A senior portrait featuring a firearm is causing local and national controversy as a debate over the limits of free speech and gun rights has erupted online.
18-Year-old Preston Flanders who attends Mills River High School in Vermont has put a cat among the pigeons by submitting a photograph of himself holding a hunting rifle for his school yearbook.
The rejection of the image by his school has lead to national attention and predictable controversy over free speech and the Second Amendment with local publication, The VT Digger, publishing the story under the headline, Free speech or safety threat?
According to Preston, there were no specific rules or instructions from the shcool that would prohibit him from submitting such a photo for his yearbook and he wanted to show his passion for hunting and shooting.
“I grew up hunting and my parents hunt, my grandparents hunt. I’ve been hunting since I was eight, yeah, it’s when I passed my hunter safety scores. I’ve gone to several different courses, I shoot at ranges, I like shooting, that’s what I like doing,” he said.
Under school policy, photos of guns were deemed inapproproate due to safety concerns and the notion that it would go against its effort to promote a safe environment.
Preston’s father, who also noted that there was no specific school rule or policy against submitting images holding a firearm, has since resigned from the school board citing, “potential legal action ensuing between (his) family and the school, and/or individual employees.”
In the meantime, Preston has been asked to come up with new photo for his yearbook.
The school has said it will be creating new guidelines for next year.
