Pro-gun, pro-life are verboten in academia.
An eighth-grade student is suing the Washoe County School District after he was told to cover his pro-gun T-shirt because it was in violation of the district’s dress code.
The federal lawsuit, filed Tuesday morning in U.S. District Court in Reno, alleges that the school district’s dress code, which prohibits depictions of “anything that promotes weapons,” is a violation of the student’s First Amendment rights.
“This lawsuit challenges, at its core, the school district’s policy which we believe is unconstitutionally overbroad and violates the First Amendment on its face,” said Brandon Combs, president of the Firearms Policy Coalition.
The student, who attends Depoali Middle School, is identifiied in the lawsuit only by his initials, “G.M.,” but a press release from the Firearms Policy Coalition identifies his mother as local police dispatcher Audrey Guardanapo and his father as former law enforcement officer and U.S. Marine veteran Shaun Guardanapo.
The students was disciplined twice for wearing pro-gun clothing, according to the lawsuit.
He was first disciplined on Nov. 20, 2017, for wearing a shirt from a local gun store, Sparks Black Rifle. That shirt depicted the store’s logo, which according to the suit uses the silhouettes of a rifle and handgun.
He was again disciplined on March 12 for wearing a shirt promoting the Firearms Policy Coalition. That shirt features the words “Don’t Tread On Me” and a coiled snake. It also includes references to the Second Amendment and other “constitutional themes.”
The second shirt did not depict an image of a firearm.
The lawsuit was filed by the student through his parents and is backed by the Firearms Policy Foundation and the Firearms Policy Coalition, two non-profit groups aimed at protecting the Second Amendment and the right to bear arms.