School Libraries, Parental Rights, and the Fight for the Second Amendment

On April 4, 2025, guest host Brad Beck fills in for Kim Monson to tackle two battleground issues: a Colorado school district’s legal fight to remove sexually explicit books from its libraries, and the escalating assault on Second Amendment rights in the state legislature, featuring Travis Morrell and Lior Sapir on youth gender care, Dan Snowberger and Jeff Maher from Elizabeth School District, and firearms advocate Alicia Garcia.

Safeguarding Children from Gender-Affirming Treatment

Start listening at 18:12 – Hour 1

Travis Morrell of the Colorado Parents Advocacy Network previews the second Rocky Mountain Summit on Safeguarding Children from Gender-Affirming Treatment, scheduled for Sunday, April 6 in Denver. Morrell highlights the event’s lineup of experts, including child psychiatrist Miriam Grossman, Denver pediatrician Michelle Stanford, and whistleblower Jamie Reed, all converging to address what he describes as an unprecedented push of unproven medical interventions on minors.

Lior Sapir, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy and Research, explains that so-called gender-affirming care, involving puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries for adolescents, originated roughly 15 years ago in the United States through medical association committees whose recommendations outpaced the available scientific evidence. Sapir warns that schools across the nation have adopted social gender transition policies that bypass parental knowledge and consent, a practice now being abandoned by countries like the United Kingdom following the 400-page Cass Review.

“Schools, not just public but private as well across the nation, have adopted policies, practices, procedures that not only perform social gender transition on children on demand, but very often keep that information from parents unless the child gives express permission.”

Lior Sapir, Fellow, Manhattan Institute for Policy and Research

A School District’s Fight Against Explicit Library Content

Start listening at 29:00 – Hour 1

Dan Snowberger, superintendent of the Elizabeth School District, details the district’s 18-month process of reviewing library collections and empowering parents to opt their children out of books containing sensitive content. After a community review of 19 flagged titles revealed overwhelmingly adult material, the school board voted to remove them. The ACLU filed suit on behalf of two families in December, and the district now faces a federal court battle over a preliminary injunction ordering the books returned to shelves.

Snowberger reveals a striking irony: the district’s own internet filter, mandated by the federal Child Internet Protection Act, blocked the book excerpts from being emailed through the school system, yet the ACLU insists those same passages belong on library shelves accessible to children. The district, which already lags state averages in reading proficiency at 45 percent, finds itself diverting scarce resources to defend parental rights rather than improving literacy outcomes.

“The federal government says we must protect children from receiving content like this over the internet, but we’re being sued to put this content on our library shelves.”

Dan Snowberger, Superintendent, Elizabeth School District

Jeff Maher, the district’s public information officer and a former television news anchor, describes a media environment that frames the story as a book ban while refusing to publish the actual content of the disputed titles. Maher reads excerpts from books like Identical by Ellen Hopkins, depicting incestuous abuse of a 16-year-old, and Crank, containing graphic sexual assault, both available at the high school level. He reports that public perception has shifted as the district shares actual passages, with community members expressing gratitude and shock at the material they had not known was accessible to students.

“For the most part up to this point, the media in Denver has framed this story in such a that Elizabeth School District is banning books and is against this group and this group.”

Jeff Maher, Public Information Officer, Elizabeth School District

Colorado’s Escalating Attack on Firearm Rights

Start listening at 72:20 – Hour 2

Alicia Garcia, a firearms instructor, range safety officer, and plaintiff in Garcia v. Polis, breaks down Senate Bill 25-003, which would require a state-issued permit to purchase most semi-automatic firearms. Garcia warns the bill amounts to a gun registry, empowering law enforcement to exercise discretion over who can buy firearms based on subjective criteria, including social media profiles. She counts 25 firearm-related bills currently pending in the Colorado legislature, describing a coordinated strategy of incremental restrictions designed to normalize disarmament among younger generations.

Garcia traces the racist roots of gun control historically, recounting her testimony before the state legislature where Senator Stephen Woodrow cited 18th-century slave codes to justify modern restrictions on firearm ownership. She points out that mandated training requirements, far from promoting safety, actually discourage additional education by telling new gun owners that a government-minimum course is sufficient. The bill’s fixed-magazine provision, Garcia argues, makes firearms less safe by preventing owners from clearing malfunctions or properly securing weapons with cable locks.

“This is a well-organized and well-thought-out design from the anti-gunners to indoctrinate and groom our youth to believing that this freedom is not necessary.”

Alicia Garcia, Firearms Instructor and Second Amendment Advocate