Pro-Gun Parkland Student Questioned by Police After Tweeting Video Firing AR-15

Last week, Marjory Stoneman Douglas student Kyle Kashuv visited a gun range with his dad and practiced shooting an AR-15. He later posted about the experience on Twitter, where he uploaded a video of himself firing at a silhouette target.

"It was great learning about our inalienable right of #2A and how to properly use a gun," wrote Kashuv, who has become a gun-rights star since the Parkland massacre by pushing back against fellow students who want more gun control. "This was my first time ever touching a gun and made me appreciate the #Constitution even more."

But with Parkland still reeling from one of the deadliest school shootings in modern American history, where Nikolas Cruz used an AR-15 to kill 17 people, Kashuv's tweets didn't go over well with some students. After several reported Kashuv to school administrators, he was questioned by law enforcement over the gun videos.

Now the 16-year-old and his many supporters on the right claim he was improperly or illegally detained for exercising his Second Amendment rights. But some of his classmates insist his behavior warranted a call to officials.

I don't think it's wrong to perceive you as a threat when you are making jokes about our school shooting, posting pictures and videos of you with guns and getting into arguments with so many of your fellow students. I would deem that questionable behavior. https://t.co/gChT1xtumm

— Carly Novell (@car_nove) April 24, 2018

If you post photos and videos of you at a gun range, that's fine.
But if you're confronted by students who were shot at and do not feel comfortable with seeing them and have asked you to censor them, do not tell them to 'enjoy' the videos in snark and then be upset

— Ariana Lopez // #NEVERAGAIN (@ArianaLopez_MSD) April 24, 2018

Kashuv, who met with top leaders such as Sen. Marco Rubio to argue his pro-gun position while fellow Stoneman Douglas students such as Emma Gonzalez and David Hogg led the March for Our Lives, posted about his visit to the gun range Friday, when he shared photos and videos praising the Second Amendment.

"I went to a shooting range last night to start learning gun safety and the gun didn't magically turn around and start shooting," one of his posts reads.

pic.twitter.com/NH5HkjPll2

— Kyle Kashuv (@KyleKashuv) April 21, 2018

Several of his classmates, as well as the father of 14-year-old victim Jaime Guttenberg, tweeted back, upset by the images.

For those managing this twitter account, this is how I now visit my daughter who was killed in this school. This not cute or funny. pic.twitter.com/S4xLt8voOe

— Fred Guttenberg (@fred_guttenberg) April 22, 2018

At school Monday, students reported their concerns about the tweets. Soon after, according to an incident report from the Broward Sheriff's Office, Kashuv was questioned by a school resource officer and a deputy. Kashuv told them he'd gone shooting with his dad and hadn't threatened anyone. His mother, Uzi Kashuv, was contacted and confirmed his account of what happened.

"She stated he's a good kid and wouldn't hurt anyone," the report says.

Deputies filed the report as "information only," meaning they didn't find that Kashuv had broken any laws. Nadine Drew, a spokesperson for Broward County Public Schools, says in a statement that after staff and school administrators looked into the tweets, they were determined to be nonthreatening.

But Kashuv took to Twitter to slam the police and the district for questioning him. "I can now check off being wrongfully questioned by law enforcement off my bucket list," he wrote. He told Daily Wire the deputies called him the "pro-Second Amendment kid" and refused to let him record the interview.

"I was shocked and, honestly, scared," he told the website. "It definitely felt like they were attempting to intimidate me."

The story quickly gained traction among conservatives.

School security: Yeah, we'll sit and wait outside while kids get shot inside.
Also school security: So, kid who just talked with GOP and Dem senators and went to WH to fight school shootings, we saw you went to a gun range. Start talking.https://t.co/g2FaAuglMn

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) April 23, 2018

Some Twitter observers, though, pointed out that Kashuv — like President Trump — had called for law enforcement to be more proactive in investigating threats.

... No offense, Kyle, but you were just complaining the other day that law enforcement sits on its hands too much. https://t.co/gdtOgKoFLm

— Bradley P. Moss (@BradMossEsq) April 24, 2018

Didn’t you want law enforcement to be more involved and protect? https://t.co/CViybJ03z9

— Jose Iglesias (@Joseforchange) April 24, 2018

He responded that he meant "actual threats to the community, not exercising one's constitutional rights."

Kashuv, who Tuesday evening arranged a speech from conservative Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk in Parkland and appeared on Tucker Carlson Tonight to discuss his run-in with law enforcement, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from New Times.