“High school senior Rebekah Rorick took a senior picture that included her two great loves – her dog and her favorite hobby of hunting,” news10.com reports. “’My family has always hunted,’ she said. ‘It’s something I do with my family, and my dog is my best friend. So I decided to put her in the photo. I fell in love with [the picture]. It’s my favorite photo of all time right now.'” But Rorick held a rifle in her left hand in the image. As a result, the photo was refused by the Broadalbin-Perth High School yearbook committee . . .
Rorick and her dad took her case to the Board of Education Monday night and argued the portrait was no different than many other senior portraits because it highlighted student interests. They also presented a 2012 yearbook photo of a past senior holding a rifle with a deer.
“I think the yearbook staff’s opinion was that that could be seen as a weapon,” Superintendent Stephen Tomlinson said.
Luckily, Thomlinson saw the light.
Tomlinson said it was the first time he’d heard about the photo, and his first chance to look at it.
“We do have a policy against weapons, but at first glance, and even now, I do not believe that this is,” he said. “She is not holding the gun in a malicious manner. She is not pointing it anywhere. It’s to me, in my opinion, a nice photograph of a young lady in the Adirondack region that enjoys hunting.”
In the end, Rorick and her father won their fight, and the portrait will appear in the yearbook.
Another victory for common sense gun control control. If you know what I mean. [h/t JA]