Mario Alejandro, a disabled former Marine who served in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, was recently denied entry into Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey due to his supposedly “offensive” pro-gun t-shirt.
The shirt, a Father’s Day gift from his children purchased from the non-profit Reconnaissance Foundation, included an American flag AR-15 and the words “Keep Calm and Return Fire.”
While walking through the front gate, a Six Flags security guard grabbed Alejandro and forbade him from entering. When Alejandro explained that he was an Iraq War veteran wearing pro-military attire, the guard replied: “I don’t care, you have to take that off… or you need to buy another shirt to put over it.’”
When Alejandro refused, explaining that the shirt was not offensive and had personal value, the guard once again berated him and forced him to leave.
Six Flags Great Adventure spokeswoman Kristin Siebeneicher tried to explain their harassment by saying that the park “does not permit clothing with vulgar, offensive or violent language or images.”
What’s truly “vulgar” is the way in which Six Flags treated the First Amendment rights of a wounded veteran.
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