Does an Anti-Gun PSA Show Video Evidence of Lawbreaking?

Lots of folks are picking up on this PSA video that will likely encourage children to break the law, stealing their parents guns in order to turn them into their teacher:

[UPDATE: Looks like the video was made private. Essentially pulled from public. I won’t criticize the move. It is the responsible thing to do. This never should have been made in the first place.]

I think it’s important not to miss a possible bigger issue here. At the end it says it was filmed in cooperation with North Oakland Community Charter School. Did they have the kid in possession of a real firearm in a real school in California? If so, how is the kid not liable under California Penal Code Section 626-626.11 “Carry Allowed on School Property With Permit/License.” There’s no filming exception, nor is there a good intentions exception, and that kid looks too young to have a license. Though, I suppose they can probably hope to get the David Gregory treatment. Wouldn’t the adults in this video also be guilty of furnishing the minor with a firearm and encouraging him to break the law? That’s a crime.

Anyone who knows California gun law well, and maybe knows some juvenile law, want to run a list of things the kid and adults could be charged with if this was a real gun in a real school? Why aren’t authorities investigating? Feel free to include federal violations as well, including the Federal Gun Free School Zones Act.

28 thoughts on “Does an Anti-Gun PSA Show Video Evidence of Lawbreaking?”

  1. The one closeup of the gun at 1:44 shows a very tiny hole for the muzzle, several screw holes on the side of the gun, and what appears to be a mold line or something similar on the bottom of the grip. A little googling came up with this airgun, which looks like the closeup in the video, minus the orange muzzle: http://www.crosman.com/airsoft/pistols/SAMC11

    While there are probably also laws against taking airguns inside schools, it’s not a real gun.

  2. I missed the part where the school calls in a SWAT team and arrests the kid for bringing a gun to school.

  3. I don’t think here in CA that the kid can take an airgun to school either, or (adults too) legally REMOVE the orange barrel identifier. I’ll bet they are breaking all kinds of laws unless there’s some Hollywood exemption…

    1. There’s also a “not working” exemption, if you just disable the thing.

      Can’t shoot, is not gun.

      1. I never saw a you can take the gun to school if it is disabled in the law I would not volunteer to test your proposition . Children get arrested for pointing fingers at others students and suspended for eating pop tarts.

  4. I gotta ask, is this an actual PSA or a “satire” vid?

    The creator’s other videos show some other horror/comedy stuff. And I don’t see any big names of gun control orgs in the credits (now I could have missed it when I checked).

    1. The producer of the PSA is asking for help because she is “getting heat” for the clip. CSGV is promoting it, sounds real to me.

  5. The lesson I learn from this is that if you properly secure your firearms at home, your kid won’t be able to steal them to take to school.

    As for California law (IANAL, but I live in California and as a teacher I’ve made a point of looking at the laws about guns and schools), it is possible for the superintendent or comparable authority to give permission to bring a firearm onto campus. The “comparable authority” is germane in this case, because charter schools are not under the management of the district, so it’s probably much easier to buy in whoever the charter school owner is.

    (Also, thank you for allowing edits!)

    1. My kids know how to shoot and how to get at the guns if they are home alone and really need them. I made sure the boy shot (at the club classes) until he was thoroughly bored with it. I trust them not to play with them or do something as stupid and treasonous as the little shit in this video.

  6. Seems to me that in the People’s Demokratik Republik of Kollyvornia, the parents would be brought up on charges of improper storage if the kid stole the gun to *ahem* give it to the authorities, so, a win win for the gun grabbers. The kid, of course, will get a pass.

  7. Stupidest video I’ve ever seen. If I were the parent I would beat the crap out of that twit and send him to military school.

  8. What I got from the video is that there are WAY too many teachers! What were there? 10 kids in that class? Time to trim the fat. Also, anyone else notice that every kid except the one with the gun was a minority? I think the people who made this video are raysis because they only gave minorities roles as extras.

  9. I missed that part about an actual school being used…even though they do show a classroom.

    Nice…. so there was state tax money involved.

    1. > state tax money

      Sort of. It’s state tax money, but because it is a charter school it is money that was given to a private organization to do with as they wished.

      Same thing with the “too many teachers” comment above. That’s not what regular schools look like.

  10. This looks like they are promoting the commission of multiple felonies in this video, I think that this could be prosecuted under federal RICO act violations. I bet the AG Holder is already investigating w charges forthcoming in short order.

  11. “I don’t feel safe with a gun in ‘MY’ house? What house do you own? Perhaps your new foster home won’t have any guns.

  12. aside from being creepy, i notice that only the parent, teacher, and boy are white. all the minorities are just backdrops to the action.

    1. Nice. Understandable as it is…due to demographics, it will be enjoyable to hit the race card in reverse…..

      Nah…. I wouldn’t do that……
      Not at all…

  13. Once the gun goes in the backpack, we don’t see it again until the kid sets it on the table, and even then it’s only shown in a tight closeup. It’s possible the closeup of the gun was filmed at a separate location, and then simply spliced into the school footage, in which case no gun (real or fake) would have been present at the school.

    1. By the law it matters if the gun is real as it will get you arrested, for the point in the PSA it does not matter the PSA is promoting the theft of real guns by real children that will be shot by real bullets when swat shows up.

  14. I have one of these. It’s a Crosman “C11” CO2-powered BB (0.177 caliber) gun. You can look them up online — Amazon carries them, for example. It never had an orange muzzle, as BB guns are considered too dangerous to have them. Where I live, it’s legally the same as a firearm, but that’s unusual.

    1. I just saw the video there, as well as the slew of comments against the video. One aspect not mentioned (but touched on by TS) is the gun transfer issue. And it isn’t just Washington! If the teacher is a felon, or had spent some time involuntarily in a mental institution, or has a restraining order against them…all these reasons could mean that the kid is giving a gun to someone prohibited, without even knowing it.

      Yes, we assume that kids know their teachers, but does anyone really know our teachers that well? We assume they have had background checks, but I recall a story from a few years ago where a professor of twenty years or so was discovered to be a convicted murderer who had turned his life around while in prison. He took pains to stay out of Texas, where he committed his crime–even avoiding flights over Texas, because he didn’t want to accidentally crash there. What is a teacher with such a background, who is doing their best to obey the law, supposed to do when a gun is plopped onto their desk?

      Fun stuff! It clearly shows how well these anti-gun nuts think these things through!

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