’’
He said he made the comments to a friend, but a teacher overheard him. Brendon was sent to the principal’s office, where he said he was questioned for the next several hours.
He said the principal then drove him home and told him he was suspended for much of the next week.
‘‘He was saying he thought that I was a threat,’’ Brendon said. ‘‘He said, even if he was 95 per cent sure (that I wasn’t), he still couldn’t take that chance.’’
John Carlyle, superintendent of the River East Transcona School Division, did not return calls for comment.
http://www.brandonsun.com/story.php?story_id=13260