That seems to be the case involving a high school student in Michigan. (Apologies for the terrible writing in this brief piece. I didn't write it, thank God.)

Western International High School, on Scotten Aveune, was thrown into lockdown last Friday after school officials saw a social media post showing a student with a gun on campus, according to the official.

Officials identify the student and recovered the gun, which turned out to be a plastic gun, according to the official.

Officials said the student was arrested in conneciton with the incident and will not be returning to the high school.

The school released a statement where it said that it "takes all threats seriously and remains committed to prioritizing the safety of our school community."

My question is, what threat?

Now, don't get me wrong. The school absolutely should have investigated and dealt with the student. Even fake guns aren't allowed on school property as a general rule and punishment for doing so is warranted. Plus, let's be real, you usually don't know it's a real gun until you actually find the gun.

So far, I'm good.

But unless there's something that's not being reported such as an actual threat, I fail to see what the actual crime is.

It's one thing to arrest and prosecute someone who holds up a convenience store with a fake gun for armed robbery because they trusted the realistic look of the gun to convey a threat to the clerk. I'm fine with that. I'm good with calling it self-defense when someone threatening another with a fake gun gets popped by either a police officer or an armed citizen. If you think it's real at the time, you do what you have to do.

The student didn't seem to do that. They showed off a little with a fake gun at school, trying to look tough, but absent a threat to anyone, this seems like a little bit of overkill.

If the response had just been suspension or expulsion, I wouldn't say anything. 

The issue, though, is that schools react to anything that even hints of a student having access to a gun at any point as if everyone is a school shooter. We've seen students at all educational levels get heat from schools for shooting outside of school hours and posting that on social media. We've seen legal adults face punishment from their colleges for posting pictures of them with guns in non-threatening ways outside of school hours.

Sure, this case is a little different as the gun was at school, but it wasn't a real gun.

I'm just not seeing the criminal act here absent a threat.

I'll concede that it's possible that the post involved threatening a peer or teacher, in which case prosecution is warranted. That's not included in the report, though, so it's a stretch to just assume that to be the case. I know I'd include that tidbit if I were writing that story. Then again, I'd actually write it better, so it's possible the writer is just an idiot.

Probable, even, if we're being honest.

This just seems to me to be anti-gun hysteria in our schools going way too far. I'm not excusing the kid of doing something moronic and I'm not saying he shouldn't get punishment. I'm just not seeing where criminal charges are warranted.