Dead Horse Beating Alert

Yes, it's another Massachusetts Gun Control Success Story.

For the second time in two months, a Brighton High student was arrested for bringing a loaded gun to school after classmates dimed out his before-the-bell show-and-tell presentation yesterday.

How can that be? Doesn't he know that's against the law?

"He informed (police) the firearm was his and he had purchased it about a month ago,"prosecutor Andrea Brodsky said of Derrick Burton, a 17-year-old sophomore.

You mean kids will still find a way to acquire handguns despite the numerous laws enacted to prevent them from doing so? Shocking...just shocking.

I'm going way out on a limb here, but I suspect he didn't purchase this firearm from a licensed firearms dealer. I'll go even further and wager he hasn't completed a firearms safety course, purchased a trigger lock with his gun, applied for a gun permit, qualified at the Boston Police pistol range to obtain said permit, or kept this weapon securely locked up in his residence. Just a hunch.

Despite the presence of portable metal detectors - which students said are used more to punish the tardy than to protect the innocent - Burton allegedly carried the long-barreled .22-caliber Heritage Rough Rider revolver to class through the gym in a book bag after showing the weapon to other youths on the way to school.

Uh-oh. Now he's in REAL trouble. Seems that this handgun from Heritage Firearms isn't on the Attorney General's list of firearms approved for sale in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

The silver handgun, with five bullets in its chamber, was found inside the blue Nike book bag on the floor of Room 209 next to Burton's chair just after 8 a.m., police said.

"Five bullets in its chamber"??? You think they meant to say "five rounds in its cylinder"? Am I nit-picking here? Is it asking too much for people who write newspaper stories for a living or for trained law enforcement personnel to make a half-hearted effort to get their facts straight?

And no such story would be complete without the money quote from a friend of the accused:

Classmate George Mobley - who didn't know Burton told police the book bag was his - called his friend "smart as hell. We don't use guns, we fight with our hands."

Hey, Derrick, MENSA on line 2 for you. I'll tell them you're incarcerated busy.