Court says no rights violated when Michigan school told girl to remove hat with image of a gun

DURAND, Mich. — A Michigan school did not violate the free-speech rights of a third-grade student who was told to remove a hat that had an image of an AR-15-style rifle and the message “come and take it" in capital letters, a federal court said Friday.

The principal at Kerr Elementary School in Durand said the hat could be disruptive and perceived as threatening, especially because the school in 2022 had new students from Oxford, a district that was the site of a school shooting just a few months earlier.

The school's “actions were readily defensible,” the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in a 3-0 opinion.

“The record demonstrates that school officials relied on their knowledge of the student body to make a reasonable forecast of a substantial disruption in school activities, and therefore did not violate the First Amendment by asking C.S. to remove her hat," the court said.

Kerr School had allowed students to wear hats during a week dedicated to showing kindness.

The student's hat belonged to her father, and she wore it because it made her feel safe, according to a summary of the case.

The father subsequently filed a lawsuit claiming a violation of his daughter's First Amendment rights. The appeals court affirmed a decision in favor of the school by U.S. District Judge Terrence Berg.