(Newser) – It's a new twist on the guns-in-schools debate: A district in central Nebraska has told seniors it's OK to pose with firearms in their senior portraits, which are taken off campus. The students in the Broken Bow district, however, have to abide by a few rules, reports the Omaha World-Herald: Gun photos must be "tasteful and appropriate," which means no aiming at the camera and no photos that include an "animal in obvious distress."

Hold the jokes, because Superintendent Mark Sievering has heard them all. He tells ABC News that since the news of the new policy became public, he's taken calls from all over. But this is a small, rural community where hunting is a big part of life, he says. The new rule went into effect only because somebody asked whether the district had a specific policy, and it decided to implement one. A local photographer who has taken such portraits for years says the kids who tend to pose with guns have a "healthy respect" for them. And a district official notes that about half the other districts they consulted in the state give the green light to the practice. (Read more guns stories.)

