A first-grader was suspended after taking a BB gun pistol with him to school in Ocala.

The principal of Saddlewood Elementary School contacted the Marion County Sheriff’s Office on Thursday about the incident. The boy’s brother took a small pocketknife to school, according to an incident report from the sheriff’s office.

The boys said they had been encouraged by their uncle to take the weapons to school for self-protection.

The boys’ mother arrived on the scene and was told the boys would be suspended for 10 days and could be placed in an alternative school.