Cross-Fire : Student, Science Fair Clash Over Ban on Gunshot Project

For 12-year-old Russ Grisbeck, it seemed like a good way to learn the laws of physics, just the kind of thing a science project is supposed to do.

Under his father’s supervision, Russ used a Remington hunting rifle to fire bullets with different amounts of gunpowder into targets and measure the comparative velocity and accuracy.

His seventh-grade science teacher in this rural community north of San Diego liked the project so much she gave Russ an A and nominated his work for the county science fair.

But the people who run the Greater San Diego Science and Engineering Fair have tentatively banned the project from the April 13-17 competition. Their reason: It might lead other youths to take up firearms.

“There was a consensus on the committee that the project might encourage other kids visiting the science fair to go home and try to replicate the results under conditions that are not as precise as Russ Grisbeck’s,” said Jim Esterbrooks, spokesman for the San Diego County Department of Education.

Russ, his father, the National Rifle Assn. and a local congressman say the fair organizers are just indulging in anti-gun bias. They point out that the rifle would not be part of the exhibit, just large pictures and graphs and a 12-page report showing the results of the ballistics tests.

“Basically we feel that Russ is being punished because firearms are politically incorrect,” said his father, Irv, who owns a sportfishing business in San Diego.

Russ, who likes team sports and bike riding and wants to be a fish and game biologist, was given the rifle by his father as a reward for maintaining an A average in mathematics.

“I really don’t think it is fair that they went ahead and judged my project without even seeing it,” Russ said. “You shouldn’t convict someone without asking questions. My dad and I were real careful.”

Sherry Pyle, Russ’s science teacher at Olive Peirce Middle School, hopes the fair’s 30-member governing board, which meets Monday, will overturn the decision by the eight-member screening committee that banned the project.

“Russ followed the science method and he did an accurate scientific project,” Pyle said. “He did some very good science. I don’t give a lot of A’s.”

Part of the problem, Pyle said, may be the differing images of guns in urban and rural school districts. “We live in a rural district where kids have BB guns and pellet guns and it’s not uncommon for kids to go hunting,” she said.

Russ and his father are NRA members and have turned to the politically powerful organization for help.

“I think this is a question of science being sacrificed on the altar of political correctness,” said Tanya K. Metaksa, the NRA’s chief lobbyist.

Metaksa said the NRA, which has 3.3 million members nationwide, is attempting to mobilize its San Diego County members to voice support for Russ. Support has already come from Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-El Cajon), an NRA member.

For Russ’s project, his father helped measure the loads of gunpowder but Russ did the firing, computations and analysis. He concluded that faster-burning gunpowder produced a faster and more accurate shot.

Beyond the science project, the Grisbecks like to hunt turkey, rabbit and pheasant.

“He’s a real nice guy,” Russ said of his father. “He spends a lot of time with me.”

“He’s my best buddy,” his father said.