11-year-old suspended from school for voluntarily turning in a toy gun that he had accidentally left in his jacket pocket

Here is yet another nutty zero tolerance story.  A kid accidentally had left a toy gun in his jacket pocket and he tried to do the right thing and turn it in to the school.  The notion that an obviously plastic toy gun should be turned into school authorities is pretty nutty, but, as if that wasn't bad enough, they suspended the kid and are forcing him to undergo counseling.  From the Independent Sentinel in Chicago:

. . . An 11-year old in 6th grade boy at the Fredrick Funston Elementary School, Caden Cook, was suspended from school for voluntarily turning in a non-firing plastic toy gun he had mistakenly left in his jacket pocket from the night before. He was waiting to be patted down, which is the normal state of affairs in this school, when he remembered the toy gun, but turning it in wasn’t sufficient.

His crime you ask? He violated the school’s weapons policy against dangerous objects. The school might not feel they have much latitude on this issue. The Chicago Public Schools defines the “dangerous objects” policy. The object Caden Cook had is ludicrously considered a “firearm.”

He has been ordered to undergo counseling and, according to The Rutherford Institute which has taken his case, he has also been subjected to intimidation tactics, interrogation, and dire threats by school officials—all without his mother being present. . . .