A student at Jackson High (WA) learned the hard way that, nowadays, all students are presumed to be violent criminals until proven innocent. When it doubt, it's better to assume that a student is openly carrying a huge rifle to class, rather than a classroom prop for a Civil War presentation:
A prop designed to look like a 19th century musket for a Civil War presentation resulted in a lockdown at Jackson High and Heatherwood Middle schools, officials said. The lockdown began about 7:30 a.m. Monday after a parent reported seeing a normally attired 14-year-old boy carrying the prop on his way to Heatherwood in this suburb north of Seattle, police spokeswoman Becky Erk said.
What the parent thought was a gun had a barrel made from two broomsticks painted black with foil at the end and a block of wood covered in wood-grain paper to resemble the butt.
Police immediately began a search...The lockdown ended after about half an hour when Heatherwood officials reported finding the fake musket, which was confiscated by police.
Perhaps one can understand the observer's alarm, but why did police confiscate the prop? And why has the student been temporarily suspended? Because he appeared to be violating the no-weapons rule - but didn't actually possess a real weapon?