Boy, 8, faces charges for pointing toy gun

The Ann Arbor News ^ | 03/02/02 | Liz Cobb

[What Is Ain't]

An 8-year-old Whitmore Lake boy is facing criminal charges for pointing a toy gun at three other youngsters and threatening to shoot them.

Even though the incident involved a toy gun, the Washtenaw County Prosecutor's Office said, Tommy Davis' intent was to threaten and scare the other children. The boy, who was 7 at the time of the incident, has a hearing on three felonious assault charges next week in Washtenaw County Juvenile Court.

"I think it's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard," said Lisa Davis, Tommy's mother. "This is a waste of taxpayers' money. I didn't think it was against the law to have a toy gun. Doesn't the police department have anything better to do than to take complaints from kids who have a dispute with other kids?"

Davis said her son had several run-ins with one of the children before the Dec. 6 incident that occurred after school in their Northfield Estates Mobile home community park.

Northfield Township Police Lt. Dennis Gruschow said the age of an individual does not prevent an investigation when a complaining witness wants to pursue prosecution.

"The police department must investigate allegations of any type of criminal offense," Gruschow said. "We turn over what we have to the prosecutor's office and they make the call on whether to charge an individual."

Children as young as 7 can be charged based on a Michigan Court of Appeals decision, said Washtenaw County Assistant Prosecutor Donald Ray, who heads the prosecutor's office at Juvenile Court.

The court holds that a child under 7 is not able to form an intent to commit a crime, but a 7-year-old child can form the intent and therefore can be charged.

Tommy told The News that on the day of the incident, he and a friend were riding their bikes to another part of the mobile home park when he saw the three children. He said he took the gun out of his pocket.

"I just pointed the gun at them," he recalled this week. "I don't know if I said anything bad at them, but they got scared."

A Northfield Township police report said the three children, two of whom were 7 and one 6, were on Turquoise Drive, near Barker Road, when Tommy Davis "pulled out a gun and pointed it at them and said he was going to shoot them."

Tommy Davis, according to the report, said he never told the children he was going to shoot or kill them, but did tell one of them, "don't fight me anymore."

An adult resident driving by saw a child pull a gun "from underneath his jacket and point it at the other children," the report said. The witness saw one child lying on the ground and another with hands raised in the air. When the child with the gun saw the adult, he ran away. The witness, who went over to the children, said one was "crying hysterically saying he was going to shoot us."

Tommy Davis is charged with three counts of assault with a dangerous weapon. For adults, the maximum penalty for the charge carries up to four years in prison. For juveniles, it's up to the judge's discretion.

Ray said the boy could get anything from probation to a stay in juvenile detention.

[What Is Ain't]

And we thought we needed to worry about Osama.

[ThreePantherEightyDuce]

Oh for crying out loud....... Guess I was a real desperato as a kid and didn't realize it. I even shoot loaded cap guns at people.

[spectre]

This country is in Biiiiiggg trouble.

[beowolf]

Not to worry. They will Court Order the kid to be chemically castrated, put on Ritilan, and forced to attend sensitivity classes under supervision of a probation officer until he is 21, ball-less, and truely contrite.

[ThreePantherEightyDuce]

shoot=shot

[Ohioan]

This sort of story makes the case for election reform--the sort that limits the franchise to those with enough intelligence to make critical decisions--appear more imperative than ever. When the office holders are this stupid, one can only vaguely conceive of what the reality may be with respect to those who elected them.

William Flax Return Of The Gods Web Site

[Cold Heat]

Definately need a barf alert here! Sheesh!

[alisasny]

A punk had been bothering my 9.5 year old son for the past month or so. About 2 weeks ago the punk decided to hit my kid. The attack which was witnessed by crossing guard and other parents included a kick to my sons groin area and several hits with a back pack. I confronted the kid at that point..i had hoped it would work out on its own and told him if he ever even looks at my kid again that I was going to the principal and his parents. Turns out that while my son was defending himself ( the punk has at least 25 to 35 lbs on him) he yelled if you dont get off me i am going home to get a gun. Well we dont even have a gun. I just found it amazing that the bully used my sons unreal threat as justification for his own actions.

I finally did mention this to his teachers this week as I am worried about my son focusing in school other then worrying about a bully.

It will all work out but not if junk like this gets news.

[TC Rider]

This is insane. Does anyone know if it was clearly a 'toy' gun and not a replica of some kind?

By these standards, I would still be doing hard time because of a misspent youth. I even shot people with those little plastic slugs and greenie stickem caps back in the 50s.

[Dianna]

How many times during one day does any child say something or act in such a way "to scare and threaten" another child?

Good thing they aren't in my house. Both my sons would be in jail. As would just about every kid I have ever met.

[patriot_wes]

"Boy, 8, faces charges for pointing toy gun."

MIND NUMBING STUPIDITY!!!

[ATOMIC_PUNK]

bang BUMP

[Libertarian_4_eva]

This country is in Biiiiiggg trouble.

I hope you did not just notice that. I have a feeling we will have an another civil war yet it will have nothing to do with the so called milita groups or the "race war" that national socialists think will come. People will just lose their friggen minds.

[Moleman]

Ann Arbor is the city of evil...

[ValerieUSA]

Maybe all the kids' parents should be arrested for raising children in a trailer park.

[lawdog]

It seems we aren't raising future citizen's but are breeding sheep.

[dansangel]

I totally give up. This last bit of "zero tolerance" is just the last straw.

.45MAN: Barf-alert-ping!!

[riverrunner]

We made toy guns brought toy guns pointed toy guns ect ect ect theres people really need to get a life. No more cow boys and indians oh I forget native americans. What a bunch of BS

[45Auto]

Ray said the boy could get anything from probation to a stay in juvenile detention.

Not only that, but I'll bet that this little incident comes back to haunt this young man in about 15 years if he should want to purchase a real firearm; the court system along with the legislatures of most states are so corrupt that soon a parking ticket offense will be enough to deny the RKBA for life.

[ThreePantherEightyDuce]

Guess he should have been home wearing a jumper and playing with dolls and learning how to be sensitive. This is the new century ya know. <./sarcasm>

[DeFault User]

Copied from elsewhere on the Net but appropriate:

The Death of Common Sense

Today we mourn the passing of an old friend by the name of Common Sense. Common Sense lived a long life but died from heart failure at the brink of the millennium. No on really knows how old he was since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He selflessly devoted his life to service in schools, hospitals, homes, factories, and offices, helping folks get jobs done without fanfare and foolishness.

For decades, petty rules, silly laws, and frivolous lawsuites held no power over Common Sense. He was credited with cultivation of such valued lessons as to know when to come in out of the rain, the early bird gets the worm, and life isn't always fair.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies such as, don't spend more than you earn; reliable parenting strategies such as, the adult is in charge and not the kids, and it's okay to come in second.

A veteran of the Industrial Revolution, the Great Depression, Common Sense survived cultural and educational trends including feminism, body piercing, whole language, and "New Math." In recent decades his waning strength proved no match for the ravages of overbearing federal regulation.

He watched in pain as good people became ruled by self-seeking lawyers and englightened auditors. His health rapidly deteriorated when schools endlessly implemented zero tolerance policies and then carried them to the extreme, such as six year old boys being charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate, a teen suspended for taking a swig of mouthwash after lunch, and a teacher who was fired for reprimanding an unruly student. It declined even further when schools had to get parental consent to administer aspirin to a student but cannont inform the parent when their female student is pregnant and wants an abortion.

Finally, Common Sense lost his will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband, churches became businesses, criminals recieved better treatment than the victims and federal judges stuck their noses into everything from Boy Scouts to professional sports including golf.

As the end neared, Common Sense drifted in and out of logic but was kept informed of developements regarding questionable regulations for low flow toilets, "smart" guns, the nurturing of the Prohibition law and other mandatory laws of no consequence to the safety of health - just to have power.

Finally, when told that the homeowners association restricted exterior furniture only to that which enhanced property values, he breathed his last.

Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; his wife, Discretion; his daughter Responsibility and his sons, Reason and Respect. He is survived by three other stepbrothers: Rights, Tolerance and Whiner.

Not many attended his furneral because so few realized he was gone. Hopefully, some of Common Sense's values have lived past him and will rise at some point in time. If we will allow ourselves to be ruled by our Creator, instead of the greed and self-serving lifestyles that we now see, I feel sure that Common Sense will soon follow and live there ater a most flourishing life.

[arly]

wheww I guess a kid doesn't want to get caught playing cowboys and indians in PC Ann Arbor area!

[weaponeer]

>>By these standards, I would still be doing hard time because of a misspent youth. I even shot people with those little plastic slugs and greenie stickem caps back in the 50s.<<

Mattel "Shootin' Shells" if I remember correctly. I had a little derringer on a belt buckle that would pop put and shoot one of the shells if you stuck your belly out!

weaponeer

[AAABEST]

WHAT??????

[Fzob]

Boy points toy gun at idiots who bothered him.

The results of this is that;

Tommy Davis is charged with three counts of assault with a dangerous weapon.

Perhaps I just too old fashioned, but when did a toy gun become a dangerous weapon?

[PaulJ]

It's too bad he didn't make his threat as a rap. It would've been seen as artistic freedom and he probably would have been nominated for a Grammy®.

[michigander]

Tommy Davis, according to the report, said he never told the children he was going to shoot or kill them, but did tell one of them, "don't fight me anymore."

Sounds like self-defence to me.

CONSTITUTION OF MICHIGAN OF 1963

ARTICLE I

DECLARATION OF RIGHTS

§ 6 Bearing of arms.

Sec. 6. Every person has a right to keep and bear arms for the defense of himself and the state.

[illbenice]

GIVE ME YOUR MONEY BEFORE I SHOOT YOU WITH MY CHICKEN WING!!!

[Key]

Plain stupidity.

At the (Canadian) Elementry school where I work, the kids can get suspended for making a 'gun' gesture. (extended index finger, thumb up)

[Eagle Eye]

I was shot today by a child. Yep, at Home Depot a 2 or 3 year old girl used a paint stir stick to shoot me with a smiling "Bang! Bang!". I thought it was cute as hell.

[Harrison Bergeron]

There's a larger evil here than just stupid cops and stupid politicians. Society is producing little boys who throw up their hands, drop to the ground, and shout "Don't shoot me!" when a toy gun is pointed at them by another little boy.

We're becoming France.

[Wonder Warthog]

"Does anyone know if it was clearly a 'toy' gun and not a replica of some kind?"

What does it matter WHAT it looked like, as long as it wasn't a real gun?? This is just the kind of illogic that the anti-gun jerks used with the "assault weapon ban"---it doen's matter that the firearm is identical to 75+% of hunting rifles in function--it if "looks bad" then it needs to be BANNED.

[2Trievers]

"I just pointed the gun at them," he recalled this week. "I don't know if I said anything bad at them, but they got scared."

Stupid adults! This is the juvenile version of the Connecticut Gun Seizure Law Beginning in October 1999, police in Connecticut were permitted to seize firearms from any person they have probable cause to believe poses "a risk of imminent personal injury to himself or herself or to other individuals." The statute authorizing this weapons seizure - the first of its kind in the U.S., and one of the toughest gun-seizure laws in force - was passed by the Connecticut legislature in June 1999 in the wake of a March 1998 murder-suicide by Matthew Beck, a 35-year old accountant who killed four people in the headquarters offices of the Connecticut Lottery before killing himself.

So if your neighbor fears for himself while you are carrying your varmint rifle into the house ... police will descend on your property, without a warrant and take your guns. All of them.

[ThreePantherEightyDuce]

At Saturday Market in Eugene, Oregon they hassled an old man who made wooden pop guns about his product. The artisans and vendors voted and banned them.

Anyone with a kid that has a toy gun has to secure it while there, or leave.

Something is just not right with a country where these little bouts of hysteria over boys being boys taking place around us.

I note too that one of the latest rages, at least since the Matriachy conference here - is men (in the counter-culture factions) wearing skirts to "liberate" that garment for general use by both genders.

*Gag*

[jwh_Denver]

"This is a waste of taxpayers' money. I didn't think it was against the law to have a toy gun.

The commie libs love to waste money and they like to "hang" young consevatives as soon as possible. Having a toy gun may not be against the law but it is against the greater law of the fanatically religious PC crowd.

[Future Snake Eater]

WTF, over? In one of my 4th Grade classes, we'd have toy gun shootouts in the classroom until the teacher arrived...talk about paranoid...

[CrossCheck]

Back in the 50's, I wasted most of my playmates with a Mattel "Fanner 50" six-shooter. When we were playing "army" instead of Cowboys & Indians, I had a neat burp gun that had great sound effects. Probably made by Mattel also.

I never wound up in court however. Lax law enforcement in our area.

[TransOxus]

Which normal boy has ner played with toy guns? It won't be long before they will try to ban "Our Gang/The Little Rascals" from TV. Many of the scenes the 1930s kids are involved in would scare the current pantywaisted society of adults the U.S. is precipitating into being. Real guns, knives, hazardous situations, etc. Yet those who grew up in those non-PC times grew up with no pseudo-psuchoquack problems which the currrent children are mollycoddled under government run schools leading to criminal behaviour.

[Mfkmmof4]

When Toys-R-Us stopped sellling toy guns. Problem is kids (like mine) make them out of legos. A neighbor got upset because my 5 year old threatened to get his father's gun and shoot someone....problem...we don't own a gun. This iis so ridiculous. I say let kids play cops and robbers and be KIDS!!

[Osinski]

Nothing these fanatics hate worse than an e-mail and telephone campaign indicating that people will not stand for this kind of tyranny. Rats like to hide and operate in dark places.

[Future Snake Eater]

Anybody hear Mel Gibson on TV yesterday? He said he believes our government knows exactly where Osama is. They won't get him because they don't want to.

No offense to Mr. Gibson, whom I respect greatly, but he probably knows about as much as the search for bin Laden as Barbra Streisand does about the environment...

[katnip]

Even though the incident involved a toy gun, the Washtenaw County Prosecutor's Office said, Tommy Davis' intent was to threaten and scare the other children.

Ah yes, the thought police are at it again.

When did it become a crime to scare someone?

[bettina0]

Here in NJ, kids were suspended for doing the same thing.

[PaulJ]

Society is producing little boys who throw up their hands, drop to the ground, and shout "Don't shoot me!" when a toy gun is pointed at them by another little boy.

You are so right Harrison. Just this morning I was discussing with my wife how many of the kids today are becoming unable to handle real life. A kid dies and an army of shrinks decend on the school to help them through their grief. Result: We now have young adults that are incappable of handling death.In my office their are young people who have not attended their own grandparents funerals because they "don't like funerals" (as if anyone did)

We teach our kids that there is no right or wrong answer, how they feel about it is what's important. Result: The boss criticizes a young adult, and they are beside themselves with anger.

And this stuff is just the beginning. The good part is, the kids that are being taught the real facts of life are the ones who'll be the leaders tomorrow, and hopefully, my boys will be with of them.

[OldEagle]

LAX?? Sure is. It would be great if the police had apprehended all of the perpurtrators of more serious crimes and had in effect worked their way down to "crimes" of this level, but it is easier to bust the eight tear olds. The people of this town need a new DA.

[StayoutdaBushesWay]

Same here! I'm so PO'd right now. I'm glad I took my BP meds today.

[RonDog]

"Nothing these fanatics hate worse than an e-mail and telephone campaign indicating that people will not stand for this kind of tyranny. Rats like to hide and operate in dark places." - Osinski

EXCELLENT idea!

Here is a good place to start:

Prosecuting Attorney
Brian L. Mackie

200 N. Main Room 429
P.O. Box 8645 
Ann Arbor, MI 48107-8645 
Phone: (734) 222-6630
Fax: (734) 222-6670

---

[e-mail addresses for] Our staff:

Ramona L. Fernandez, Senior Assistant Prosecuting Attorney
Anne Lerini, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney