Should the NRA be advertising in a middle school yearbook?
Carpetbagger regular Chief Osceola alerted me to an interesting flap in southern California dealing with the First Amendment, the Second Amendment, and a junior high school yearbook. (Thanks, Chief)
La Mesa Junior High School, in the Santa Clarita area, publishes a yearbook for the students who range in age from 12 to 15. The yearbook has advertisements in the back from several local stores, and the money raised through the ads helps defray publishing costs. One ad, however, has sparked a controversy.
A grandfather for one of the students paid for an advertisement for the National Rifle Association. The ad includes the text of the Second Amendment, a toll-free telephone number for people to become NRA members, and the NRA logo of an eagle clutching two rifles in its talons.
Some question whether the ad is appropriate for a junior high yearbook — where students can be expelled for bringing something to school that even looks like a gun.
An NRA spokesperson doesn’t understand what the fuss is about, saying, “I am at a loss as to why anyone would consider this advertisement inappropriate. There is nothing inappropriate about educating students about the Bill of Rights. There is nothing in the ad that is remotely violent. We are exercising our First Amendment rights, and I think this is a valuable civics lesson.”
I would never support restricting the NRA’s right to place advertisements in the media, but is a junior high yearbook the right place for an NRA ad?
To be sure, the public junior high yearbook is not an “open forum” in which any company can advertise any product or service. Alcohol distributors are prohibited from buying an ad, as are tobacco companies. I suspect if Playboy magazine wanted to give out a toll-free number for prospective subscribers, the school might veto the ad.
The NRA thinks this is a “valuable civics lesson.” Perhaps it is. But, as Chief Osceola mentioned to me, how would conservatives react if Planned Parenthood bought space to run the text of Roe v. Wade in a junior high yearbook? As Chief put it, “Would that also be a ‘valuable civics lesson’ or would the right go totally crazy?” I think we know the honest answer to that one.