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http://www.newsday.com/news/local/w...ay20,0,7171230.story?coll=ny-ap-regional-wire
Montclair schools, gun group settle suit over gun control fliers
May 20, 2003, 2:58 PM EDT
BY WAYNE PARRY
Associated Press Writer
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) _ The Montclair public school system will distribute gun safety leaflets to settle a lawsuit brought against it by a gun group that objected when school officials sent pro-gun control leaflets home with students three years ago.
The settlement with the Association of New Jersey Rifle & Pistol Clubs ends legal action that arose from a June 2000 flier sent home with students announcing a rally by Ceasefire NJ, a gun control group, to urge the state Legislature to pass a "smart gun" bill.
The Legislature approved the bill in December 2002. It requires that handguns sold in New Jersey be equipped with technology to prevent anyone but their owners from firing them once such technology becomes commercially available.
When Moms For Gun Safety, a group affiliated with the rifle and pistol association, asked to have a flier sent home opposing the legislation, their request was denied.
"This case is really about an attempt to manipulate young minds by presenting only one side of an issue and actively suppressing the other side," said Scott Bach, the association's executive vice president, who also serves on the board of the National Rifle Association. "This settlement sends a message to every publicly funded school in America: If you try to stifle debate on the Second Amendment, you're going to be held fully accountable."
Under the settlement, reached late Monday, the school district will distribute three leaflets promoting the association's education and training events for women and children.
The group also "will have access to the school system to conduct events, essay contests, grant scholarships and seek establishment of a student club," it said in a prepared statement.
Montclair Superintendent of Schools Michael Osnato said the school system erred in sending the flier home with students.
"It was distributed by mistake by us," he said. "We admitted that. They're absolutely right about the issue of constitutional protection, and that children should not be used as political tools by anybody."
The association and some Montclair parents filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the Montclair schools in October 2001 in U.S. District Court. It accused the Board of Education of violating the right to equal protection under the law by failing as a public institution to give both sides of a debate an equal forum.
The school board's lawyer, Richard Bauch, said the association sought much more in its lawsuit than it received in the settlement, including use of the "Eddie The Eagle" gun safety curriculum promoted by the National Rifle Association.
Copyright © 2003, The Associated Press