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Parkland teacher slams ‘attention-seeking’ pro-gun student who shared snap of shooting trip with dad
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Parkland teacher slams ‘attention-seeking’ pro-gun student who shared snap of shooting trip with dad

A Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School teacher castigated Kyle Kashuv, a pro-gun survivor of the Parkland, Florida, massacre, after the student shared a photo from a shooting trip with his father on social media.

What's the backstory here?

Kashuv said that the photo in question, a snap from a gun range, led school security to call him out of class for interrogation over the photo.

The photo, which was shared Friday on Twitter, featured Kashuv and his father at a shooting range.

He captioned the photo, "It was great learning about our inalienable right of #2A and how to properly use a gun. This was my first time ever touching a gun and it made me appreciate the #Constitution even more. My instructor was very informative; I learnt a lot. #2A is important and we need 2 preserve 2A."

According to The Daily Wire, Kashuv said that several security officers began "intensely" questioning him Monday over the postings. Kashuv shared a statement with the outlet:

Near the end of third period, my teacher got a call from the office saying I need to go down and see a Mr. Greenleaf. I didn’t know Mr. Greenleaf, but it turned out that he was an armed school resource officer. I went down and found him, and he escorted me to his office. Then a second security officer walked in and sat behind me. Both began questioning me intensely. First, they began berating my tweet, although neither of them had read it; then they began aggressively asking questions about who I went to the range with, whose gun we used, about my father, etc. They were incredibly condescending and rude.

Then a third officer from the Broward County Sheriff’s Office walked in, and began asking me the same questions again. At that point, I asked whether I could record the interview. They said no. I asked if I had done anything wrong. Again, they answered no. I asked why I was there. One said, “Don’t get snappy with me, do you not remember what happened here a few months ago?”

They continued to question me aggressively, though they could cite nothing I had done wrong. They kept calling me “the pro-Second Amendment kid.” I was shocked and honestly, scared. It definitely felt like they were attempting to intimidate me.

I was treated like a criminal for no reason other than having gone to the gun range and posted on social media about it.

TV host Montel Williams caught wind of the story and tweeted about it.

He wrote, "So @KyleKashuv, went to a gun range *WITH HIS FATHER outside school hours. I don’t understand how that justifies being interrogated by rent-a-cops and then by a sworn officer without giving his parents the chance to be present?"

What happened next?

Enter Marjory Stoneman Douglas teacher Greg Pittman, who took issue with Williams' tweet as well as Kashuv's decision to visit the gun range.

On Twitter, Pittman responded to Williams' tweet — which had Kashuv copied on it — and wrote, "As a teacher from Stoneman Douglas, any student posting photos holding guns, knives or other weapons would be questioned. 4 federal cases have ruled in the last 10 years that assault weapons are not protected. Most gun owners would not hold their gun in this same posed manner."

Williams responded, "I understand the point but this is none of yours or the school’s business, and it’s certainly inappropriate to have three cops interrogate a 16 year old (illegally mind you) over a tweet that depicts an entirely lawful activity he did with his dad?"

Kashuv chimed in and answered, "Mr. Pittman, it was an illegal and unconstitutional detainment. See U.S. Code § 1983 and JDB v. North Carolina. 1) the derogatory mentions of poliical [sic] beliefs. 2) the LEO in back of me holding my chair. 3) not contacting my parents prior. 4) Calling me into a locked office."

Pittman responded that he's "not the cops," but "merely stating why this was a very bad idea to do for our students to see. Do you have any idea what it is like for kids to go back or teachers in those clssses [sic]? Kyle only did it for attention. Very very bad idea to do. Poor taste is being kind."

Williams stuck to his guns and maintained his opinion that Kashuv did nothing wrong, and did not deserve to be treated like a suspect in a crime, but Pittman kept coming with the thinly veiled insults aimed at Kashuv.

At one point, Pittman wrote, "Did you also hear only one attention seeking student posted photos holding assault weapons on social media in Parkland after a mass shooting at Douglas High and sheriff checked it out? Really. Attention seeking kids..anything for attention."

He later added, "Probably not the brightest idea to hold [the gun] like that or anyway to post on social media by a student from a school that just had a mass shooting except to get attention to gain followers and create PR. Also I own 2 guns, but don’t need to post them on social media," and appeared to take aim at Kashuv's intelligence with another tweet.

Pittman wrote, "Maybe everyone else but this one student were smart enough to know that posting photos of assault weapons for all the students to see after a mass shooting st [sic] their school was a really bad idea."

Pittman also argued with several Twitter users about the definition of "assault weapon," and later complained that the "far right" was attacking him over his posts.

"I had fun tonight being attacked since I pointed out why it might be a bad idea to post photos with am assault weapon by a Douglas high Student after the mass shooting we experienced and why the sheriff might check it out. While I do own 2 guns, the far right attacks me lol," he wrote.

After Pittman received a lot of flak for what many believed was insulting commentary, he balked at the idea that he might be in the wrong and began tweeting about the topic once again on Wednesday.

He wrote, "I have attacked no one. I said it was not bright to post photos of a gun on social media by a student from Douglas after the mass shooting. Students are afraid to come to school. Security & Broward Sheriff deputies talk to the student due to the post. I just stated what happened."

"So by stating what took place, saying it was not bright, and was probably planned to get attention on social media, I am attacked by the student and threaten by others for stating what took place. I am not the police, security or administration. This mob mentality is scary & sad," he added.

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Sarah Taylor

Sarah Taylor

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