Three elementary school students from Chase Lake Elementary School in Edmonds, Washington state have been slapped with suspensions for bringing in and playing with Nerf toy guns, which have been brought in the first place to support an experiment on the lesson on probability. What's ironic, the teacher who approved the idea of bringing in the toy weapons was unscathed in the hullabaloo.

Parents were furious over the matter because even those who didn't bring the toy guns but just simply played with it were slapped with suspension notices.

But school administrators stood on their ground that regardless of the Nerf being harmless toys, the students had automatically "violated the school's zero tolerance policy on guns of any kind" when they were caught shooting off the foam darts Friday before class.

But the parents argued the students would not have thought of bringing them in if they didn't receive the go signal from their teacher, who remained unidentified in various reports.

The only "problem" in the story is that boys being boys, they decided to play with the Nerf toy guns, and started shooting foam bullet projectiles, before the school bell rang to signal the start of classes.

What's more painful is that some of the kids who got suspended were just mere spectators and players, not even the owners of the toy guns.

"They are both very upset," Shannon Shumard, a parent of the sixth grade son and fourth grade daughter, said. "I mean, it's a day suspension, but it's a permanent on their record."

"I do understand that they definitely need consequences, but not that harsh of a consequence," said parent Stacey Leidholm, whose son is a straight A student.

Both parents strongly believe the school overly reacted with its suspension slap. If there should be anyone castigated on this, it should be teacher who approved bringing those toy guns into the school.

"If the teacher and the school staff don't even know their own rules, how are the children supposed to know them?" Mrs Shumard said.

Both parents are appealing the suspensions at district headquarters.

"It's a matter of safety and it's of the utmost importance. So even if it's a toy, we take it seriously," school district spokeswoman Amanda Ralston said.