More than a month ago, I blogged about a decision by a Michigan school district to allow small ceremonial daggers in their schools. Now, after furious parents complained and legal debate engulfed the district, the daggers are once again banned.
The kirkpan, which is a small ceremonial dagger typically between 3 and 5 inches long, is considered a rite of passage for young baptized Sikh males to carry as a symbol of fighting evil and greed.
The district first faced the issue back in December when a fourth-grader brought one to school. After the district held meetings with Sikh groups, it ruled they were acceptable granted they follow strict guidelines: the blade must be dull, it must be sewn into its sheath so it can’t be taken out, it must be no bigger than 2 1/4 inches and it must not be visible.
Despite being extremely small and not visible, the Herald Times Reporter reported that the schools banned the daggers once again because they “violated local, state and federal polices against bringing weapons or items that look like weapons to school.”
Sikh groups are planning to fight this, because they say it’s religiously important to them and the daggers are not sharp nor dangerous. However, it does resemble a weapon, which is against a number of policies.
Currently, kirkpans are also being debated in other places. Canada recently banned kirkpans from the assembly building even after Sikhs have brought them into the building and the Canadian Supreme Court ruled they were equally safe for schools.
Regardless, the attempt to prevent knives from being brought to schools or near them (as the case in Nevada) is an issue we will definitely be hearing more about in the future.
March 23, 2011 at 3:54 pm
Banned again because they violated local, state, and Federal law. – No shit. STOP CATERING TO RELIGIONS THAT TRY TO SKIRT OUR LAWS YOU COWARDS. There are kids being expelled with no history of trouble and pending college scholarships for grabbing the wrong lunch sack in the morning, accidentally bringing a 1″ paring knife to school that was meant for their dad’s apple, and then turning themselves in to the school for their mistake: http://radioviceonline.com/zero-tolerance-crap-continues-at-high-school-lunch-box-mix-up-leads-to-expulsion/ – Yet there are appeasing COWARDS who think that we should allow knives in school ONLY for people of certain religions because they don’t have the BALLS to say no!!! What’s next, cerimonial AK-47’s for Muslims? How about remembering that American laws come first, and that religion is SEPARATE from Government for a reason, to include schools paid for by our tax dollars.
March 23, 2011 at 4:46 pm
liberals are so retarded….next the muslims will have ceremonial AK’s and RPG’s that they demand to be allowed to carry…..lol
March 23, 2011 at 8:46 pm
so does this mean i can bring my hunting knife to school and say its for religious purposes? who cares if its religious. this should not be aloud and the comment above is very true.
March 23, 2011 at 8:49 pm
liberals are the reason most of our armed forces get injured or killed in combat. if the R.O.E. were changed then the SEAL team that was part of Op. Redwing would not have been killed. so change the rules and no weapons in school regardless of religion.
March 24, 2011 at 12:35 am
All of our American traditions a banned from schools, ex: holidays, religous beliefs, pledges, why was this group allowed to follow thiers to begin with. Our country is going to hell fast, it seems to have started when all of our traditions were removed.
March 24, 2011 at 8:14 pm
it seems to me that it is a struggle between leftist ideals. one side says that we do not ever let anyone have anything even semi-dangerous(perfect psycho-school shooter bait), and another says we should give this right to only a small group of people that we feel deserve it because of the whole “we took their land we owe them at least this much” idea. if one group is allowed to be armed, so should everyone else.