Last week, a third-grader at Ferriday Upper Elementary School took a fake gun to school.

The child later allegedly pointed the fake gun at another child and scared the child.

Teachers and administrators were alerted and later learned the item was only a fake weapon.

Word of the event, meanwhile, spread by word of mouth throughout the community and became blown out of proportion as items passed through the grapevine tend to do.

Once word of the incident reached this newspaper’s staff, and a reporter called Whest Shirley, superintendent of Concordia Parish schools, he clarified the situation.

Shirely told the reporter that the child brought an item that had been mistaken for a weapon to school.

We assume the item was a fake weapon such as a toy gun, but Shirley never clarified that description.

Whatever the item was, it made people think it was a real weapon to some degree.

Fortunately, no one overreacted to the situation and no one was harmed in the incident.

Letting children play with toy guns made to look like real guns poses a real danger.

In today’s climate, people may not wait to determine if the perceived weapon is real or fake before they take action to protect themselves.

Also, taking such items to school is against policy, and students will face disciplinary action for such offenses, as did the child who took a fake gun to school last week.