While everyone must strive to keep guns out of unintentional hands, reports by Everytown on how often his happens among children with tragic results is greatly exaggerated.

A Texas man was arrested after authorities say he placed a loaded gun in a 4-year-old special needs student’s backpack before dropping her off at school. A potential disaster was averted, and no injuries were reported thanks to the quick work of a teacher and school administrators who were able to identify the danger early on and bring in authorities to secure the firearm.   

The incident occurred on January 23 at Jessup Elementary School in Houston. According to KHOU, it was a school teacher who found the gun while checking her students in for the day, thankfully, before any manner of tragedy could take place. 

Jessup Elementary Principal Ryan Pavone reported the discovery immediately to campus administrators and Pasadena ISD police, who secured the backpack and the firearm. Pavone promptly sent an email to parents informing them of the incident and urging them to talk to their children about gun safety while keeping their firearms secure from unauthorized access.

“The safety of our students and staff is always the top priority…If you have a firearm in your home, please secure the firearm in a place that children cannot access. I want to urge you to take this opportunity to talk to your child about gun safety. I will be sending additional information through Parent Square related to the current Safe Gun Storage Law,” Pavone said in an email. 

Thirty-year-old Jonatan Alexander Polio, father of the student, was arrested that same day and charged with child endangerment, according to court records. In a statement to the Pasadena ISD Police Department, Polio said he accidentally left the gun in the bookbag unbeknownst to the child, who then carried the loaded firearm into school. An investigation is currently underway as Polio prepares to appear in court after being granted a $25,000 bond. 

This is America, where everyone should be innocent until proven guilty in the eyes of the law, but in the court of public opinion, you can surely be convicted of abject stupidity at any time, and I’m dropping the gavel on this one. I can not foresee any circumstance in which a firearm, loaded or otherwise, must be stored in a child’s book bag for any period. The degree of irresponsibility here crosses any line by which we can use the word “accidentally.”

57 COMMENTS

      • “So only the wealthy can educate their children?”

        Given that NJ no longer requires teachers to be proficient at reading and writing (and ‘rithmetic), perhaps “education” in public schools is no longer affordable, for anyone.

        • “If you can’t afford to feed, house and educate your kids don’t have any.”

          We are already below replacement level, meaning even fewer potential 2A defenders, as we go forward.

    • I was going to say using the child’s school bag as a range bag was not a good idea.

      A bag can’t cost that much.

    • “and 2 82mm mortar shells”

      Interesting.

      You know, it’s the Russian/Warsaw Pact countries that utilize 82 mm mortars, US/NATO forces use the 81 mm mortar (M252)

      Welcome to TTAG, comrade!

          • “… no one was injured due to the quick thinking of a teacher and school administrators “.
            And then what?… placed the backpack in a briefcase, wrapped it in six layers of jackets, placed it in the cafeteria freezer, evacuated the building and called in SWAT and the Bomb Disposal Unit. ??
            No one could have checked and cleared the weapon if necessary and stuck it in the principal’s office while a Detective took over?
            I realize the Kalifornistan fires compromised Hollywood, but I wasn’t aware that they relocated it to Texas.

            • unicorn, I get what you’re trying to say – the district will spend millions on making sure their staff is “qualified” to identify and consul
              on Gender Confusion Correction, Breakfast Lunch and No Hunger at Home, No Tears Ever Again, No Child Left With a Mind, and any number of a myriad of other Social Equity Services you can think of, but they can’t have a 30 minute seminar on how to safely handle and safe a handgun brought to class ? We’re not talking Rocket Science level thinking here.

              • Trump has voiced the first step. Get rid of the federal department of education.

                Return schools to local control.

      • Hey Mynr, take a minute and check with IBFBS Forces News online for a full accounting of materiel the US has provided to yooKrain to date, including both 81mm and 82mm morters and launchers. That’s just part of the fun with running a Proxy War in a former Soviet Republik. And I’m sure they could use an expert such as yourself In-Theater – when can they expect you to deploy?

    • Hey, Florida Man is not just restricted to the state of Florida. Florida just puts its arrest records in public view. Every other state has its own share of numbskulls, but Florida is just the one that lets its freak flag fly high and proud!

      • Probability places more than a few of them as former NY residents. Many of us just can’t handle our freedom and need to ease into it in places like Delmarva.

        • Well now, THAT would be an interesting study. How many violent Florida Men (and Women) came from elsewhere? And from where and from whence?

          That might just be fascinating reading!

  1. Age 4 might be too young. That said, while growing up in Alaska our grade school had a shooting range in the basement. Parents could sign up their children for gun safety and marksmanship classes.
    Our high school had a locker in the principal’s office where we could lock up our shotguns and then get them upon the end of classes so we could walk home (3 miles) and hunt ducks. I remember walking through town with a 22 lr rifle and the police officer pulling up and asking if I ” got anything for dinner yet”. I had not and he just told me to be careful and wished me luck on my hunt. He then drove away. It was a different time where responsibility and common sense meant something.

    • There was a day in several of the lower 48 states, during deer season, that guns at school were a norm and no one was harmed. People actually experienced the understanding of life and death before the socialists began citifying the masses.

    • “If I found a gun in a 4 year olds backpack I would just have a new gun.”

      Another cop who steals, eh? 🙁

      • It’s not stealing.
        Its collecting evidence.
        The real fun begins with the officers fighting over who gets to keep the evidence.

      • I have countless guns thay I have taken off of people over the years. To be fair everyone was extremely happy about it. If I caught someone who just happened to have a gun when I was picking them up but other than possession by a prohibited person were not doing anything with it and did not have a history of violence I just made it go away. I have also made people destroy drugs on the side of the road vs arresting them for possession. Having respect and being known for fair treatment by the people you serve keeps everyone safer.

          • Because I don’t want to mess with it and I believe that most charities are rip offs. There is big money in nonprofits.

          • Eat a D. I am no longer in law enforcement and became wealthy doing other things. I wasn’t a good fit to public service because I strongly disagree with many laws and don’t like being told what to do. Getting someone tossed into the Federal Pen on a gun charge and since the County district attorney was working hand-in-hand with the National Rifle Association on Operation Exile the people would get charged a second time in state court and after they finished their federal sentence they would have to do a state sentence. That smacked of injustice to me. Would you have preferred that I left the gun on the side of the road?

            • We hire you to enforce the law. Prohibited people are prohibited people. You’re supposed to arrest them. I guess it’s just coincidence that you’re such a great guy that your strategy happen to put a lot of valuable guns in your hands.

              • Rank has its privileges and I had rank. Our department gave us a lot of discretion and believed that it was more important to keep the peace then to fill the jails. The only time an arrest was mandatory was in a domestic violence call if there was physical evidence of harm. I own a few million dollars worth of guns. The value of the ones I picked up while working is below the value of the watch I wear when I work on my hobby cars and tha I don’t mind banging up.

    • “Gives a new meaning for Show and Tell.”

      I’ve got something I bet you’ll really like to see, you sweet thang… 😉

  2. Stupid JAP.
    ( is this story real? I mean special needs, the guys name, book bag. All sounds fabricated to me.)
    “Averted a tragedy”, that’s debatable too.

  3. Where was the mother? I’m imagining the conversation at home:
    Father: “Honey, have you seen my range bag? I left it on the table.”
    Mother: “Range bag? I thought that was our daughter’s book bag! I sent her off to school with it.”

    But look on the bright side: That’s one child who will never, ever be bullied by her classmates!
    Everyone knows she’s packing. She’s got street cred for the rest of her life.
    (I’m just assuming it’s a girl because of the photo with the article, even though the article just says “child,” not boy or girl.)

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