gun owners - does this make you mad ?

[stealthycat]

Photo of boy posing with gun banned

LONDONDERRY, New Hampshire (AP) -- The school board has voted to ban a photo of a student from the senior section of his high school yearbook because he is posed with a shotgun.

But Tuesday's unanimous vote also backed a compromise: Blake Douglass can have the photo published in a "community sports" section, and a new photo -- without the gun but featuring other elements of skeet and trap shooting -- can appear in the seniors' section of the Londonderry High School yearbook.

The compromise wasn't good enough for Douglass, who wanted his senior photo in traditional sportsman's pose, wearing an oxford shirt, navy vest and holding the shotgun over his shoulder.

"I don't see anything wrong with the picture," Douglass, 17 said at the hearing. "I just want my senior picture in the yearbook."

Last month the yearbook staff, adviser, principal and superintendent chose to bar the photo from the yearbook, saying the firearm was inappropriate.

Penny Dean, Douglass' lawyer, said she intends to file a complaint in U.S. District Court, and said the National Rifle Association will pay for the court case.

Dean cited a statement on student publications in the board's policy manual: "We encourage the use of school sponsored publications to express students' points of view. They shall be free from all policy restrictions outside the normal rules for responsible journalism."



I seriously got pissed about this. Anyone else who thinks its ridiculous can call the school at 603-432-6920 ext 2200 and voice your opinions. I did - and the lady said a few calls from the south have been coming in this morning

[kevin1]

I like the photo ,
what's wrong with it ? Did they have a posted policy forbidding the display of a gun ? Wasn't the school's photographer supposed to say "Sorry , you can't pose with your shotgun." ? [:@]

[Swampmonster]

That is just the way it is now. And it is everywhere, even in the south. A good friend of mine wrote an American History book in which he showed a frontiersman holding a frontloader. I think it was a picture of a guy dressed like Dave Crockett or Boone, etc. The guy was just standing there just like we have all seen in books for decades. School system and publishers went nuts and refused to even consider the book. The guy had to get rid of the image.

Ridiculous. The trend does not look good, fellas - and I don't know the solution for changing it.

[badshotbob]

I find it appauling that a boy would want to have his picture in the yearbook holding a FIREARM! of all things. What is he thinking anyway? That gun makes him look like a psycho-freak killer that should probably be locked up before he hurts someone. And the parents! What in the H are they thinking? Raising a boy to like firearms so much that he wants to pose with them for his school picture? These people should be heavily medicated and put in a concentration camp for this. Why, they have completely abused this child by allowing him to participate in such a dangerous activity. I for one think that there should be more regulation against kids using firearms. These people should be fined at the minimum. [:@]






[8D]




Obviously, that was a bit on the sarcastic side.


Funny how times have changed though... At the age of 9, my Dad made the 6 mile ride into town on his bicycle (without a helmet!), to buy his first firearm - a Remington single shot bolt action .22 - with his own money he saved. He bought the gun at the local hardware with no parent present. You think my grandparents were irresponsible? No. They taught him to use the gun, and how to use it to go get supper. The point of this story is to illustrate what we all know - how times have changed from a boy buying a gun to a boy not being able to pose with a gun. Sick. Sad. [:'(][:@] But, the bottom line is we as a nation have been regulated into having weak, mushy, easily controlled minds so this type of thing is every day normal practice to be against for the majority of the population.

[wesleykey]

I like the photo ,
what's wrong with it ?

I Agree....

[Aught Six]

Yes, it does make me mad.

The next step in our cultural evolution is the establishment of a wholly fear-based society. We'll live locked in our houses, safe and sound in front of the computer all day. No germs to catch from strangers, no horses or bicycles to fall off of, no bullets to hit us as we're walking down the street.

And I guess we'll forget about terrorism while we're at it. The defense of freedom and liberty is just too darned risky!

[stuckinthereeds]

Thumbs up to the NRA for paying for the lawsuit.

I would like to know a little bit more of why school banned the photo. The reason of the "firearm was inappropriate" just doesn't do it for me.

I like the picture too. I don't see anything wrong with the picture.

[mike bell]

How can I get mad at them? They are idiots and ignorant of the fact that the shooting sports are actually safer then all the other sports they allow students to play.



What makes me mad is the fact the so called "sportsmen" continue to vote against their sport! Thats who is to blame! They allow anti-gun people to get elected! THATS WHAT MAKES ME MAD! [:@]

[etothepii]

If the decision was consistant with an existing policy, it wouldn't make me mad. I'd disagree with the policy, but I wouldn't be mad.

In this case, it sounds like the kid was consistant with existing policy. Students were encouraged to use pictures that, "express students' points of view." The administration ignored their own policy. But that doesn't make me mad either.

What makes me mad is why they did it: to demonize guns and everything related to them. In this picture, we have a young sportsman. He's not a thug. He's not holding the gun in a way to suggest or imply violence or inappropriate behavior. Yet the administration bans the photo, merely for the existence of the gun.

I hate to think what would have happened if he were holding a Bible.

[deerhunter1224]

Its bull **** people. The republicans are trying to get your vote.