I can see why this teacher thought she needed to be hyper-vigilant in reporting this student to the police. I also happen to think that how she reacted was out of line and completely unnecessary.
On one hand, given all the shootings that have happened in the not so distant past, teachers must be somewhat on edge and ultra sensitive to this issue. So its not like she deserves a complete lashing, she was doing what she thought was necessary to protect students, which I have no problem with. However, she was dead wrong for reporting the kid to the police based solely on the content of the student's presentation.
Perhaps a 1:1 meeting after class to further discuss the presentation would have been a better approach. This way the prof could have discerned for herself whether this kid was a threat (which of course he was/is not). Thats all it would have taken. Thirty minutes talking to the kid to figure out if he's another nut job looking to massacre everyone, or just open minded college kid exercising a couple constitutional rights. No cops, no hassle, no news story.
BTW what exactly is a "FREE GUN ZONE"??? Because if there is such a thing as a place where guns are free, I'd love to know about it!!
With respect, I too disagree. This represents the antithisis of what the college experience is supposed to be. This young man was making a presentation on a topical subject in response to an assignment. That he was questioned by the police for his views is inexcusable and were I his parents I would be suing the school for defamation of character, slander and malicious prosecution.