[Guest]

I'm having a discussion with someone on gun control and the idea of teachers being permitted to carry on school grounds. So I was reading some info on the federal Gun Free School Zones Act of 1990.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun-Free_School_Zones_Act_of_1990

It would appear that if you hold a valid license to carry, then you are exempt from the GFSZA, and you can legally carry a firearm in any school zone within that state where your license was issued. It seems the GFSZA only applies to people who legally carry withOUT a license in their state, and also if your license is from another state, regardless of any reciprocity agreements between those states.
Can someone confirm that I am understanding this correctly? I thought no one could legally carry in any school zone except a LEO.

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[Goose]

Can someone confirm that I am understanding this correctly? I thought no one could legally carry in any school zone except a LEO.

It falls under state law, provided the federal law doesn't apply. As far as I know, the only state that allows someone with only a CCW permit (meaning non-LEO) to carry in a K-12 public school is Utah, and Texas law leaves it up to the school district to determine who can and cannot carry.

Some states have it in their laws that armed security officers can carry if they are hired by the school district.

 

[Guest]

It falls under state law, provided the federal law doesn't apply. As far as I know, the only state that allows someone with only a CCW permit (meaning non-LEO) to carry in a K-12 public school is Utah, and Texas law leaves it up to the school district to determine who can and cannot carry.

Some states have it in their laws that armed security officers can carry if they are hired by the school district.

But I thought federal law trumped state law... Is that only if federal law is more stringent than state law?

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[Goose]

But I thought federal law trumped state law... Is that only if federal law is more stringent than state law?

Yes and no. Something can be legal under state law but illegal under federal law and vice versa (marijuana in certain states can be legal under state law but is still illegal under federal law, and adultery is illegal under several different states laws but I am not sure that there is a federal statute prohibiting it).

The GFSZA basically allows the states to handle an "internal" matter, as most crimes crimes are generally more effectively and handled at the local and state level. However, arrangements can be made for political as well as logical reasons to prosecute a crime at the federal level rather than the state level. For example, the feds may choose to enforce or not to enforce marijuana laws (mainly for political reasons), and the perception is that you would have to twist the federal government's arm to take any action against an illegal immigrant...which is exactly why Arizona enacted laws that allowed them to handle the issue internally, as they felt they needed to step in where the federal government did not.

For example (I haven't read the GFSZA recently), but my understanding is that if I have a LTC, I could carry inside of a school in Massachusetts and not break federal law. I would however be breaking MGL prohibiting me from having a gun in a school and/or on school property.

Say I went to New Hampshire and carried a gun on school property, without a NH CCW permit. I would be breaking state law as well as federal law, but seeing how it isn't the crime of the century if I didn't harm anyone (and we don't want to get into double jeopardy here between state and federal jurisdictions because that's another mess), I would likely get prosecuted by the state charge rather than federally...unless of course Obama wanted to make an example out of me and send me to a federal pound-me-in-the-ass penitentiary for political reasons.

 

[Guest]

If it comes down to having to use a gun inside a school, violating ANY law, federal, state, or local, is the very last entry on my list of concerns.

 

[mpd61]

I'll carry in ANY school....Nobody will know anyway.........
Beside....I'm a 'good guy" with a gun

 

[Guest]

I'll carry in ANY school....Nobody will know anyway...

Thiz for shiz

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