LOGAN, W.Va., April 21 (UPI) -- A 14-year-old West Virginia student was suspended from school, arrested and faces charges for wearing a T-shirt to school supporting the NRA, his family said.
Jared Marcum, an eighth-grader at Logan Middle School in Logan, W. Va., said school officials asked him to remove his shirt, and when he didn't, suspended him from school.
"What they're doing is trying to take away my rights, my freedom of speech and my Second Amendment," Jared told WOWK-TV, Charleston, W. Va., Friday.
Jared's father, Allen Lardieri, said the school has failed to answer any questions about his son's case.
"I'm still confused, thoroughly confused," he said. "They school didn't even make a statement to the news agencies, much less myself."
"They gave me no paperwork, all they said to my mother was not to bring me back to school the next day," Jared added.
One question some sources had is why children aren't allowed to wear clothing depicting firearms when there is a statue of a soldier carrying a gun and a grenade in the school parking lot, WOWK reported.
"You can take the firearms out of the equation, what this about is fundamental rights," Lardieri said.
Benjamin White, Jared's lawyer, said he'll work on having the charges -- obstruction and disturbing the education process -- dropped, then file any federal or civil suits.
