Schools say students with paint guns will be arrested

Wednesday, May 7, 2003 | 8:53 a.m.

The Clark County School District Police have issued a notice to parents warning that students who bring paint guns to school will be arrested.

The notice comes after the police confiscated four paint guns in the past week in schools throughout the Las Vegas Valley, said spokesman Darnell Couthen.

Students found with the guns will be charged with a gross misdemeanor, the notice said.

"We want to get the word out to parents not to have their children bring the guns to school in order to avoid what could be a serious injury or problem," Couthen said.

Tam Larnerd, principal at Bob Miller Middle School, said that he has seen problems in the past with the guns and is on the lookout to prevent those problems in the spring, when the toys are more popular.

"Even though parents purchase this as a toy ... it can mark up schools and other property and some of them could easily be confused with a real gun ... which could cause a real problem if a police officer sees a kid with one of these in his hand," he said.

The principal also said the Clark County School District prohibits students from bringing weapons or anything that resembles a weapon to school.

A local businessman who sells paint guns and runs a park for people to play with the toys agreed that the guns and schools are a bad mix.

"Kids bringing these to school has got to be the stupidest thing I ever heard," Bart Broidy, owner of Paintball Adventure Quest, said.

Broidy, who has sold the guns locally for seven years, said he doesn't allow customers under the age of 18 to walk out of his store with one of the toys -- which sell for prices ranging from $200 to $1,700.

Hundreds of kids come to play with the guns on weekends, Broidy said, about 60 percent of whom are under 18. The minors need to have their parents sign a release giving them permission to play at the park.

"If elementary or middle school kids have them, their parents are buying them," Broidy said. "A kid thinking that it's cool to bring them to school in my opinion shows a lack of parental supervision.

"It could be confused with a real gun and if you get shot in the face without protective goggles, you could lose an eye in a heartbeat."