School suspends girl over empty gun shells

An 11-year-old Des Moines girl was at home on suspension Tuesday for bringing a handful of empty shotgun shells to school last week. Jazmine Martin, a sixth-grader at Brody Middle School, picked up the shells as souvenirs during a family trip to a ranch in South Dakota, where the rounds were fired as part of a show. They were blanks. "I didn't think they were going to hurt anyone," Jazmine said. "I wanted to show them to my science teacher because he's into stuff like this." Principal Randy Gordon said the shells were considered ammunition even though they were empty, and were therefore against school policy. A copy of the school policy shows that it specifically bans "live ammunition or bullets" but makes no reference to empty shells or casings...read more