Toy Gun Sparks Lockdown At Princeton

(CBS/AP)  After alerting everyone to stay inside after reports of a gunman, Princeton University's Department of Public Safety has issued an all clear.

CBS station KYW reports that person is now in custody and that he had a toy pistol.

The university's Web site reports "community members should resume normal activities."

Earlier, the Web site said a male with what appeared to be a handgun was reported near Dod Hall dormitory around 11 a.m. (1500 GMT) Wednesday.

It's not clear how many students remain on campus. Commencement was Tuesday.

[aChangeOfIdeas]

I'm all for gun rights, but there's a time and a place for them... and outside a college dormitory is NOT. The college security was right to alert everyone - better safe than sorry! How would we feel if the article read "Gunman kills 15 in dormitory shooting, Security thought it was a toy gun"??? Plus the article doesn't mention what the guy was doing with it, and the article doesn't say that he was a Princeton student so for those of you who are harping on "they're supposed to be so smart" he could have been anyone from the town... not everyone in Princeton graduated from the university there.
My husband and son hunt, but I cannot possibly imagine one of them taking a handgun through a college campus to hunt on the way home from school or work. PU was totally justified here!

[fred-mertz]

" If you spend half as much time addressing this country's problems as you spent on name calling like children, the country would be in a better place." -- JDEriksen

I have to agree with you 100%.

[artorus]

Such fear mongering. A kid is more likely to die of food poisoning from the cafeteria than from a gunman's bullet.

[JDEriksen]

"This is insane. A single generation ago students would commonly take guns to school to hunt on the way home or to participate in marksmanship programs at school (and some states, they still do)."
And perhaps this is true... But ask people in Colorado or Virginia, and they'll tell you that it's NOT that easy to brush off. Bottom line is this: yes maybe gun violence is on the decline. BUT, unlike those past generations, media coverage is NOT. And with people killed in schools which used to be a safe place to go, the fear is not going anywhere. If you can't accept that, I'm sorry. But thus is the world and the climate we live in.
And seriously? How old are you people? Can we please look at the issue itself and not make this about someone's political views? If you spend half as much time addressing this country's problems as you spent on name calling like children, the country would be in a better place.

[govtguy]

The Princetonians couldn't see daylight or common sense if it was force fed to them! Just because they think they can read and write better than the rest of us, doesn't make them smarter. All too often, the higher the education, the less COMMON SENSE they have. Cut the kids some slack and show them a fair life lesson!

[gunownerdan]

This is insane. A single generation ago students would commonly take guns to school to hunt on the way home or to participate in marksmanship programs at school (and some states, they still do). Now a kid who finds and picks up a toy is looking at the possibility of criminal charges, just because some people are scared of their own shadows? This country has lost its mind. He didn't even do anything threatening with it. He just picked it up.

The irrational fear of guns in this country is way overblown. Violent crimes in this country, including shootings, have been dropping for decades, during the same time as the loosening of gun laws, including the adoption of Shall-Issue concealed weapons laws in 40 states (and at the same time as violent crime has exploded in England and Australia, which both passed extremely restrictive gun controls). Every credible study, even those done by the Clinton administration to evaluate their own gun control policies, has failed to show any benefit to gun control laws, and many have shown a negative effect. Gun violence that does occur in this country is, according to the Department of Justice, is 80--90% limited to gang members shooting other gang members over drugs. According to the Institutes of Health, Americans are more likely to die from choking on their food than they are to be shot. They're even more likely to drown in a swimming pool. If we had stricter laws on pool security we could save more lives than if we could magically make every gun in the borders of the whole United States disappear.

And yet a kid who picks up a toy gun is deemed such a threat to public safety that he gets detained pending a decision on whether or not to charge him with a crime. People need to pull their heads out of their posteriors.
Posted by Rob459

I agree 100%!

[Rob459]

This is insane. A single generation ago students would commonly take guns to school to hunt on the way home or to participate in marksmanship programs at school (and some states, they still do). Now a kid who finds and picks up a toy is looking at the possibility of criminal charges, just because some people are scared of their own shadows? This country has lost its mind. He didn't even do anything threatening with it. He just picked it up.

The irrational fear of guns in this country is way overblown. Violent crimes in this country, including shootings, have been dropping for decades, during the same time as the loosening of gun laws, including the adoption of Shall-Issue concealed weapons laws in 40 states (and at the same time as violent crime has exploded in England and Australia, which both passed extremely restrictive gun controls). Every credible study, even those done by the Clinton administration to evaluate their own gun control policies, has failed to show any benefit to gun control laws, and many have shown a negative effect. Gun violence that does occur in this country is, according to the Department of Justice, is 80--90% limited to gang members shooting other gang members over drugs. According to the Institutes of Health, Americans are more likely to die from choking on their food than they are to be shot. They're even more likely to drown in a swimming pool. If we had stricter laws on pool security we could save more lives than if we could magically make every gun in the borders of the whole United States disappear.

And yet a kid who picks up a toy gun is deemed such a threat to public safety that he gets detained pending a decision on whether or not to charge him with a crime. People need to pull their heads out of their posteriors.

[generey]

OMG! I guess its time to ban toy guns!

[cyinzl8r]

AND WHEN A CLOWN LIKE GW BUSH/CHENEY CAN STEAL AN ELECTION,

Thank god Gore wasn't elected. Even you DUMMYCRATS should agree with that.

[afmcalax]

The person (probably a student) was totally stupid for staging such a stunt. He is lucky someone didn't shoot him by accident. I thought you had to be fairly intelligent to go to Princeton ... obviously not all. If this person is a student, they should be expelled. If a just graduated student, Princeton should place a note in his transcript documenting this incident so future employers can know what an idiot they could be hiring.

This is not a Repub vs Demo or conservative vs liberal issue. I knew people affected by the Virginia Tech tragedy and they ranged from ROTC students, to religious conservatives, to liberals and all were forever affected by that day. That is when they found out labels were not important. I know they would not want it repeated anywhere, especially on a college campus.