A Missouri mother is suing her son's school district after the eighth grader was suspended for posting a photo of Dr Pepper cans arranged to resemble a rifle — an act school officials called a potential "terrorist threat" despite no weapon being found, Breitbart reported.
Riley Grunden has filed a lawsuit against the Mountain View-Birch Tree R-III School District in Missouri, alleging her son was wrongfully suspended after posting a photo of soda cans arranged to resemble a rifle.
According to the lawsuit, W.G., Grunden's son, took the photo at home on Sept. 14, 2024, and posted it to social media. The image featured Dr Pepper cans positioned in the shape of a rifle and was paired with a trending audio file titled "AK-47." The voice-over in the clip stated, "This is the famous AK-47, with over 50 million manufactured in 10 countries. The AK-47 is the most popular assault rifle in the world."
The next day, on Sept. 15, the school principal contacted Grunden, informing her that a parent had reported the social media post and that W.G. would be searched upon arrival at school. The search did not uncover any weapons or other threats.
Despite this, the school suspended W.G. for three days, citing the social media post as a cause for student concern. School officials argued the post "brought fear to other students" and could be interpreted as a "terrorist threat."
Grunden, with the support of the Goldwater Institute, has taken legal action against the district.
The Goldwater Institute referenced the Supreme Court's 2021 decision in Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L., which restricted schools' ability to regulate off-campus speech.
"W.G.'s post was misinterpreted in order to justify punishing him for creative expression protected by the First Amendment," the lawsuit states.
The incident comes amid heightened national concerns over youth exposure to firearms imagery.
A recent poll commissioned by Sandy Hook Promise and conducted by KRC Research found that 82% of boys aged 10 to 17 said they had seen at least one gun advertisement online, Newsweek reported.
The poll, conducted between March 6 and March 12, 2025, surveyed 250 boys and found 38% reported clicking on gun ads. The margin of error was ±6 percentage points.
Sandy Hook Promise, a nonpartisan advocacy group founded by relatives of victims of the 2012 school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, shared the findings with Newsweek, warning of the growing prevalence of firearm marketing targeting minors.
Though federal law bans handgun possession for anyone under 18, there are no national laws restricting the advertising of firearms to minors.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that in 2021, 48,830 people in the United States died from gun-related injuries. That figure includes nearly 21,000 homicides and more than 26,000 suicides.
The U.S. has also faced several recent shootings, including an April incident in Memphis that left one dead and five injured, a March shooting near Chicago O'Hare International Airport in which a man was shot twice, and, most recently, a shooting on the Florida State University campus in Tallahassee that left two men dead.
At least 80 people have been killed and another 352 injured in at least 81 mass shootings throughout the country so far this year, according to a USA Today report.
Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
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