Physics Teacher May Be In Trouble For Firing Weapon During Class

Each year high school physics teacher David Lapp takes his M-1 rifle to class and fires a shot into a block of wood and tells students to calculate the velocity of the bullet.

Each year the newest crop of physics students look forward to the experiment, and several other of Mr. Lapp's unorthodox experiments which are used to illustrate inertia, velocity and other complicated formulas.

Despite having safely performed the experiment for 20 years, Mr. Lapp, who is a former MP, is now under legal scrutiny due to a complaint from an anonymous parent.

Mr. Lapp did stop the experiment for a couple of years following Columbine.

It is a felony to bring any rifle, loaded or unloaded, onto a school campus without the written permission of the school district superintendent or his designee, according to Marin County District Attorney Ed Berberian.

Actually firing a gun inside a classroom would, in all probability, be considered a "reckless discharge" and could bring about harsher punishment under Penal Code section 626.9, better known as the Gun-Free School Zone Act of 1995.

Mr. Lapp contends that the experiment is completely safe. The .30-caliber bullet is fired into a foot-long, 8-pound block of wood hanging by cords from a ceiling mount. The students take measurements of the block's movement and mass and calculate the bullet speed with those results. The bullet is fired at point-blank range with the students all standing behind him. There has never been an injury or even a close call.

Marin County District Attorney Ed Berberian said of the demonstration, "If he just did this in an open classroom with a block of wood, there could be ricochets. That in itself would be a presumption of recklessness."

I suppose it would if bullets ricocheted off of wood, which they do not.

"I've been doing this for years," said Lapp. "The students love it. They ask about it very early on in the year. It's one of the more exciting demonstrations."

Furthermore, when Mr. Lapp started doing the experiment, the high school's former principle checked with a lawyer and determined there were no laws against it, and Mr. Lapp also got the written permission of the current high school principle, who both said they believe the experiment is legal.

"It is certainly something that one pauses about, but we felt that it was something that was OK because of the educational value," Holleran, the current principle, said. "Most students get a lot out of it. It's an interesting and dramatic example of physics in action.

Unusual experiments are the hallmark of Mr. Lapp's physics classes, which are honor courses. He also lies on a bed of nails and invites students to break a cinderblock on his chest with a sledge hammer.

"It's a demonstration of Newton's law of inertia."

Mr. Lapp also cooks a steak in 15 seconds between two sheets of metal that are hooked up to a wall outlet.

"If you were a senior in high school and you were wondering what the relevance of high school was, it would be much more authentic if you measured actual things, like the speed of a bullet," Lapp said. "It lends authenticity to a classroom."

"He's a terrific teacher who does a lot of wonderful things to bring physics to life," Holleran said. "The students really get a lot out of his class, so we provide him with a lot of latitude. We've never had complaints about (the ballistic pendulum experiment), and it has probably been done in front of 900 to 1,000 students over the years."

So one high-strung, anonymous, cowardly parent out of 1,000 has to spoil what is an interesting class that kids actually look forward to? That is truly a shame!