A recent Hillsboro-Deering High School graduate is suing administrators at his former school for searching his truck for a gun last spring.
Jack Harrington, 18, claims the search — which did not turn up anything — violated his Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches and seizures. The case is being supported by the Second Amendment Foundation, which works to protect legal gun ownership.
The search was prompted by a conversation Harrington had with a fellow student about a handgun he owns, according to the complaint. The dialogue, which occurred on a bus ride to a school baseball game, involved Harrington mentioning that he had recently been subjected to a police traffic stop while the gun was in the glove compartment of the truck.
Some weeks later, according to the complaint, Harrington was pulled out of class by school administrators who questioned him about the conversation on the bus and owning a gun.
Harrington told the principal, vice principal and the school resource officer that he does not bring the gun to school, but they asked him for permission to search his vehicle anyway. Harrington repeatedly refused to agree to the search, before ultimately relenting under what his lawyers characterized as “coerced” consent.
Vice Principal Brian McGinn forced the locked doors of Harrington’s truck open and “thoroughly investigated every area” of it, according to the complaint.
Searches conducted at schools must satisfy a comparatively lower standard than searches conducted in most other places. While the typical standard requires probable cause, at schools, the searcher must only possess “reasonable suspicion” that the search will turn up evidence that the student is violating the law or school policy.
Lawyers for Harrington are arguing that the search failed to meet even that lower bar.
“Defendants had no information whatsoever that would have given rise to a reasonable suspicion that Jack was storing a firearm in [his truck] while on campus,” they wrote.
Federal law prohibits the possession of firearms in school zones, although a 2022 New Hampshire state law prevents police from enforcing certain aspects of it. Granite State students remain prohibited under state law from possessing guns on campus, however.
Harrington is represented by the Concord-based law firm Lehmann Major List, PLLC, and by a Texas-based firm. The national Second Amendment Foundation is also involved.
“This is the type of fearmongering response we’d expect elsewhere around the country, but not in a state that allows its adult residents to legally own and possess firearms,” said Alan M. Gottlieb, the founder of the Second Amendment Foundation. “This case is about as cut and dry as it gets when it comes to infringing on the rights of a citizen, and we look forward to vindicating Jack’s rights in court.”
A request to interview Harrington was not immediately returned.
Superintendent Jennifer Crawford, principal James O’Rourke, school resource officer Michael Deturris, and McGinn are named as defendants in the case.
Crawford declined to comment on behalf of the school district and the Hillsboro Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.
The lawsuit was filed in federal court on Wednesday.