Greater Orange News Service

Canyon HS again in national spotlight over NRA shirt

Orange Unified's Canyon High School is again in the national spotlight over an incident that came to light this week involving a student that wore a NRA shirt to school. The story which broke locally, has been picked up by national news services, gun advocate and conservative websites and blogs, and the influential Huffington Post.

Canyon HS sophomore Haley Bullwinkle, who clams to have worn the shirt to school without incident before, was stopped when she wore the shirt in September. The student reports being stopped by a school security guard and being sent to the principal's office where she was made to change into a school provided shirt. Her parents claim that after sending an email to Canyon Principal Kimberly Fricker about the incident, Jed Bullwinkle is quoted in interviews saying that Fricker replied that the shirt had a gun on it and was not allowed by the campus police and dress code.

The T-shirt has three small photographs across the front with the center photo being a stylized American flag. At the far right is a stylized silhouette of a hunter. The T-Shirt features the words "National Rifle Association of America: Protecting American Traditions Since 1871". Jed Bullwinkle received the shirt after joining the NRA. The school's dress code policy does not specifically mention firearms and bans students from wearing clothing that:
“promotes or depicts: gang, drugs, alcohol, tobacco, violence, criminal activity, obscenity, the degrading of cultures, ethnicity, gender, religion and/or ethnic values. (In general, anything that is divisive or offensive to a staff member.)”

Jed Bullwinkle claims that Haley's first Amendment rights were violated. The story quickly became national news when Jed Bullwinkle contacted attorney Chuck Michel. A civil rights attorney, Michel's clients include the California Rifle Association and the Pistol Association.

Mr. Bullwinkle has also asserted in interviews that the school's initial actions were hypocritical considering that the drill team uses "drill rifles" and the school mascot of a Native American Comanche includes spears and bows and arrows.

As the media began to pick-up the story, OUSD reversed the Principal's decision. OUSD Superintendent Michael Christensen's office issued a statement saying the shirt would be allowed and that the staff would be "trained" to make sure a similar incident did not happen again.

Other incident's have occurred across the country regarding NRA shirts in schools. The power of the NRA was on full display last year as it went up against the Obama Administration's efforts for "gun control" in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary shootings.

More than that however, the principal appeared to be on shaky Constitutional ground. In the 1969 Supreme Court ruling in a landmark case Tinker vs Des Moines the high court upheld high school students' Constitutional First Amendment rights. (CLICK ON TINKER).

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