INTERESTING LAWSUIT USING THE FIRST AMENDMENT TO PROTECT THE SECOND AMENDMENT

by Bob Walsh

The venue is federal court. The players are the parents of two high school students at the Kettle Monine High School in beautiful Wales, Wisconsin. The issue is whether or not the students can wear t-shirts showing firearms in a non-violent, non-threatening manner.

The attorney for the students, John Monroe, states, "An image of a gun on a shirt, you know, there's a giant leap of faith to get from that to an actual school shooting. I mean, there's just not any correlation between those two."

The students are not requesting damages but they are after a permanent injunction prohibiting the school from enforcing their current ban.

It seems that last week both of the students were sent to the principal's office. They were then told that school rules prohibited "wearing anything threatening, violent and illegal, such as drugs and alcohol." A follow-up email sent to the boy's homes asserted, "We do not allow students to wear clothes that depict guns."

The school is hanging tough, claiming thus far that the ban is in support of their "legitimate concerns in preventing school violence."

Another lawsuit, in a different district in Wisconsin, starting going thru legal process in November of 2018. A federal judge rejected the school's attempt to throw out the lawsuit and in fact issued an injunction against the school and in support of the student's rights.