14-year-old arrested for wearing pro-NRA shirt to school may face a year in jail

[dw_10rosefan]

The West Virginia eighth-grader who was suspended and arrested in late April after he refused to remove a t-shirt supporting the National Rifle Association appeared in court this week and was formally charged with obstructing an officer. As CBS affiliate WTRF reports, 14-year-old Jared Marcum now faces a $500 fine and a maximum of one year in

Comments

[maenads_dance]

God, that's fucked. Schools do stupid shit like this all the time. A kid from my high school wasn't allowed to have his senior photo in the yearbook because he had a picture taken while he was wearing his SCA garb - medieval armor with a broadsword. Having a sword in the picture apparently violated the school's "zero-tolerance" policy about weapons in schools.

Even though the school's mascot was the "Portsmouth Patriot." Who was a revolutionary war soldier carrying a musket.

And the mascot was painted all over the school.

And was on the cover of the yearbook. With a gun.

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[silver_apples]

The school's dress code says “Clothing and accessories that display profanity, violence, discriminatory messages or sexually suggestive phrases are not to be worn at school or school functions. Clothing that displays advertisements for any alcohol, tobacco, or drug product is not to be worn at school or school functions."

I think that the image of a gun and the slogan "protect your right" implies violence, but it isn't a display of violence. I can see how the teacher and student might disagree about whether the shirt was in violation or not. (I suspect that the dress code will be updated before the next school year.)

Calling the cops at all was an overreaction. If he won't change his shirt, call his parents and make him stay in the office until his parents can pick him up or the end of the school day.

[silver_apples]

But you can also reasonably argue that it does not violate the "letter of the law". Although as near as I can tell from the articles, there was no discussion about the rules, just the teacher saying "take off the shirt" and the student saying "no, I'm exercising my right to free speech".

[anolinde]

I mean, schools absolutely have the right to have a dress code in place that forbids inappropriate attire, but to send someone to jail over it?? Seriously?? That's completely unnecessary.

[nesmith]

My usual state of being is "fuck the NRA with a rusty spoon" but this is so wrong and fucked up I can't even.

[aviv_b]

MTE.

[effervescent]

Questionable taste in shirts aside (especially in a school), that's ridiculous. There is such a thing as going overboard.