In a remarkable decision that has stirred up both controversy and incredulity and is gaining traction on social media sources such as Reddit and others, United States District Judge Terrence Berg ruled against a third-grade girl who was asked by school officials at Robert Kerr Elementary School in Durand, Michigan, to remove her “Come and Take It” hat during a “hat day” event. The hat, adorned with an AR-15 image and a historic slogan, was deemed inappropriate by the school, citing concerns over the implications of violence and the potential for disruption in the educational setting.

Adam Stroub, the girl’s father, filed a lawsuit arguing that his daughter’s First Amendment rights were being violated. However, Judge Berg upheld the school’s decision, stating that administrators have the authority to place reasonable regulations on student expression if it is “reasonably necessary to avoid disruptions of the teaching and learning process.”

The school’s principal, Amy Leffel, and behavioral specialist Michael Papanek expressed their concerns, emphasizing that the hat’s imagery and slogan could be perceived as threatening, especially in a gun-free elementary school zone. They also highlighted the need to maintain a kind and non-confrontational environment for students, some of whom had transferred from a district that had experienced a school shooting the previous year.

Critics of the ruling, including the Firearms Policy Coalition, argue that the decision infringes on the student’s First Amendment rights. They contend that public schools should not suppress pro-Second Amendment expressions and that the image of a legal firearm on apparel does not inherently suggest violence or incite altercations.

The backlash on platforms such as Reddit has been fierce, with many calling the ruling and the school’s stance as overreaching and misguided. Critics argue that if a student feels uncomfortable because of a picture or a slogan, the educational system is failing in its mission to educate rather than coddle.

This case has sparked a heated debate over the balance between school safety and the right to free expression, highlighting the deep divisions in how Americans perceive the presence and representation of firearms in educational settings.

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62 COMMENTS

  1. Utterly ridiculous. These types wouldn’t say shit if they had a mouth full!
    This is not an example of proper education.
    They probably fear the Gadsden Flag too.

    • I would have argued historical analogies on the behalf of Black Americans, Indians, etc. whose Second Amendment Rights were for centiries denied by racist garbage and argued on the behalf of Jews and others who were defenseless and marched off to genocidal concentration camps, etc.
      Come And Get It means Never-Again, your honor. Instead Gun Control the agenda of tyrants, racists, nazis and the devil prevailed…Next time Define Gun Control for the court.

  2. Any and all special days our school had: shirt, hat, pajama, etc… the sole motivation of the students was to disrupt and offend.

    Which is probably why after we graduated the school put an end to those.

    If you can’t stand potential disruption and you’re not going to be a 1st A absolutist then don’t have those special days.

    Though I suppose those days are good for gauging how obedient, homogenized and downtrodden the kids are. No doubt a measure of success for any school system.

    • I remember my buddy in 6th grade wore a Metallica “metal up your a$$” t shirt to school one day. This was just an ordinary day. Not sure if it was his choice or a teacher made him do it but I remember he had black electric tape over the A-word by the end of the day. They certainly didn’t send him home to change

    • “Any and all special days our school had: shirt, hat, pajama, etc… the sole motivation of the students was to disrupt and offend.

      Which is probably why after we graduated the school put an end to those.”

      Had one of those when I was in elementary school, about 1975 or so. The local high school brought a band over for us to hear. Cool!

      The drummer wore a “Disco Sucks” t-shirt. We *loved* it! They suspended that poor kid…

    • And I bet if she was wearing a hat that said ” I’m a boy inside silently screaming to be set free ! ” that she would already be undergoing a sex-change treatment plan.

      • …and you’ll be able to tell how the process is going by her NEW t-shirts, changing from “my favorite dog is a setter” to “my favorite dog is a pointer”, with cute pictures of course

  4. If it weren’t for the pearl clutching by the triggered adults, the kids probably wouldn’t have even noticed, or cared.

  5. Education? No such animal and has not been such an animal in this country for at least 50 years.

    Indoctrination is the goal these days.

    • “The philosophy of the classroom today will be the philosophy of government tomorrow.”
      ~ Abraham Lincoln
      (1809-1865) 16th US President
      Makes it easier to understand how our society has devolved as far as it has.

      • Wow. Thats a good point. They took prayer and God out of the schools too. Wonder how many school shootings we’d had before that?

        Nothing says left like removing divine protection against Satan

      • Ideological subversion per Yuri Bezmenov.

        “They are programmed to think and react to certain stimuli in a certain pattern [alluding to Pavlov]. You can not change their mind even if you expose them to authentic information. Even if you prove that white is white and black is black, you still can not change the basic perception and the logic of behavior.”

        He said the irreversible d-e-m-o-r-a-l-i-z-a-t-i-o-n* process was a done deal in the US by the mid ’80s. In 30 years, we’ll look back to today as the good old days.

        *found another one wordpress is programmed to flag

    • As I was raising my children, they would sometimes complain about my standards of excellence in oneself, as children often do. While I never demanded perfection, I always encouraged them to strive for loftier goals and reach further than they thought they could.

      One time, one of them during his later teenage years was telling me he felt weighed down by the demands he perceived the adult world would place on him as he would begin competing with his peers for employment and such.

      I distinctly remember replying, “You already have everything you need within you to succeed; you simply need to recognize and utilize it. If you want to be noticed, you often only need to stand up tall, because most everyone else around you is slouching. By merely standing straight, you’ll already be setting yourself in a position to see above everyone else’s heads to chart your path more clearly, and you’ll be noticed by an employer for that quality.”

  6. “reasonably necessary to avoid disruptions of the teaching and learning process.”

    if there were a teaching and learning process.

    banning a first amendment right to freedom of expression … was that the teaching and learning process moment?

    how odd the judge ignored that this ‘authority’ of ‘subjectivity’ isn’t actually codified in law. the law lets them create and promulgate rules and policy, but not make law nor are those rules and policy actually law.

    it’s like a cop saying “i have authority to tell you to shut up because I don’t like what you are saying” … they may have to authority to say ‘shut up’ in the sense they are there, but they don’t have the authority to actually make you shut up because they don’t like what you are saying.

  7. The rainbow f(l)ag makes many kids uncomfortable. Are they going to prohibit that as well?

  8. “Michael Papanek expressed their concerns, emphasizing that the hat’s imagery and slogan could be perceived as threatening, especially in a gun-free elementary school zone.”

    but hes perfectly happy that his “gun-free elementary school zone” is literally by law essentially a gurantee of defenseless prey for mentally ill killers.

    but yeah there Michael…you justify your pre-emption of this scary hat being worn by celebrating an intentional infringement of first amendment rights of a third grader. I’m pretty sure there’s a teaching and learning process moment in there, like the one where you just taught this girl and the rest of these third graders what a Marxist Soci -alist fas -cist looks like.

  9. A third grader wearing this hat. I suspect a parent may have been involved. Just me. A flag of the United States of America would have said all that needed to be said. There should have been one on the flag pole anyway.

  10. Terrence Berg was appointed to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan by President Barack Obama in 2012.

    • Berg should had disqualified himself from this. In 2015 Berg was shot in the leg during a home invasion by a poor mistreated young black man.

  11. Come and Take It.
    And they did.
    Probably the same scenario that will be played out across America in the near future.
    The Jurnior class was quite disappointed when the principal sent Connie home for wearing a see through blouse.
    It made me want to run home and take a shower with my sister, or mom, or the Greatest President America Has or Ever Will Have, Joseph Robinett Biden.

  12. In the short run, pull your children from the communist public schools. In the long run, we all need to work to get the government out of education altogether. The least it will do will save your children from being groomed by the alphabet brigade.

  13. Question: Should schools and/or universities be allowed authority to determine what action, speech, behavior can be prohibited on school properties and buildings?

    If the answer is “yes”, are there any limits to be imposed on schools/universities?

    If the answer to the Question is “no”, must that answer be absolute to all manner of speech, action or behavior?

    The entire question of authority becomes a rabbit hole. This is the problem with “reasonable restrictions”.

    • Sam,

      Strangely, my answer is “it depends”. If it’s a private school? Hell, yes, they can set rules . . . and if I don’t like it, I can take my kid out and stop paying them. If it’s a PUBLIC school, and “educating” my kid with MY tax money? Hell, no . . . unless the parents of the students in the school were allowed to vote on it, AND there are publicly-funded alternatives.

      It is not OK for a school to steal my money under threat of force, and use that money to indoctrinate my children.

      • “It is not OK for a school to steal my money under threat of force, and use that money to indoctrinate my children.”

        Hi, Lamp.
        If it is not OK for public schools to set limits on behavior, how is the learning environment to be maintained, such that the students can actually learn in a non-chaotic setting? And if any limits are allowed, what are the limits to the limits?

        At the core, the question becomes one of absolutism vs. “reasonable restrictions”….even in a completely no-cost association.

  14. 3rd grade.
    Well I bet after all the attention and commotion that girl caused all the other kids want a hat like hers too.

  15. All “2nd Amendment” issues aside, I can tell you from experience, as a further student and as a parent, that the kind of people deciding what’s “disruptive and offensive” in our public schools are the sort of people who put unsalted butter in their plain oatmeal, to make it less spicy.

  16. check to see what is on the covers of history books. Any soldiers with guns on those book covers? Does the school book fair sell books about historical weapons, with pictures on the cover? Maybe the school mascot is the Raiders and has crossed swords in the logo?
    Do kids have to look at the school resource officer who carries a sidearm?
    I bet most schools are not as weapon free as they claim to be.

    • Alice Cooper wrote a song about, schools, jobs, cars and gunms.
      Ahhh shucks, now I’m going to have to look that up.
      Its been awhile.

  17. My elementary school art teacher wife found an opened tactical looking pocket knife on the ground after the middle schools play practice yesterday. A cheapy 4” ish blade kind of deal.
    I told her probably just a kid showing it off to his friends, I’d hate for him to be expelled or something. I remember taking a ninja sword to show and tell in 5th grade or so.

    Nowadays its hard to say though.
    She was wanting to snuff the kid out, find out who’s it was and all that.. She was worried if something did happen eventually and if she hadn’t said anything about it. Due diligence kind of thing. I told her just pass it up the chain of command and forget about it

  18. “The school’s principal, Amy Leffel, and behavioral specialist Michael Papanek expressed their concerns, emphasizing that the hat’s imagery and slogan could be perceived as threatening, especially in a gun-free elementary school zone. They also highlighted the need to maintain a kind and non-confrontational environment for students, some of whom had transferred from a district that had experienced a school shooting the previous year.”

    So lets see, they, a government entity (a public school and/or school board is a government entity) intentionally violated, and banned, this third graders first amendment right to freedom of expression because “could be perceived” and someone did something bad before.

    ya know, two of the very things that SCOTUS and courts across the nation have already ruled (numerous times) ARE NOT justifications for infringing, restricting, removing, banning, violating constitutional rights or by any ‘authority’ of any ‘government entity’.

    • “ya know, two of the very things that SCOTUS and courts across the nation have already ruled (numerous times) ARE NOT justifications for infringing, restricting, removing, banning, violating constitutional rights or by any ‘authority’ of any ‘government entity’.”

      Every infringement stands until the SC makes a ruling, and even after. It is a war of attrition.

  21. The deliberate dumbing down, indoctrination, and brainwashing inherent in our socialist public schools!
    Alex Newman: Writer and contributor for The New American: bi-weekly magazine (periodical) of The John Birch Society in Appleton, Wisconsin, exposes “the crimes of the educators!” —-James A. Farmer Klamath County, Oregon
    My cell Phone No. 541-851-1168
    The Bible states: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” —– Proverbs 1:7
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNQ_2Hq4LHs
    Yes…Alex Neman exposes the deliberate dumbing down, indoctrination, and brainwashing of our students in our socialist government controlled public schools, college, universities, and academia!
    On the Net: The John Birch Society in Appleton, Wisconsin at http://www.jbs.org and http://www.thenewamerican.com, respectively. Also On the Net: JPFO, Inc. at http://www.jpfo.org. JPFO, Inc. is “America’s Aggressive Civil Rights Organization” and remains non NRA affiliated. Not surprisingly our public educational system walks in lock step with a morally and intellectually dishonest “deceitful” news media! Both are anti-gun, socialist, pro-abortion/pro-homosexual, anti-Christian/anti-family/anti-marriage and godless! American Christians must wake up, become far better informed, and stop being in denial! Yes….God will hold us accountable (Romans 14:12), including as parents.

  22. Actually, I don’t understand why these cases go to court as a violation of the child’s 1st amendment right when, in actuality, they are a violation of the parents’ right. The parents are responsible for the actions of the child until the child is 18.The parents purchased the hat for the child and sent the child to school with it to express their belief and the belief that they are imparting to their child and wish to express to others. By forcing the child to remove the hat, the school violated the parents’ 1st amendment right. There is no valid argument against this position.

    Frame the debate properly and you can win this one. If it continues to be framed as a violation of the child’s right, the losses will continue.

    • “The parents purchased the hat for the child and sent the child to school with it to express their belief and the belief that they are imparting to their child and wish to express to others.

      ….

      By forcing the child to remove the hat, the school violated the parents’ 1st amendment right.”

      No they didn’t. the kid selected the hat herself.

      and…even SCOTUS has ruled that children have a first amendment right, in fact have all of the constitutional rights as fully formed humans. it just that the activity associated with some of those rights can’t be exercised until certain ages, for example firearms purchases or voting. But a child always has a first amendment right and can express activity in that at all times.

      It wasn’t the parents right, it was the child’s right.

  25. That girl needs to return to school with a hat or t-shirt that reads:
    MY RIGHTS > YOUR FEELINGS

  26. Another Leftist hoplophobe “judge” who has no clue what the 1st Amendment means.

  27. “…behavioral specialist Michael Papanek…” OH, his mommy must be so embarrassed at his accomplishments in life. Sounds like a Libturd with a degree that won’t pay for its cost.””the ones Slo Joe want productive citizens to pay for. Maybe said specialist should be counseling the kids that get tweaked over the hat with a patriotic message,,,,and Hi-5ing the hat kid…

  29. I’m a gun-loving nut. I’m all for the constitution. BUT with the way things are right now with all the school shootings, I think it’s reasonable to ask the father of the girl to try on another hat. I own ARs, SBRs, revolvers, pistols, etc and reload for all of them. It just seems to be common sense to me to let this one slide on by. It’s like the father is trying to create a pro/antigun battle. Sometimes it’s better to just let it go and I feel this is one of those times.

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