MODESTO, Calif. -- Students at a Modesto school are banding together with a campaign to keep ice cream trucks from selling BB guns after one of their own was suspended for bringing a BB gun to school.

It issue started when 11-year-old Santiago Sanchez brought a BB gun to Fairview Elementary School after purchasing it from a ice cream truck vendor. Sanchez was busted for bringing the gun to school.

"Immediately, he was taken away from the classroom. Without further word, he was suspended for five days," said teacher Nick Killner.

Sanchez said he wondered why it was so easy for children to buy toy guns from ice cream trucks.

"I saw the BB gun. I asked him how much did it cost. He said $5, and he sold it to me," Sanchez said.

So far, three students at Fairview Elementary School have been suspended in cases related to the BB guns. And two students have been hit by BBs

Now, all of Santiago's fifth-grade class is rallying around him to try to ban the sale of toy guns to children. The students started "project citizen," putting together a petition and picket signs in preparation for a two-day protest against ice cream vendors next week.

"To not buy BB guns because it is pretty dangerous. To make the ice cream man stop because lots of people could buy them. They could just hurt each other," said student Sergio Esparza.

The plan is to turn the ban on toy guns into a citywide ordinance.

"We bring it to the city council. We see if the public policy becomes something more," Kellner said.

Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department deputy and school resource officer Justin Ownbey said that if caught, ice cream truck drivers could face criminal charges.

"Any BB device, toy gun, anything that shoots out a little projectile is considered an imitation fire arm. And the sale of that to a minor without parent consent is a misdemeanor," Ownbey said.

Authorities said that 11-year-old Leela Lowe was hit by a BB while playing in her neighborhood. She said she doesn't want to it to happen to anyone else.

"When they sell the guns, kids just buy them like they are nothing. They just shoot people with it," Lowe said.

Students plan to take the school's civic mission to the city council sometime next month.