The Assembly passed a bill on Wednesday prohibiting school districts from disciplining students for simulating guns with food, drawing guns or using hand gestures to mimic shooting.

The bill, AB121, has received national attention since Assembly Republicans introduced the measure. It passed on a party line vote of 24-17 and will now head to the Senate for vetting.

The proposal has become informally known as the Pop-Tarts gun bill, referring to the highly publicized suspension of a Maryland second-grader in 2013 after the student nibbled one of the toaster pastries into the shape of a gun. Proponents say the protections are necessary to prevent government overreach on gun control, but the bill has drawn derision from several lawmakers who say it's an overreaction to a smattering of poor decisions by inept school administrators in other states.

Assemblyman Jim Wheeler, R-Gardnerville, sponsored the bill and said the legislation is a product of government overreach.

"It's sad that we have to sponsor a bill like this," he said. "... A six-year-old pointing his finger and going 'pow' is not a threat, yet they are being suspended and expelled for doing things like that. How many times as a kid did we play cops and robbers or army on a playground? We're teaching kids that their rights aren't as important as our rights when we were kids."

Wheeler said he hasn't spoken to his colleagues in the Senate about the bill but expects it to pass the GOP-controlled chamber.

The issue is popular for conservatives nationwide. With mixed success, similar bills have appeared in Maryland, Florida, Texas and Oklahoma in recent years. Florida passed the law. Maryland didn’t.

The Nevada legislation could protect students from Clark County School District’s regulations governing antisocial behavior. The district’s rules prohibit simulated weapons, which include toys and any nonfunctional item bearing resemblance to firearms mentioned in the district’s weapons policy.

​James Ohrenschall, D-Las Vegas, voted no on the bill, saying schools need to be able to protect themselves from threats.

"I think the schools need latitude," he said. "I am a strong supporter of the Second Amendment. But this is different."

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