Newspapers in School? Like "a Loaded Gun"

I confess, I'm getting very tired of these people:

Following a parent's complaint, an Eagan elementary school principal has placed a step between students and free newspapers, including the St. Paul Pioneer Press, in the school's media center — saying school officials should be mindful of what young children are reading.

Principal Miles Haugen of Deerwood Elementary School received an e-mail from a woman whose second-grade daughter attends the school. The parent complained about the "sex, death and general mayhem that have become the standard fodder for newspapers and TV news," said one teacher who saw the e-mail and asked not to be identified.

Roughly 30 copies of the Pioneer Press are provided to the school, primarily for teachers to use in classroom exercises. Leftovers are accessible to students in the school's media center.

School officials originally said they would restrict the papers for the woman's child alone — but the woman e-mailed back that it wasn't good enough, saying the act would make the papers a "fascinating forbidden fruit" and giving students open access to the papers would be "like leaving a loaded gun on the table."

A newspaper in school is "like leaving a loaded gun on the table."

You know, I don't care that this is elementary school: this is just plain nuts. Fine, make that decision for your own children; just don't make it for those of us who want our children to be, you know, educated.