Jack Hunter
Libertarian-conservative youth activist group Young Americans for Liberty (YAL) held their ninth national conference over the weekend in Reston, Va., with over 400 invite-only attendees and high profile speakers such as Sen. Rand Paul, Reps. Justin Amash and Thomas Massie, Fox News Judge Andrew Napolitano and WWE star turned mayoral candidate Glenn “Kane” Jacobs.
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RELATED: Young Americans for Liberty is fighting for free speech on America’s college campuses
YAL is the largest center-right student organization in the U.S. and lately has been challenging restrictive speech codes on campuses across the country. In some instances, students have even been arrested or detained for handing out pocket Constitutions because that activity violated university policy. These stories have obviously made headlines due to the oddity of the notion that merely handing out copies of America’s governing document could in any way be considered a criminal act. Some of these students have filed lawsuits.
Through their activism, YAL has been forcing a good number of schools to change their policies. On Thursday, Congressman Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) wanted to give the group props.
https://youtu.be/P123YMPDWZY
“The group Young Americans for Liberty is handing out Constitutions on campuses all across the country, has changed free speech restrictions on 25 campuses just by handing out this document,” Massie said during a congressional committee.
RELATED:Â The largest libertarian-conservative youth organization in America just got bigger
He added, “Not by setting fires because they didn’t like the speaker or throwing rocks through windows, but by handing out this Constitution.”
“And I’m inspired that there are young people who are inspired by this document, and it should never be illegal to hand out this document,” Massie concluded.
Massie spoke at YAL’s national conference on Friday.
Disclosure: I am a frequent speaker at YAL events including their recent national conference.
