SAF Hotline to Report Violations of First and Second Amendment at Schools

There have been numerous reports of students being bullied, pushed to participate in anti-Second Amendment protests they did not believe in, and of being punished for speaking out.

 The Second Amendment Foundation today announced a project to help students who have been harassed, intimidated or bullied for resisting peer pressure to join the wave of protests against guns and the right to keep and bear arms.

"A student's First Amendment rights should not be violated because they support the Second Amendment," said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. "There have been several reports over the past couple of weeks about students who have been harassed or encountered other problems from students, teachers or administrators for not joining in the protests. If that's happening, it isn't right and should not be tolerated.

"Students can call the SAF toll-free hotline to obtain information about legal help and report violations of their First Amendment rights," he added. "The foundation is prepared to take legal action if necessary."

The SAF toll-free hotline number is 800-426-4302.

"All schools should be safe for all students," Gottlieb observed. "We should all be on alert for harassment or intimidation of students who disagree with an uncivil mob mentality. After all, not all school age Americans agree with the current demands for more erosion of our Second Amendment rights.

"While we encourage young Americans to speak their minds and engage in productive debate and dialogue about this issue," he said, "we cannot condone any behavior designed to silence or intimidate others with different viewpoints. That is why we are announcing this project to help students who support their constitutional rights.

"We recognize that in times of high emotion and short tempers, there is inevitably the potential for disagreement to get out of hand," Gottlieb noted. "It is often too easy to go beyond the bounds of rational discourse and enter the realm of vindictiveness. If we are to find the common ground everyone seems to seek, we've got to find it together. If students are penalized for exercising their First Amendment rights to defend the Second Amendment, we want to know about it."


The Second Amendment Foundation (www.saf.org) is the nation's oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 650,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control.

Dean Weingarten