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BRISTOL, CT – With Newtown, Connecticut at the epicenter of this nation’s gun control debate, students are now being taught in at least one of the state’s public schools that the Second Amendment does not grant Americans the right to bear arms.
In an interview with Todd Starnes of Fox News, Steve Boibeaux related his dismay at the study material his eight-grade son brought home from Northeast Middle School in Bristol. The study material, entitled “The Second Amendment Today,” was distributed by his son’s social studies teacher.
“I am appalled,” said Boibeaux. “It sounds to me like they are trying to indoctrinate our kids.” He added, “I’m more than a little upset about this. It’s not up to the teacher to determine what the Constitution means. If you want to learn about the Constitution, recite it word for word.”
The study materials, published by Instructional Fair, state:
- The courts have consistently determined that the Second Amendment does not ensure each individual the right to bear arms.
- The courts have never found a law regulating the private ownership of weapons unconstitutional.
- The rights of this amendment are not extended to the individual citizens of the states, so a person has no right to complain about a Second Amendment violation by state laws.
- The Second Amendment only provides the right of a state to keep an armed National Guard.
Mat Staver, the founder and chairman of the Liberty Counsel, called the lesson propaganda that is “absolutely false.” Staver contends, rather, that “the U.S. Supreme Court has affirmed that the Second Amendment ensures the individual the right to bear arms. The progressive interpretation of the Second Amendment is that it doesn’t give you the right to bear arms – that it’s a corporate right of the government – but that has been rejected by the Courts.”
According to the student, his teacher defended the materials’ interpretation of the Second Amendment with the view promoted by progressives that the Constitution is a “living document.”
The worksheet provided to students champions that idea with the words “the interpretation changes to meet the needs of the times. The judges and courts of each generation provide the interpretation of the document.”
Addressing the view of the Constitution presented in the material, Staver said, “This idea that this school is propagating that the Constitution can simply be changed at the whim of someone – or that the Second Amendment does not protect the individual right to bear arms is absolute propaganda and absolutely false.”
Boibeaux is demanding meetings with the principal as well as the board of education. “I just don’t appreciate this as a parent,” he said. “I expect teachers to teach my kids and tell the truth – not what they think their point of view is.”
Ellen Solek, the superintendent of the school district, said they have now decided to pull the assignment from the classroom. “It is no longer an assignment in that particular school,” she said, noting that it was an “administration decision in the best interest of the district.”
The superintendent declined answering any questions about the content of the lesson, how it became a part of the curriculum, or how many students were assigned the lesson. At this point, the school board has also offered no apology.
