Today’s blacklisted American: Wyoming school bans pictures of its kids learning to shoot rifles
Don’t look! This picture might offend you!
They’re coming for you next: Because it received complaints from unnamed offended individuals, the Wyoming Hot Springs County School District No. 1 decided to remove pictures and a post on its Facebook page showing middle school students learning to shoot air rifles.
Last week, the district shared a photo of some fifth- and sixth- grade students from Thermopolis Middle School working on their marksmanship with air rifles. “Mr. Deromedi’s 5/6th PE classes are working on their marksmanship with air rifles!” the now-deleted post stated. “All students passed their safety test and have been sharpening their skills.”
Without explaining why the school district removed the post, Superintendent Dustin Hunt said he regretted that it was “found offensive by others.” [emphasis mine]
Apparently, the Facebook post received a lot of attention, getting 66,000 shares and 6,000 comments, most of which were positive, according to reports that viewed the post before it was removed. A handful of commenters apparently were hostile however:
“America is a dystopian hellhole,” a commenter said.
“Do they go straight from their gun marksmanship training to their active shooter drills?” asked another.
Some commenters espoused typical leftist talking points and compared teaching children proper firearm safety to arming them for future crimes.
“Training the next school shooter young and providing the guns on campus nice,” one Facebook user wrote.
Another user suggested that this training amounted to “literally raising possible school shooters.”
These smattering of uneducated and quite absurd comments evidently struck terror into the school district’s administrators, causing them to take down the post.
What cowards! First, why are they bowing to the heckler’s veto? The first amendment does not give the offended the right to silence opinions they don’t like. To run and hide because a few people are whining about what you are doing is to allow bullies to bully you. The district’s administrators need to grow a spine.
Second, if the school really believes in teaching proper gun safety, why do they care that some idiots are offended? These whiners are foolish, ignorant, and a very very very small minority who are also likely not local to this school district. They clearly know nothing about Wyoming or the need to teach these skills to students.
Wyoming is a rural state. It is certain that almost all of these kids have lived with guns their whole lives, and will need to know how to use them properly if they remain in Wyoming. Teaching these rural children proper gun safety is being responsible, as the school district should know. For the administrators to act ashamed for doing the right thing is utterly disgusting.
Finally, why should the school district care in the slightest that a few people posted negative comments on Facebook? As the saying goes, “Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never harm me.” If you believe that what you are doing is right, you don’t cringe in fear from a few complainers, especially if those complainers make no constructive suggestions. Instead, you smile, thank them for their opinion, and go on as if nothing had happened.
The school district did not do this. Instead, it did cringe in fear, and thus embarrassed itself and, by implication, its young students.
It therefore seems appropriate that the parents, the voters, and elected officials find out who made the decision to take down the post, and take corrective action. At a minimum the post should be restored, and even expanded. At a maximum, the individuals who took it down should face some disciplinary action for being so pusillanimous.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Don’t look! This picture might offend you!
They’re coming for you next: Because it received complaints from unnamed offended individuals, the Wyoming Hot Springs County School District No. 1 decided to remove pictures and a post on its Facebook page showing middle school students learning to shoot air rifles.
Last week, the district shared a photo of some fifth- and sixth- grade students from Thermopolis Middle School working on their marksmanship with air rifles. “Mr. Deromedi’s 5/6th PE classes are working on their marksmanship with air rifles!” the now-deleted post stated. “All students passed their safety test and have been sharpening their skills.”
Without explaining why the school district removed the post, Superintendent Dustin Hunt said he regretted that it was “found offensive by others.” [emphasis mine]
Apparently, the Facebook post received a lot of attention, getting 66,000 shares and 6,000 comments, most of which were positive, according to reports that viewed the post before it was removed. A handful of commenters apparently were hostile however:
“America is a dystopian hellhole,” a commenter said.
“Do they go straight from their gun marksmanship training to their active shooter drills?” asked another.
Some commenters espoused typical leftist talking points and compared teaching children proper firearm safety to arming them for future crimes.
“Training the next school shooter young and providing the guns on campus nice,” one Facebook user wrote.
Another user suggested that this training amounted to “literally raising possible school shooters.”
These smattering of uneducated and quite absurd comments evidently struck terror into the school district’s administrators, causing them to take down the post.
What cowards! First, why are they bowing to the heckler’s veto? The first amendment does not give the offended the right to silence opinions they don’t like. To run and hide because a few people are whining about what you are doing is to allow bullies to bully you. The district’s administrators need to grow a spine.
Second, if the school really believes in teaching proper gun safety, why do they care that some idiots are offended? These whiners are foolish, ignorant, and a very very very small minority who are also likely not local to this school district. They clearly know nothing about Wyoming or the need to teach these skills to students.
Wyoming is a rural state. It is certain that almost all of these kids have lived with guns their whole lives, and will need to know how to use them properly if they remain in Wyoming. Teaching these rural children proper gun safety is being responsible, as the school district should know. For the administrators to act ashamed for doing the right thing is utterly disgusting.
Finally, why should the school district care in the slightest that a few people posted negative comments on Facebook? As the saying goes, “Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never harm me.” If you believe that what you are doing is right, you don’t cringe in fear from a few complainers, especially if those complainers make no constructive suggestions. Instead, you smile, thank them for their opinion, and go on as if nothing had happened.
The school district did not do this. Instead, it did cringe in fear, and thus embarrassed itself and, by implication, its young students.
It therefore seems appropriate that the parents, the voters, and elected officials find out who made the decision to take down the post, and take corrective action. At a minimum the post should be restored, and even expanded. At a maximum, the individuals who took it down should face some disciplinary action for being so pusillanimous.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
I’m all for gun safety classes, and went through the same at that age. But Robert, you seem to be making some assumptions and clutching your pearls too soon. Your first linked article states:
“Without explaining why the school district removed the post, Superintendent Dustin Hunt said he regretted that it was “found offensive by others.””
“As to its removal, however, the superintendent’s office has not returned Cowboy State Daily’s phone call asking why.”
So, yeah, some people complained, they acknowledged some folks didn’t like it, but that’s all we know at this time. Given that its a small town in a red state, and the post had mostly favorable comments, I don’t feel like they would be too concerned about a few negative comments.
Omitted word: “If you believe that what you are doing is right, you [don’t} cringe in fear”
Patrick Underwood: Thank you. Fixed.
I have fond memories of my BB gun, growing up on a farm. Shooting targets was a lot funner then putting a 22 slug in the back of the head of goats, sheep, pigs and occasional cow. (I always hated digging the hole for my father to dump a wheelbarrow full, to bury the head, guts and hooves)
Although chopping heads off of chickens was rather hilarious to watch them running around the yard without a head…
These words may sound callous, but raising animals and harvesting them on the farm is an event that must happen often. Remember that the next time you eat hot wings or a hamburger or pizza with sausage on it.
I learned gun safety in Cub Scouts, got my first 22 to go out shooting the rabbits and rattlesnakes in the fields.
My friends and I would take our guns to school to hunt through the fields afterwards. Yes, shotguns in our lockers without ever any trouble.
Think of it this way, if you apply the logic in the story to “driver’s ed”… Future drivers trained in car safety and etiquette, to properly handle vehicles for the purpose of terrorism, to mow down pedestrians, people on sidewalks and in parades? (after all, more people are killed with cars then with guns)
Makes as much sense as not teaching children to use knives and forks to eat with, in case they might be tempted to use them as deadly weapons….
Speaking of deadly weapons, this recently posted video talking about submitted evidence of government protocols forcing doctors to murder their patients on ventilators. One hour. (They talk about injecting newborns at the 20 minute mark)
https://trusttheq.com/mel-k-dr-bryan-ardis-on-the-global-medical-killing-fields-crimes-against-humanity-2-15-22/
It was reported this morning that Pfizer may not be able to inject the babies with the vaccine… They’re having trouble finding babies with the coronavirus to test on. Apparently people are watching to make sure they don’t falsify the data this time and that they actually performed experiments showing its efficacy.
It’s hard to force all children to receive a shot, when no children are sick and don’t catch it.
The idea that firearms instruction produces future criminals and murderers is like saying sex education produces future rapists and prostitutes. Oh, I forgot, “sex workers” – now officially approved by the Left (ask these people if they would approve if their teenage daughter took up the profession)
Bobby Hill: Best Of That’s My Purse
King of the Hill Se6 Ep1
https://youtu.be/Qy3qk4ohwFA
4:26
Wayne, great episode! Thanks for sharing. Anyone up for a game of kickball?
In the Land of 10,000 Lakes, my HS required a passing grade in swimming to graduate.
Just think of all the future Navy SEALs that were raised!
Paul. I went to school at Penn State which required all physically fit students to pass a swim and water survival test. It was instituted after World War 2 because of lobbying by a Phys Ed Professor (who was renowned as an outdoorsman) and had spent the war teaching survival to Navy pilots. He was appalled at the number of what he viewed as needless deaths by drowning and resolved that no PSU grad would ever drown if he could help it.
He also taught an advanced Phys Ed class on Survival you could take to complete your requirement – I took it, Rifle Marksmanship, Pistol Marksmanship, Bow and Arrow, Personal Defense (hand to hand combat for civilians – we had a large number of women enrolled – which was taught by a member of the Taiwanese National Judo Team who was also a reserve Army officer, He kept us ROTC students after class ended to teach us lethal techniques. He was in the States to get his PhD), Fencing and Swimming/Drown Proofing to get the Phys Ed credits I needed to graduate.
My complaint would be publishing my child’s face on Facebook. Take your publicity shots from another angle, please – unless you sent a model release home.
markedup2: Ah, you raise a most interesting point. It is very possible the Facebook post was taken down because parents got concerned that the post was garnering so much interest, and their kids pictures were there. If so, the school district should have made this fact very clear, immediately, as it would be a very legitimate reason to remove the post. That the district did not still speaks badly of these administrators, as they have given the public the wrong impression for their decision.
What is really appalling to me is that schools have room in the curriculum for air rifle class, but no room to teach BASIC life skills like changing a tire.
Parents in general haven’t given two hoots about what goes on in schools for decades and now all of the sudden it’s a giant controversy everyday. We read stories about stupid school boards and loud ignorant parents screeching about masks., books, socialization, blah blah blah.
Grade school is mostly just day care.
It has been that low on society’s priorities list for a long time.