A Wisconsin teacher will not be charged after posting a comment praising the Columbine High School shooters on a conservative blog.

James Buss, former president of teachers union at the Oak Creek School District, posted comments on “Boots and Sabers,” a conservative Wisconsin politics blog, during a discussion about teachers’ salaries.

Some commenters previously complained teachers were underworked and overpaid.

In response Buss commented that shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Kleold should be remembered as heroes.

“They knew how to deal with the overpaid teacher union thugs,” he posted. “One shot at a time!”

While it seems Buss was being sarcastic, mentioning one of the deadliest school shootings in history where 12 students and teachers lost their lives was probably not a smart idea.

Buss was arrested after police used the IP address to track him down.

The Washington County district attorney considered charging him with disorderly conduct and unlawful use of computerized communications systems.

Buss was lucky when the district attorney found that he did not incite lawless action with the comments.

With a little bit of thought, it’s not to hard to figure out that he was not serious, but after the Columbine and Virginia Tech massacres he should have realized that someone may take it as a serious threat.

Obviously Patricia Herdrich, West Bend School District superintendent, took the comment seriously and filed the complaint.

There are other ways Buss could have been funny or satirical.

Comments like “Watching your kids all day definitely isn’t a full time job,” or “Yeah, let’s pay teachers sweat shop wages” wouldn’t have been taken as seriously.

I can’t agree with how Buss expressed his comments, but the First Amendment protects free speech, especially when it is controversial.

There is no reason to try and prevent it, because free speech allows us to say whatever we want. At least that is what we think when we are young.

As we get older, we start to learn that there actually are some restrictions to free speech.

Inciting violence is one of the biggest holds on free speech and it isn’t surprising.

A cult leader who tells his followers to go and kill people and they attempt to hack someone to pieces, will be arrested.

Buss did not make any inclination that someone should shoot up a school to stop teacher unions.

He was a teacher who probably was sick of hearing the repeated comments that teachers are overpaid.

Taking that frustration, he made the post that he probably now regrets.

Buss a teacher at the Oak Creek School District since 1994, will have his comments follow him for the rest of his life.

Buss was put on paid administrative leave, while the school district decides what action to take.

Granted not every comment posted online will be traced, but it makes one think twice before posting a tongue and cheek comment.