A worksheet handed out to students who attend the Northeast Middle School in Bristol, Connecticut, has parents outraged that the school is teaching students that Americans don’t have a Second Amendment right to bear arms.
Via Todd Starnes, Fox News:
“The courts have consistently determined that the Second Amendment does not ensure each individual the right to bear arms,” the worksheet states. “The courts have never found a law regulating the private ownership of weapons unconstitutional.
The worksheet, published by Instructional Fair, goes on to say that the Second Amendment is not incorporated against the states.
“This means that the rights of this amendment are not extended to the individual citizens of the states,” the worksheet reads. “So a person has no right to complain about a Second Amendment violation by state laws.”
According to the document, the Second Amendment “only provides the right of a state to keep an armed National Guard.”
[Update] That is factually wrong as the Supreme Court has, indeed, affirmed the fundamental right to bear arms that cannot be violated by state and local governments. [End Update]
[Update #2] The Connecticut Constitution also affirms a citizen's right to bear arms. H/T @MalPartisan
Section 15: Every citizen has a right to bear arms in defense of himself and the state.[End update #2]
Fox News reached out to Mat Staver, founder and chairman of the Liberty Counsel, who called the lesson “absolutely false” propaganda.
“In fact, the US Supreme Court has affirmed that the Second Amendment ensures the individual the right to bear arms,” Staver said. “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.”
More:
Boibeaux’s son’s teacher also told the students that the Constitution is a “living document.”
As noted in the worksheet provided to students – that means “the interpretation changes to meet the needs of the times.”
“The judges and courts of each generation provide the interpretation of the document,” the worksheet states.
Boibeaux called that concept mind-boggling.
It’s not up to the teacher to determine what the Constitution means,” he said. “If you want to learn about the Constitution, recite it word for word.”
Staver said the idea that the Constitution is a living document is another progressive tactic.
“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,” Staver said.
Boibeaux said he’s 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.”
According to the Fox report school district officials have decided to pull the assignment from the classroom of that "particular" school.
Ellen Solek, school district Superintendent, refused to answer any questions about the content of the lesson, how it became a part of the curriculum or how many students were assigned the lesson. She also refused to acknowledge whether the school will apologize to students and parents.
Worksheet below and contact information for the school and the BOE district officials beneath that.
Enlarged version of the worksheet can be found here.
Contact Information:
Christopher C. Wilson
Board of Education Chairman
Ellen Solek, Ed.D.
Superintendent
E-mail the BOE Administration
Northeast Middle School
530 Stevens Street
Bristol, CT 06010
Voice: 860.584.7839
Fax: 860.584.7837
