Shane Kinney, 16, was wearing a sweatshirt that said, “Protected by Smith and Wesson.”
He knew what was coming next because he had gone to school wearing clothes that show his support for gun rights before. And he’d gotten into hot water before, too.
"They've yelled at me for wearing it before because it has a gun on it and I had to duct tape it," Kinney said.
Kinney told WBEN in Buffalo, N.Y. that this time, it was what he had under the shirt that really irritated school workers.
When he took off the sweatshirt, he revealed an NRA T-shirt that said, “2nd AMENDMENT Shall not be Infringed,” and “Live Free or Die,” highlighted by crossed rifles.
Kinney was told his T-shirt also was inappropriate.
Shane's father told WGRZ-TV the school told him why they didn't like the shirts. "They said it was the guns," he noted.
Shane was given the option of changing the shirt or wearing it inside out. He choose to do neither and was suspended for a day.
Kinney’s mother Kim works at the school and points out the dress code doesn’t prohibit guns; it simply says clothing can’t be disruptive or promote violence.
She thinks her sons wearing a shirt with guns on it “doesn’t mean you are for any kind of violence.”
His father Wayne agrees and has talked to school officials about the suspension and the rules.
Still, his mother confirms “Shane will probably not wear shirts like this to school anymore.”
"He can hold firmly to his beliefs but for those 7 hours a day, five days a week he's in school, you have to kind of follow their rules, like it or not," she told WGRZ.
“But he’ll move on. He'll graduate, and probably serve our country and wear lots of shirts like that,” she finished.
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