Posted on 09/26/2004 5:58:44 PM PDT by greydog
A New Hampshire teen is taking a ``Live Free or Die'' lesson to his own teachers, threatening to sue his school if it won't allow him to appear in a yearbook photo with a shotgun on his shoulder.
``I don't see anything wrong with the picture,'' Londonderry High School Senior Blake Douglass said yesterday. ``I enjoy shooting trap and skeet, and I believe you should stand up for what you believe in.''
School administrators have rejected a photo submission from Douglass that shows the smiling senior on one knee with a trapshooting shotgun over his shoulder.
Trapshooting, a sport offered in some high schools, involves firing at clay pigeons launched into the air.
School Superintendent Nate Greenberg said the photo submitted by Douglass is inappropriate given the epidemic of school violence that has swept the nation in recent years.
``Considering all that has occurred with guns in schools, this is not the most appropriate message we want to send,'' he said. ``Skeet shooting is a fine hobby, but there is a time and place.''
Douglass said, however, that a school policy that allows students to select their own yearbook photos does not allow administrators to take away that freedom whenever they wish.
And he's hired a lawyer to help prove it - even if he has to go to federal court.
``Hopefully, the school's attorney will advise them that they're going down a silly path,'' Douglass' attorney, Penny Dean, said yesterday. ``This could easily cost a hundred grand, and that's not a good use of taxpayer money.''
She said school officials will be fighting an uphill battle in the ``Live Free or Die'' state, especially given the number of rod and gun clubs that dot the New Hampshire countryside.
But Londonderry school officials say it takes more than a tough-talking lawyer to force them into submission.
``The attorney seems to be harping on (money) as a reason for us to change our mind,'' Greenberg said. ``We'll wait and see, but we're prepared to defend our position at this point.''
By who's direction?
Greydog, articles like this and articles about things that go bang should have the keyword banglist. Otherwise, bttt.
Worth reading as well,
http://www.theunionleader.com/articles_showa.html?article=44483
Showing a High School student with a sports rifel over his sholdier could be the thing that scares away those punks that takd advantage of liberal "feel good" schools and shoot them up.
Don't forget that the Principal of Colenbine went to his car and got a gun, an dcame back in and protected his students.
If a politician does not have the common sense to know that a law abiding citizen with a gun is not a threat, then that politician does not have the common sense to vote on how my tax money is to be spent.
What's funny/ironic is that I bet that they wouldn't have a problem with the "propriety" of time or place if a gay student wanted to appear in a dress or something like that.
Football is legal. You can pose with a football. Guns are not illegal, either. This school is being stupid.
``This could easily cost a hundred grand, and that's not a good use of taxpayer money.''
How many people have given their lives to protect the first 2 amendments of the constitution. What does this idiot Greenburg think - well thanks to this article his position is clear. He'll waste $100K of taxpayer to push his agenda to deny this fella his constitutional rights.
I agree. PC has infected the education system.
Good grief, you are probably right. Live Free or Die NH has been overtaken by leftist blobs. V's wife.
The school principal said:
“I just felt that the picture with the skeet shooting rifle was something that should not be in a yearbook, and it would be something that would create controversy.” (09/24/04)
He's 50% correct :)
This kid should be able to have his picture. When I first heard of this, I thought perhaps he might have been trying to emulate a gangbanger with his stocking cap and arms folded across his chest holding a 9mm pistol.
This is the kids legal hobby and passion. This is just anti-gun liberals in action. Skeet shooting has nothing to do with school violence. Since you are five times more likely to be beaten to death with a pair of bare hands than to be killed with an assault weapon, should hands be outlawed from appearing in pictures? Just because a kid can hang him or herself with a belt, should belts be banned from pictures?
On a lighter note: I live in Massachusetts, and went up to NH to watch an airshow Sunday. A Massachusetts Air National Guard A-10 Thunderbolt was there, and after the pilot came out of the cockpit and took his harness off, I thought I saw a holstered sidearm. When I wondered aloud if it was, and if they were allowed to fly with them outside a war zone, my buddy interjected: "If he has to ditch in Cambridge, he is going to need his weapon!" (For those not in the know, Cambridge may be the most liberal part of the most liberal state in the union. We call it "The Peoples Republic of Cambridge...:)
Behold the "nuance" of "Progressive" thought.
So9
A shotgun, not a rifle. Of course the principal got that wrong too in his statement to the press.
It's more liberal/socialist than Berkeley, California?
It's a toss up. Six of one, half a dozen of the other.
I would have loved to shoot skeet in HS.
Instead I ended up joining an NRA rifle team and shot on Saturday mornings. (Made sharpshooter.)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.