WILLOWS, Calif., Jan. 18 (UPI) -- Lawyers predict this week's hearing for a California high school student expelled for having a hunting shotgun in his vehicle will set a national precedent.
Gary Tudesko, 16, Willows, was booted from school last fall for having the weapon stored in the rifle rack of his pickup truck next to Willows High in rural Northern California.
The Glenn County School Board will hear Tudesko's appeal of the decision on Tuesday.
The Sacramento Bee said Monday that Tudesko's lawyers filed a brief contending that Tudesko's truck was parked on an off-campus street and that school officials had no authority to enforce regulations that apply to weapons on school grounds.
Other gun-rights proponents are calling the expulsion an example of zero-tolerance toward firearms gone overboard.
School officials counter that school shootings around the United States in recent years have forced schools and communities to become extra strict.
"Prior to Columbine, no one would have cared," Police Chief Bill Spears told the Bee. "But the horse is out of the corral. Now we have to take it seriously."
