8-Year-Old 'Pastry Pistol' Boy Now A Member Of NRA, ACLU

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Josh Welch in Anne Arundel County got in trouble for something he did in school. Now it seems a lot of people Josh doesn't know want to be his friend.

Kai Jackson reports.

For an 8-year-old boy, Joshua Welch sure has a lot of people competing for his attention.

"I was playing, but actually I wasn't looking what I was doing and it turned out to be a gun," he said.

In March, the second grader was suspended from Park Elementary in Brooklyn Park, Anne Arundel County.

The school system says he shaped a pastry into a gun then said inappropriate things.

"It wasn't a big deal to him, so he figured he could go 'bang, bang' and he was just playing around," his father, William Welch, said.

To protest Josh's suspension and Maryland's gun laws, a group of Anne Arundel County Republicans gave Josh a lifetime membership to the NRA.

Kai: "You realize there are some people who might believe you and your son are being used?"

William: "I've heard that from a couple, you know, online and just people I don't know, just strangers."

"Kicking an 8-year-old out of school for playing with his food is so wrong," said Sonia Kumar, ACLU.

Not to be outdone or one-upped, an Anne Arundel County councilman is buying an American Civil Liberties Union membership for Josh.

"We're happy to have Josh as an ACLU member and we look forward to helping him learn about his constitutional rights," Kumar said.

William Welch is trying to get the suspension expunged from his son's record. That process is currently being reviewed.