Outraged parents confronted New Jersey’s Lacey Board of Education on March 19 after the suspension of students over a photo taken at a gun range.
Breitbart News reported that the Lacey Township High School students were allegedly suspended over a Snapchat photo taken at the range. NJ.com reported that the photo showed “four rifles, ammunition [magazines], and a gun duffel bag.” A student captioned the photo, “Fun day at the range.”
The Association of New Jersey Rifle & Pistol Clubs noted that district’s policy allows students to be suspended for up to a year if “reported to be in possession of a weapon of any type for any reason or purpose on or off school grounds.”
Livid parents vented their frustration during Monday night’s board of education meeting. Jersey Shore Online reported that Amanda Buron, a parent who is a friend of one of the suspended boys, said, “The school should not have the right to discipline what students do outside of school, as it is a violation of their First and Second Amendment rights.”
Republican Congressional candidate Mark McGovern attended the meeting and spoke against the suspensions, accusing the board of “lying” by saying the student’s rights were not violated. Parent Frank Horvath said, “I would like to see the board admit that they made an error and they’ve done something they shouldn’t have.”
Ed Cardinal noted that his son had been impacted by the school’s weapons policy too, saying, “My son had a sticker on his truck and he couldn’t take his truck to school unless he took the sticker off. It was a picture of a gun. We didn’t think it was right but we didn’t want him to get in trouble for it, so we took it off.”
The board remained mostly quiet during as the parents and public vented, with Superintendent Craig Wigley urging civility and talking about “respect for authority.”
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets with AWR Hawkins, and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.
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