National Guard shirts banned at school because of gun image

National Guard shirts banned at school because of gun image

Citing appropriateness, a high school in Ravena, N.Y., has banned the wearing of National Guard t-shirts that feature a silhouette of a combat soldier holding a rifle.

Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk High School has said the shirts violate the school’s dress code, and Interim Superintendent Alan McCartney stated that students are not allowed to wear anything that has a weapon on it.

The controversy started when a National Guard recruiter handed out the shirts at the school last Friday.

Via the Times Union:

New York Army National Guard T-shirts featuring a gun on the front were banned from Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk High SchoolFriday after being deemed inappropriate.

“They’re not allowed to wear anything that would have a weapon on it,” said district Interim Superintendent Alan McCartney, referring to the student dress code. “Our main purpose is education. Wearing pictures of weapons brings to mind those things in our society that are not pertinent to education.”

A recruiter Friday was handing out swag at the school including shirts with the logo of a silhouetted soldier aiming a gun, said National Guard spokesman Colonel Richard Goldenberg.

School administration noticed the logo and asked that the shirts no longer be passed out as they didn’t comply with the school’s dress code, Goldenberg said. “We did it right on the spot.”

The Times Union reports that the school’s actual dress code states it does not allow for clothing that “promotes or endorses the use of alcohol, tobacco or illegal drugs or encourages other illegal or violent activities.”

An image of a soldier in a defense posture should not be viewed illegal or violent, said Jennifer Delisle told CBS-6 that “there’s a big difference between violent crime and people who serve us and keep us safe and keep our freedom.”

McCartney explained “the fact [is] there was a weapon on the shirt  that just doesn’t have a place in a high school.”

Under such an overly broad policy, a t-shirt that the school sold recently to promote its production of the Irving Berlin musical “Annie, Get Your Gun” should also have been banned. The shirts bore this logo, which includes a target.

Annie Get Your Gun

The Drama Club’s Facebook page advertised a need for props which included “2 toy pistols with holders.”

The horror of it!

Cross-posted at the Mental Recession

Rusty Weiss

Rusty Weiss

Rusty Weiss is editor of the Mental Recession, one of the top conservative blogs of 2012. His writings have appeared at the Daily Caller, American Thinker, FoxNews.com, Big Government, the Times Union, and the Troy Record.

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