Bullies

This post was triggered by my 17 year old nephew's issue at school today. He is a good kid. Not malicious at all. Problem is, he is bigger than most kids his age and he gets picked on quite frequently by kids that for one reason or another, think they are better than him, cooler than him, etc. Today, he was being bullied, verbally, I assume, by these kids. Not the first time. It is a pretty regular occurrence with him. He had had enough and he snapped and lashed out, again, verbally, at the bullys. He threatened them and said they were the reason he had to be on medicine (he is also ADHD and I believe takes and antidepressant as well) and he was going to shoot them, or something to that effect.

OK, here is the thing. He was wrong. He should be punished. I am not saying anything to the contrary. The problem I have is that the kids who instigated it all NEVER get punished. These bullies are the reason kids go berserk and end up killing kids a la Columbine style, and all the other types of things that have happened in the schools. If there is zero tolerance for talk of guns and killing and shooting, then there should be ZERO TOLERANCE for the kids who run their mouths and do the bullying in the first place. They should be punished just as severely as my Nephew is going to be punished. PERIOD. No tolerance. NONE. Anyone else have an opinion on this?