MURFREESBORO (AP) — A man ejected from a Tennessee shopping mall said his T-shirt was a statement about the availability of guns in the wake of the Connecticut school shooting.
Stanley Bryce Myszka was removed from the Stones River Mall in Murfreesboro after shoppers complained Saturday about the T-shirt he wore. It read, "Has your gun killed a kindergartner today?"
Myszka told The Daily News Journal (http://on.dnj.com/ZObfNr ) he was "tired of the nonsense" of mass shootings in the nation.
Mall spokeswoman Heather Rose said mall security officers asked Myszka three times to either remove the shirt or turn it inside out. When he refused, they escorted him out. He was charged with criminal trespassing.
jcresident writes:
December 19, 2012
10:09 AM
A mall is private property- so they probably had the right to do that. If it were in a public place, its free speech.
TnMtns writes:
December 19, 2012
11:02 AM
I am a law abiding citizen and a responsible gun owner. I totally disagree and think if I want to own a assault rifle or hand gun then that is my Constitutional right to do so. Just check out the history of countries that have banned guns, many were killed or exterminated because they had no way to protect themselves from either their own governments or radical groups. Even in WWII the Japanese didn't invade the mainland because they knew most Americans were armed.
Remove Money from Politics writes:
December 19, 2012
11:30 AM
I am a law abiding citizen and responsible gun owner, and I disagree with the mall's decision to kick the guy out over his shirt. While they are a private property and they do have the right, I don't think it was reasonable of them. Maybe if the shirt depicted a kid getting shot, but really he was just expressing his own view. There are plenty of more offensive shirts in my opinion that do not get people ejected from the mall. The guy would not have been kicked out if he wore the shirt a few months from now. Heck, Electric 94.9 here in the tri played Pumped Up Kicks (a song about shooting up a school) exactly 24 hours after the shooting. There was no outrage there, and that act was a lot more offensive than the guy's shirt. It reached a lot more people than someone wearing a T-Shirt in the mall. I heard it in the post office because they had the radio on.
I do not think guns belong in classrooms, but I do think the administrative staff should have the right to carry firearms on their person if they take the same class the rest of Tennesseans have to take to get a carry permit.
Imker writes:
December 19, 2012
12:32 PM
I don't have any problems with responsible gun ownership, though I was pretty much floored when somebody posted on my Facebook page the number of people killed last year in various countries by firearms. It was something like 50 in England, 90 in Australia, 60 in France, 200 in Germany (the highest), and some ridiculous number in the United States, like 30,000 or something.
rhon0311 writes:
December 19, 2012
7:48 PM
Are we micromanaging and not focusing on real issues like corporate America$
Foreignerwholikesamerica writes:
December 20, 2012
8:29 AM
I agree TN Mountains especially the native americans who were unable to defend themselves from the early settlers in this country. If your going to present revisionist history at least be consistent.
Fizz writes:
December 21, 2012
10:44 PM
There are responsible drug users making these same arguments. Just sayin.
chrisevans129 writes:
December 22, 2012
3:36 PM
He was asked three times to remove the shirt or turn it inside out. I'm sure he was upset and trying to make a statement, but sometimes in a public place full of children and families is not the best atmosphere to start making statements. By the way, the preferred spelling in "kindergartener".