A reader of my blog directed me to this little jewel of insanity.
A 14 year old in West Virginia was wearing a t-shirt at school like the one at the right. (I pulled this image from the NRA website. The shirt is for sale there.)
Short version.
The young man apparently tried to exercise his FIRST Amendment right to freedom of expression and refused to change shirts. Then the school calls the cops, the young man is arrested for “Disrupting the education process” REALLY? What ever happened to calling your Mom or your Dad and having them pick you up from school and giving you a talking to you wouldn’t soon forget.
Why the fuck were the cops called at all?
At worst, the kid may have been in violation of some dumb assed dress code. Hell you see more controversial shirts at the mall.
So what’s the problem?
The problem is yet another over-reaction from people about guns. Honestly I’d never thought you’d see this kind of crap from West Virginia. After all that is one of the “Flyover” states isn’t it?
I haven’t been able to confirm it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this was another example of stupid “Zero Tolerance Policies”
In expressing his support for the Second Amendment… This 8th grader had his First Amendment right trampled and left in the Mud.
The police know they’re wrong in this. The District Attorney knows this trifling thing should have been nothing more than the school, the police (since they were called), the young man, and his father sitting down and having a discussion about why this shirt shouldn’t have been worn and as was already done, a day of suspension for the young man. Ideally it should have been the Principal, the young man and his dad.
That’s where it should have ended.
The people of Logan West Virginia should be outraged that their tax dollars are being wasted this way. They should be asking serious questions about the schools administration too.
As I’ve written before, what kind of lesson are we teaching? “Don’t handle your own problems foist it off on someone else? Make sure that you complicate things so much that only a jury can sort it out?” Come on!
This is not how civilized people in a polite society deal with simple problems.
There was a time in this country when we didn’t need Lawyers, Judges, and Police to be involved in every single aspect of our lives.
We shouldn’t need to take anything to court except in cases of the most serious breaches of law or in simply unresolvable cases.
Worse is that this young man is going to have a juvenile record for doing absolutely nothing wrong.
Why do we repeatedly teach our young people about their Rights, about doing the Right Thing and then turn around and punish them for exercising their rights or doing the right thing?
I’ve written about this before,
The young man who disarmed a gun wielding moron on a bus in Florida because the person with the gun was holding it to the head of another student and threatening to pull the trigger.
The young life guard who saved someone life, but that “save” was outside the area he was paid to patrol and so as a result of doing the right thing, he was fired.
Then there’s the young man in Oregon who saved someone else from drowning and because of procedure his family was hit with a bill for an ambulance ride and examination in the local emergency room.
The Elementary school child who was suspended for chewing his poptart into the shape of a gun.
The child who took his cap gun to school and ended up being grilled for hours and his family’s home being searched for weapons.
The adult Army Sargent in TX who was arrested, had his guns confiscated, lost out on a Career promotion, and had his Son terrorized by a police officer because The Sargent was “rudely” displaying a rifle… By the way it’s legal to carry rifles openly in TX.
There are so many more of these cases it’s unreal.
Folks, this kind of stuff goes on all the time, each day there’s another incident added to the list.
For every incident that makes the national news, how many are being swept under the carpet?
I’ve been told I’m wrong. I’ve been told that the government isn’t coming to take guns out of the hands of the people. I can only say OH, Really???
If that’s true, then why are police so quick to search homes, specifically looking for weapons? How do we justify the repeated violations of the First and Fourth amendments nationwide? How do we justify the denial of the Second amendment when legally owned guns are confiscated during searches conducted in violation of the Fourth amendment?
WE CAN’T!
If you entertain for one moment that the Constitution of the United States of America isn’t under siege you really need to think again.
To my conservative and liberal readers. Regardless of your stance on guns… (put that aside for just a moment). We need to reach out to each other to protect all of our constitutional rights.
The loss of the First amendment will affect all of us.
Do you want to live in a nation where you can’t speak your mind? How about a nation where you fear having your home searched randomly for contraband, not because you were accused but just because someone felt like it? This is perhaps not fiction anymore.
We already have seen the erosion of privacy that is tantamount to an illegal search by the NSA.
It will take a united America to protect The Constitution. There are no party lines in this, no color, no religion, no conservatives, no liberals, only Americans who believe in Freedom.
I’m no longer a member of the NRA, but I’ve got the hat… I think I’m going to be wearing it a lot more. A) to let folks know I’m pro 2nd amendment, and B) because I’m sure that I’ll be able to find liberals to have discussions with.
I was thinking we should have a “Jared day” where everyone wears the same t-shirt he was wearing when he got into all this trouble. I hope that the NRA is watching and provides funding for Jareds defense, I’m betting he’s going to need it.
If any part of this has struck a chord – stand up, take action.
Write your Congressman & Representatives. Their addresses are easy to find on various Government websites. Please take a second and look ’em up.
Try to wake up your family, friends, and neighbors. You do that not by browbeating them, but by presenting them with your concerns and facts.
Freedom is hard work. We’re up to it, but we all have to be engaged and pulling together.