"Gov. Mark R. Warner (D) hedged slightly yesterday on whether a state law allowing students to leave unloaded hunting guns locked in their vehicles on school property will trump local school boards' zero-tolerance firearms rules.

At a state senator's request, Attorney General Jerry W. Kilgore (R) is reviewing whether schools may banish weapons from campus, even though state law allows unloaded guns on school property if they are locked in a car trunk or closed container. This year, Warner signed into law an amendment that exempts from school gun bans students who hunt and lock their guns safely away.

A caller to Warner's monthly radio question-and-answer show on WRVA-AM in Richmond said some school boards have policies to expel or suspend students who bring guns onto school grounds. If Kilgore issues a formal opinion against the school boards' positions, the caller asked, "is the state willing to take action to enforce the state's own laws against the school boards?"

Warner replied: "In my mind, it's pretty clear. The law's pretty clear that students do have that right." But he qualified his answer, saying his knowledge of the issue came from newspaper accounts." (Metro, Washington Post, August 29, 2003)