"Last November, University of California, Los Angeles student Joseph Deutch put what appeared to be a bullet into the chamber and pulled the trigger in front of his class.
"After the sound of a click, he ran out of the room and a loud noise rang out, causing panic among students who briefly thought he had committed suicide. In fact, Deutch had set off a firecracker in a can offstage, his lawyer Howard R. Price told the Los Angeles Times."
Firecrackers, of course, are illegal in the state of California, which only allows the sale and use of State Fire Marshal-approved "safe and sane" fireworks. On top of that, even those fireworks may only be discharged between specified dates around the Fourth of July, and only then in municipalities which permit it.
So the lawyer seems to be admitting guilt for his client on several counts.
Actually, the whole story about a wooden gun sounds like BS to me.