NRA T-Shirt Gets 14 Year Old the Possibility of 1 Year in Jail – Overreaction Much? [POLL/VIDEO]

It’s a little much to think that a tee shirt supporting the NRA could get you in enough trouble that you’ll wind up spending a year in jail.

But that’s the future that awaits 14 year old Jared Marcum of Logan City, West Virginia for refusing to change his shirt when told to by school officials.

From what I was able to glean from previous reports, there was no dress code prohibiting him from wearing the tee.

But a teacher thought it “offensive” enough to tell him not to wear it.

According to this:

A West Virginia teenager who was arrested and suspended from school after he refused to remove an NRA T-shirt is back in class.

Fourteen-year-old Jared Marcum of Logan returned to Logan Middle School on Monday after serving a one-day suspension.

His father, Allen Lardieri, told 13 News that the situation was exaggerated and said, "I don't see how anybody would have an issue with a hunting rifle and NRA put on a T-shirt, especially when policy doesn’t forbid it."

The school district's dress code prohibits any profanity, violence, discriminatory messages, but the report noted that gun images are not on the list.

"I will go to the ends of the earth, I will call people, I will write letters, I will do everything in the legal realm to make sure this does not happen again," Lardieri said, according to the report.

The teen's lawyer, Ben White, says school administrators maintain that Marcum disrupted the educational process. He says Marcum was exercising his right to free speech and wasn't disruptive.

Logan police arrested Marcum at the school last Thursday after he refused a teacher's order to remove the shirt. White says prosecutors are reviewing the case to determine whether to file charges.

Since that time, however,charges indeed were filed:

Fourteen-year-old Jared Marcum appeared before a judge and was officially charged with obstructing an officer.

A $500 fine and up to a year in jail, that's the penalty that Jared could face, now that a judge has allowed the prosecution to move forward with it's obstructing an officer charge against him.

The Logan County Police Department initially claimed that the at-the-time 8th grade Logan Middle School student was arrested for disturbing the education process, obstructing an officer and Lardieri says that officers even went as far as threatening to charge Jared with making terroristic threats.

Official court documents were obtained from both sides of this case. On one hand, the arresting officer from the Logan City Police Department, James Adkins, claims that when Jared refused to stop talking, that hindered his ability to do his job, hence, the obstruction charge.

In fairness: on the other side, according to this:

Ben White points out that nowhere in the arresting officer's petition, does it mention Jared ever making any threats or acting in a violent manner.

Ben White says he will continue working to have the charges against Jared dismissed. If that doesn't happen in the coming weeks, Jared will be back in court on July 11th.

This brouhaha over a tee shirt!

While I’ve always maintained that “freedom of speech isn’t always free,” this, to me, still looks as though school officials and the police went overboard in punishing a 14 year old for supporting the NRA!