Thanks to Colin Wait of Durango, Colorado, for this update:
After participating in the NRA's Youth Education Summit (Y.E.S.) this summer, Wait returned to campus to a much-anticipated change: as a competitive shooter, Wait is no longer in violation of his school district's firearms conduct code.
Wait and his family have been battling with his school district’s firearms conduct code: “The district has determined that possession and/or use of a weapon on or off school property by a student is detrimental to the welfare or safety of students and personnel.” Following the clause, it stated that students found associated with weapons would be suspended or expelled.
Knowing that the school code directly violated Wait’s right to hunt, defend himself, or shoot with his 4-H club or with the NRA’s Youth Hunter Education Challenge, Wait and his family took direct action. After many calls and correspondences to the school’s officials, they were able to make the district recognize their point of view, but the district still did not change the code. The correspondences included sending copies of handbooks from other school districts in Colorado, which had more practical firearms codes.
After about a year and a half of correspondence, the school added a new clause to the code, “An exception to this code may be made for students participating in an authorized extracurricular activity or team involving the use of firearms.”
Still, Wait and his family were not happy. According to the code, Wait could be suspended or expelled for lawful activities if the school didn’t authorize them.
Returning to school this fall after attending Y.E.S., Wait received the new student handbook. To his surprise the weapons code read the same as those handbooks from other school districts that limit the schools’ jurisdiction to school grounds and school sponsored activities. Wait and his family had won the fight for a fair weapons code that is in line with the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights!
Wait would like to thank all those that were involved in funding and planning the Y.E.S. program, making it possible for him to have the experience of a lifetime while deepening his knowledge and understanding of the Second Amendment. Y.E.S. reinforces the idea that any age citizen can defend our Constitutional rights.
Read all of NRAblog's coverage of the Youth Education Summit.