What does zero tolerance mean?

By definition zero tolerance is a policy that imposes automatic punishment for infractions of a stated rule, with the intention of eliminating undesirable conduct. Which seems dandy and a good idea, but when it is used to over step civil liberties and boundaries such as private property does it become a problem and not to mention the ongoing debates about gun control. Well for 7th grader Khalid Caraballo, of Virginia Beach, such a scenario is being played out. On September 9th a 911 call was made by a concerned citizen who was "uncomfortable" about Khalid playing with a toy air-soft gun in his front lawn. Here is the actual call made on Sept 9th. Khalid along with his friend Aidan Clark were in his mother’s front yard and the caller drove past and made the call knowing that the gun had a high possibility of being a toy, also admitting the gun wasn't being pointed at anyone and that it was pointed at a target in a tree. Not only did the caller drive past, she consciously drove past twice and either drove slow enough or stopped long enough to be "seen" by the two children playing in the yard. Weather the call was made on a racially biased stance or it was just a citizen who was concerned for her safety from a potential threat a two 13 year old kids pose. Khalid, along with his friend Aidan Clark, were suspended after the Larkspur Middle School got wind of the "incident" and along with said sentencing of those two children a statement was released by the principal of the middle school (Larksupr Middle School Note To Parents). The note sent to parents had dates that do not correlate to the events that happened, and continues to use the following day's "events" to justify their claim that "a child was only 10 feet from the bus stop and ran from the shots being fired but was still hit" when in fact the bus stop is 70 yards from Caraballo's front lawn. These and other inaccuracies of the incident that transpired were passed along to the Virginia Beach City Public School System who in a unanimous vote, voted the children be "long-term" suspended until June of 2014, and in January of that year another hearing will be held to see if the children will be allowed to return to school. Until then the children were given the option to attend an alternative school. Aidan Clark's father Tim Clark stated that his son will be home schooled and Caraballo will be attending alternative school. The two boys were charged with "possession, handling and use of a firearm", but what isn't stated by the middle school, the school system, or even in the note sent out to the parents, is that the "firearm" was used and handled on private property which in relation to any type of school property is at least 70 yards. With all the discussions about gun control and zero tolerance  it has come down to petty control over kids playing with non lethal toys. Has it come time we come to a decision to help prevent further unneeded nuisance like this?

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Photo above: Khalid Caraballo aiming his airsoft at his target in a tree