Ordinarily I would roll my eyes at the prospect of government spending time to pass a law that defuinds schools who have a rule against fighting with imaginary guns.

But thinking about it, I came to the conclusion that it would be the perfect antidote; pass a silly law to deal with a silly rule.

The Hill:

Rep. Steve Stockman (R-Texas) introduced legislation this week to block federal funding for schools that enforce rules that punish students for playing with imaginary weapons.

The Student Protection Act, H.R. 2625, is a reaction to what Stockman says is the zero tolerance policy at some schools that has led to several suspensions of very young children who engage in these activities, including cases where students pretended their thumb and index finger is a gun.

The bill finds that these school policies are being used to outlaw "harmless expressions of childhood play," and are only teaching students to "be afraid of inanimate objects that are shaped like guns."

Stockman cited several examples, such as a school in Nebraska that demanded a three-year old deaf boy change his name because it resembled a gun when expressed in sign language. He said a seven-year-old in Colorado was suspended for throwing an imaginary hand grenade, and that two six-year-old boys in Maryland were suspended for playing cops and robbers and using their fingers as guns.

He also noted the 14-year-old Kentucky student who was suspended from school for wearing a National Rifle Association shirt that said, "Protect your rights."

"This government-sanctioned political correctness is traumatizing children and spreading irrational fear," the bill states.

The legislation seeks to stop these practices by blocking federal funds to any school that punishes students for a select list of activities. Those activities include carrying miniature toy guns, and "brandishing a pastry or other food which is partially consumed in such a way that the remnant resembles a gun."

Yeah, you read that right. This guy wants to pass a law making it legal for a kid to brandish a half-eaten pastry in the shape of a gun.

Congress has much better things to do than worry about such nonsense. It is a local matter that should be handled by local people. This is purely a case of Washington sticking its nose into places where it doesn't belong.

Maybe the threat of passing such a law will be enough. Meanwhile, anyone who lives in a school district with such outrageously stupid rules should work toward defeating every school board candidate who voted for it, or countenanced it.

That's the best way to deal with political correctness; at the ballot box.