Colorado School Suspends 17-Year-Old After She Posted a Non-Threatening Gun Photo With Her Older Brother

A tongue-in-cheek post from a Colorado teen about a trip to a shooting range got her suspended from high school.

On Oct. 11, Endeavor Academy, a public school in Centennial, Colo., suspended 17-year-old senior Alexandria Keyes for five days after she posted a picture of herself and her older brother on the social media app Snapchat. The two are shown holding guns and the photo is captioned, "Me and my legal guardian are going to the gun range to practice gun safety and responsible gun ownership while getting better so we can protect ourselves while also using the First Amendment to practice our Second Amendment."

The picture in question depicts Alexandria and her older brother, an Army veteran, wearing shemaghs (scarves popular in Middle Eastern cultures that are also used by some members of the military) posing in front of a Confederate flag and flipping off the camera while holding guns. In a statement to The Gun Writer, Kelley Moyer, Alexandria's mother, said that the shemagh her daughter wore was a gift from her brother.

Alexandria tells Reason that she never anticipated being suspended for taking the picture. "Guns are huge in my family, they're normal to us," Alexandria said. It was a big surprise to her and her mother when police showed up at their house to investigate her as a potential threat.