Today, FIRE wrote The Vanguard School after learning the school will allow the student to wear the Gadsden flag patch… but only if nobody complains.

And the school is *completely prohibiting* the student from displaying a patch expressing support for gun rights. More to come. https://t.co/KUsfASa9ad pic.twitter.com/4jahj0ya08

— FIRE (@TheFIREorg) August 31, 2023

If consistently applied, the district’s overly broad policy would restrict speech that is obviously permissible.

“Under the policy, students cannot wear D.A.R.E. shirts or Everytown for Gun Safety pins,” wrote Terr. “The policy goes far beyond prohibiting expression that promotes illegal activity or that would substantially disrupt the school environment.”

Nor can the district permit such patches up until the point at which someone complains about them. This would be an example of the heckler’s veto; for obvious reasons, speech does not suddenly lose First Amendment protection just because someone objects to it.

[Did anyone expect the school or the district to learn the proper lesson from this episode? I predicted at the time that the retreat was out of embarrassment, not recognition, and that they would find ways to get around it eventually. — Ed]