8th grader arrested over pro-gun t-shirt
May 1st, 2013
Jared Marcum is a 14-year-old middle school student in West Virginia who was suspended, and ultimately jailed after he refused to remove a pro-fun t-shirt emblazoned with the National Rifle Association logo and the text, “Protect Your Right.”
Jared was standing in the lunch line when a teacher ordered him to remove the shirt or turn it inside out. Marcum refused and he was brought to the principal’s office. Jared proceeded to read the school’s dress code to the faculty, insisting that it was not a violation. The dress code forbids students from wearing anything displaying, “profanity, violence, discriminatory messages or sexually suggestive phrases.” It also bans clothes that “glorify alcohol, tobacco or drugs.” No violation here.
Then the police showed up. Jared said, “the officer, he told me to sit down and be quiet. I said, ‘No, I’m exercising my right to free speech.’” Jared was charged with, disrupting the educational process” and “obstructing an officer” and he was put into handcuffs, removed from school and brought to the Logan City Police Department. Then he lawyered up.
Jared’s lawyer, Ben White claims that the school can’t do anything to restrict the right to free speech. That exactly the opposite of what every teacher and administrator ever told me in school.
This week Jared returned to class after his suspension wearing the exact same shirt. He was also met by several supporters also wearing the same shirt. Everyone on school staff has refused to comment, but Jared was allowed to attend class.
Jared’s attorney, Ben White, is petitioning to get the school’s surveillance video and says a civil lawsuit is imminent for violating Jared’s first amendment rights.
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