STUDENT PLANNED TO PAWN GUN HE BROUGHT TO SCHOOL

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, January 30, 1992                   TAG: 9201300274
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: NEAL THOMPSON
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short
STUDENT PLANNED TO PAWN GUN HE BROUGHT TO SCHOOL
A Patrick Henry High School student who brought a gun to school Monday apparently planned to pawn it after school to repay a debt.
"It does not seem it was brought to school with malicious intent," said Principal Elizabeth Lee.
But Lee said that even if a student doesn't plan to use a gun to hurt someone, it doesn't diminish the disciplinary treatment he gets.
"Having a gun in school is serious and we're going to treat it as a very serious incident," Lee said.
Lee said she heard at lunch Monday that a student may have been carrying a gun. As they do with any tip like that, school administrators checked it out immediately.
They found the .22-caliber semiautomatic pistol where the 16-year-old youth had stashed it in an unused locker.
The boy told police he had bought the pistol from two men on Salem Avenue early Monday and planned to pawn it for about $200.
The boy was arrested and was suspended from school until a disciplinary review committee can meet Tuesday to decide whether to let him return.
"I'm handling it the same way I would handle any incident," Lee said. "We are trying to establish a very strong message to students: If you bring a gun to school, you are likely to lose your right to education."

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB