NRA to Back Student in Yearbook Photo Fight
Boston.com / News / Local / NRA to back student in yearbook photo fight
So the powers that be at Londonderry High School in New Hampshire have disallowed a high school Senior's photograph showing him with a shotgun slung over his shoulder in his graduating class yearbook. They say that it has to do with "appropriateness and venue." That they should have the ability to make editorial decisions about what appears in the yearbook.
The NRA and the Gun Owners of New Hampshire are supporting the student and are willing to financially back him if he chooses to sue the school over the issue. They say that the photo is similar to other photos of students with musical instruments, etc.
This is a tough issue, but here is my opinion.
The school says that the concept of a gun in the photo violates their "zero-tolerance" policy towards guns. This part of their argument is a bit week. It is, afterall, just a photo. At the same time, I do think that it is a bit creepy for a kid to want to be holding a gun in his yearbook photo, regardless.
The school also says that they should be able to have editorial control over the yearbook. I agree with this. I can think of plenty of generally offensive things that students might want to include in photos that the school should have the ability to block. I can also think of some things that I personally might not find offensive, yet I would imagine the same folks supporting the gun cause might object to and want to exclude from the yearbook... Gay students holding hands or kissing? The Londonderry High School Hitler Remembrance Society (with swastika armbands)? The foreign student association (with the members depicted burning a flag)? The Campus Democrats (burning GW Bush in effigy)? The Hammer and Sickle Society (with hammer & sickle flag)? The list could go on... You get the point.
The school should indeed have editorial control over what appears in the yearbook. I can see how the picture of the kid with the gun could be considered inappropriate. If I were in control, I would probably let it through, however I am not - the administrators at the school are. They have made a decision and they should stick with it. A picture of some type (I have forgotten what) was excluded from my high school yearbook and all of us graduating that year lived to tell the story.
"Choose your battles" is something I find myself saying often. This one isn't a blatent miscarriage of justice. Time to move on.
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