The insanity of political correctness knows no bounds. That’s the only possible explanation for this story about a 3-year-old deaf boy named Hunter and his school’s reaction to that name:

Hunter Spanjer, who is deaf, signs his name by crossing his forefinger and index finger and moving his hand up and down. To his family, friends and those who know the Signing Exact English language that the Grand Island, Neb., boy uses, that gesture uniquely means “Hunter Spanjer.”

But to Hunter’s school district, it might mean something else. The district claims that it violates a rule that forbids anything in the school that looks like a weapon

Seriously? Some people are so afraid of guns that an innocent toddler can’t even sign his own name for fear of offending the fragile sensibilities of people who claim to be adults? As a Facebook friend of mine noted when sharing the story: “This is so idiotic.”

I know firsthand that this kind of irrational thinking exists because back in 2008, I tried to organize a paintball battle called “Beltway PaintBlog” that would have pitted bloggers across the political spectrum against each other. I saw it as a creative and (mostly) harmless way for everyone to let the bygones of a nasty campaign be bygones.

Bloggers on the right thought it was a great idea, but I couldn’t find any takers on the left or even in the purple range. My favorite response came from a New York-based professor who said he wouldn’t think of participating in such an event because he doesn’t advocate gun play, even the “simulated” kind.

At least that professor lived and worked in New York and spent his days surrounded by like-minded liberals who have a knee-jerk reaction to guns. What amazes me most about the Hunter Spanjer story is that his school is in Grand Island, Neb., the heart of flyover country. Can’t we at least restrict the craziness to the bi-coastal elites in big cities?