ACLU of Wisconsin defends Beaver Dam teacher (suspeneded for facebook firearm photo)

[davec]

MILWAUKEE (WKOW) - The ACLU of Wisconsin is defending a Beaver Dam teacher who was put on administrative leave after she posted a questionable photo on her Facebook page.

From the ACLU of Wisconsin:

ACLU of Wisconsin: School should allow teacher to pose with rifle on Facebook

A Beaver Dam Middle School teacher, Betsy Ramsdale, should not have been put on administrative leave simply because of a photo on Facebook showing her training a rifle at the camera. While school safety is of paramount importance, public school teachers do not lose their right to free expression when they are not working.

The context of the photo, the whole Facebook page, is important to understand before taking action against a teacher, who happens to be a gun enthusiast. Media accounts of the photo do not indicate any additional grounds for concern. Beaver Dam School District superintendent Donald Childs is reported to be unaware of any sinister intent.

"Absent any evidence that the teacher poses a threat, the district should not over-react to the sight of a gun in one of their employee's hands," said Chris Ahmuty, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin today.

The ACLU of Wisconsin is a membership organization devoted to the defense and promotion of civil liberties and rights for all Wisconsin residents.

http://www.wkowtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=9802250&nav=menu1362_2

 

[benEzra]

What kind of firearm is that, BTW? They keep calling it a rifle, but the muzzle looks like a shotgun to me.

 

[Geneseo1911]

oops...
excuse me while I pick my jaw up off the floor

Never thought I'd say this but, "Good for the ACLU! Go Get 'Em!"

 

[WardenWolf]

The ACLU occasionally does something useful. Even if they were founded by communist infiltrators with the secret mission of undermining the US government by using our own legal system against us.

 

[shootistpd27]

Conservatives built this country. Liberals will tear it down.

I hope she sues the pants off of her employers. What she does in her own time is her business. I could understand if the pic had been posted on a website shrining the killers of columbine but for crying out loud, she participates in state sanctioned beaver killing. The state pays for her services so why shouldnt she be able to put that pic up. Oh! I forgot, if your a teacher, cop, fireman, or some other underpaid public employee, that their rights are waived once you recieve your first paycheck along with an application to welfare.

 

[TexasRifleman]

Never thought I'd say this but, "Good for the ACLU! Go Get 'Em!"

This is ACLU of Wisconsin, a state organization.

NOT the national ACLU.

Texas ACLU got involved in some 2A stuff recently too, but it's never the national organization.

The national ACLU still holds that the 2A is not an individual right, even after Heller.

http://www.aclu.org/crimjustice/gen/35904res20020304.html

The ACLU disagrees with the Supreme Court's conclusion about the nature of the right protected by the Second Amendment. We do not, however, take a position on gun control itself. In our view, neither the possession of guns nor the regulation of guns raises a civil liberties issue.

 

[cassandrasdaddy]

the aclu has a sense of humour they sent a black yankee lawyer to va to defend a guy who burned a cross on his own land. a good lawyer who won the case too. still a hoot

 

[ThrottleJockey]

"the aclu has a sense of humour they sent a black yankee lawyer to va to defend a guy who burned a cross on his own land. a good lawyer who won the case too. still a hoot"

That is effing awesome!!!

 

[MD_Willington]

I'm going to see if I can add her as a friend on my facebook.

This is me BTW
MD's profile

 

[natman]

What kind of firearm is that, BTW? They keep calling it a rifle, but the muzzle looks like a shotgun to me.

Based on the magazine cap, I'd say it's a Benelli, probably a Nova or Super Nova. Definitely a shotgun.

 

[Owen Sparks]

The only way I can see the school getting away with this is if the teacher signed a contract agreeing not to handle firearms within public view during her term of employment.

My wife teaches at a college and is under a code of conduct that is part of her contract. She can be fired for inappropriate behavior off campus but it would have to be something serious like a felony conviction, having an affair with a student or appearing in a porno film.

I guess these liberal wackos conceder owning a gun to ne "inappropriate" behavior.

 

[Tyrannosaurus]

I never knew there were state ACLU chapters.

Does this mean that they are not held by the same views as the National ACLU?

 

[ServiceSoon]

I think the ACLU will attack this as a first amendment right.

I'm going to see if I can add her as a friend on my facebook.

This is me BTW
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pr...22&ref=profile

Nice pic, haha.

 

[MD_Willington]

fixed it

 

[Jim K]

Sounds like one of those ACLU show pieces, like defending the Nazis in Skokie.

When someone accuses them of being far left wing, they trot out a couple of cases where they defended non-Communists, then go right back to supporting Stalinists and Islamic terrorists.

Jim

PS That photo is not a good one; unless in self defense, no one should ever point a gun at anyone or even at a camera if a viewer of the photo feels the gun is pointed at him. Bad safety practice, bad public relations.

JK

 

[cambeul41]

no one should ever point a gun at anyone or even at a camera if a viewer of the photo feels the gun is pointed at him.

I'm sorry, but SHEESH! I might not like the picture either, but this jazz about the the feelings of the viewer of the photographs as legitimate controlling factors? As I said, SHEESH!

Here I go, defending the teacher's or photographers "artistic intent." 'Ta'int like me at all. However this reeks of, "What ever bothers me, should be prohibited from you.

 

[Ben86]

ACLU on the side of light instead of darkness? Wow, I have seen it all. Not that I'm complaining, just skeptical.

 

[ServiceSoon]

fixed it

Set to private is a fix? I think you took my joke/criticism too seriously. I liked the picture. If you found me on my space you would laugh at some of the pictures of me.

 

[spartywrx]

I never knew there were state ACLU chapters.

Does this mean that they are not held by the same views as the National ACLU?

Yep. The state orgs tend to vary. For example, right after Heller, Nevada's state chaper changed their view from the national ACLU's view (collective right) to their own (individual right). Several other states have done this as well (as I recall)

 

[BBQLS1]

Good.

 

[Seminole]

Just because the ACLU (at the national level) is wrong on the Second Amendment doesn't mean they can't be right on other things, including the First Amendment--which is what this case is about.