Has it come to this?

Are we trapped in our own fears? Or is it just a profound and growing lack of common sense?

After a boy in Maryland found himself suspended from school when his teacher accused him of chewing a breakfast pastry into the shape of a pistol, school districts around the nation created rules against such behavior.

It’s an unwise endeavor, of course. Kids have imaginations. And unless we’re going to try to make rules to stop that, Pop Tarts can always become pistols. Bread sticks, Excalibur. Paper plates, shields. And so on.

Anyway, a legislator in Oklahoma (sadly, I think) proposed state legislation to outlaw schools from creating these strict rules.

The legislator said: “Real intent, real threats and real weapons should always be dealt with immediately. We need to stop criminalizing children’s imagination and childhood play.” Her bill, equally sadly, I think, was immediately opposed by the teachers union.

I feel sorry for America’s great teachers who have to put up with this kind of knee-jerk back and forth.

Has it really come to this? Or can common sense find a way back in to our schools, legislatures and unions?