N.J. university violated 1st Amendment by shutting down gun rights demonstration, lawsuit alleges

The Star Ledger ^ | 01.16.2020 | Noah Cohen

[Coleus]

Montclair State University officials violated the freedom of speech of a group of its students by shutting down a peaceful gun rights demonstration on campus last year, a lawsuit filed Wednesday claimed.

MSU sophomore Mena Botros, president of Young Americans for Liberty, and two fellow students on Sept. 10, 2019 donned orange jumpsuits and posed as criminals while holding signs mockingly supporting “gun-free zones," according to the lawsuit.

Some of the signs stated "every civilian gun is a threat” and “criminals for gun free zones.”

Though the students were “peacefully expressing their ideas in a common outdoor area of campus,” a university police officer ordered them to stop, according to the Alliance Defending Freedom, which is representing the students.

Demonstrators, the suit stated, were on a sidewalk, speaking at normal levels and not otherwise interfering with university activities.

“[The officer] told the students that anyone who wants to speak on campus has to obtain permission at least two weeks in advance and that the dean’s office would assign them a time and place to speak,” the group said.

The two-week requirement “imposes an unconstitutional prior restraint on all students throughout the entire campus,” and allows the school to deny a request or hold it indefinitely for any reason, according to the lawsuit. There are no “objective guidelines” for the policy.

“A public university is supposed to be a marketplace of ideas, but that marketplace can’t function if officials impose burdensome restraints on speech or if they can selectively enforce those restraints against disfavored groups,” Alliance Defending Freedom Legal Counsel Michael Ross said in a statement Thursday.

[Coleus]

It's OK at NJ public colleges to violate students' First, Second and 14th Amendment rights. I know, it's a free speech lawsuit and they weren't carrying guns, but in NJ, nobody can carry guns (without a superior courts' permission), so every day it's a 2nd-amendment issue, IMHO. These leftist colleges, and their students, just love free speech with socialist issues, but when it's a conservative issue, the Constitution does not apply, just ask Ann Coulter and others on how many speeches they had to cancel.

[Highest Authority]

In the People’s Republic of New Jersey you can be fined and jailed if you buy, sell, or possess a sling shot. What does their government fear?

[gibsonguy]

It’s time, sue these bastards at every turn. You wan to use lawfare against us and our President well we can play that game too. And we have enough judges now to do some shopping of our own.

[4yearlurker]

My late father in law was a policeman than a detective in the 1970s. He told me when he had to go to New Jersey to pick up a prisoner he would have to stop at the closest police station and hand over his gun and pick it up again when he left.

[Carl Vehse]

Montclair State University officials, including the Board of Regents, should be considered enemies of the United States of America.