GLENN COUNTY, CA: In a case that received national attention, the Glenn County, Calif., Board of Education on January 22 overturned the expulsion of 17-year-old duck hunter Gary Tudesko, who was expelled from his central California high school after police dogs sniffed out unloaded shotguns in his truck.

The truck was legally parked off-campus, on a public street, and the guns were in the truck because Tudesko had gone hunting that morning before school.  All those factors just show the school’s lack of common sense in enforcing its “zero tolerance” policy; according to guidelines from the California Department of Education, administrators don’t have to recommend expulsion unless a violation is committed at school or at a school activity.  Even that agency’s website notes widespread criticism of “zero tolerance” policies.

On the legal side, the school made many errors, such as confusing its authority to expel students under California’s Education Code with the district attorney’s authority to enforce the state’s “Gun Free School Zones” law.  Both the district attorney and the local police have said Tudesko would face no criminal charges.

Leading California civil rights lawyer Chuck Michel—a longtime advocate for Golden State gun owners—represented Tudesko.  For more information on the Tudesko case, read the article on ESPN or visit Michel’s website at www.calgunlaws.com.

Do Not Pass Go

WEST MIFFLIN, PA: Tuesday the  Bourough of West Mifflin council passed a gun control ordinance 6-1 which makes it a crime to have your gun stolen. The ordinance is not yet posted on their web site but details are reported by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

The ordinance, which passed Tuesday night by a vote of 6-1, states, “Any person who is the owner of a firearm that is lost or stolen shall report the loss or theft to the West Mifflin borough police department within 72 hours after discovery of the loss or theft.”

It also sets penalties of no more than 30 days imprisonment and/or a fine of no more than $1,000 for violation of the ordinance. Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

So let’s get this straight. You own a gun. You keep it at home. A burglar breaks in and steals your gun. You have to report the theft within 72 hours or you pay a fine and you spend 30 days in jail. Shouldn’t the burglar be punished and not you?

We here at the NIP can read. Apparently the West Mifflin Borough Council can’t. Because we can’t find anything in the 2nd amendment that give city councils any rights whatsoever in controlling gun ownership by American citizens. Don’t they have anything better to do?

Understanding the Latest Anti-Gun “Poll”

This week, anti-gun New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg’s anti-gun group, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, released the findings of a poll conducted by a political consulting firm called “The Word Doctors,” whose slogan is “It’s not what you say, it’s what people hear.” Word Doctors’ president is a pollster who has been reprimanded by the American Association for Public Opinion Research and censured by the National Council on Public Polls, and who says that the key to polling is “to ask a question in the way that you get the right answer.”

At some other time in our nation’s history, an organization like this would not have been commissioned to conduct a poll, and perhaps it would not even have existed. At a minimum, its poll would have been considered biased and rejected by every newspaper in the country. Read more…