High School Sporting Event Question

[WickedOwl]

My younger brother is on a sports team that is "unofficially" a high school team, in that it is not sponsored by the school, receives no funding from the school, and does not use the school's name, colors, or logos (although it has in the past). However, the team is comprised solely of kids from multiple high schools in the area and participates in a league with other high school teams, which I believe are all unofficial, but some use their school's name and logo.

The nature of these other teams is that they are allowed to use the school's name and logo and only roster students that attend the school, but they don't (to my knowledge) receive any funding from the school or are considered an official school sport. They are considered to be more of an affiliated "club" sport.

Here's the law:

TEXAS PENAL CODE 46.035(b)(2)
A license holder commits an offense if the license holder intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly carries a handgun under the authority of Subchapter H, Chapter 411, Government Code, regardless of whether the handgun is concealed, on or about the license holder's person on the premises where a high school, collegiate, or professional sporting event or interscholastic event is taking place, unless the license holder is a participant in the event and a handgun is used in the event.

I would like to carry to these games, and my initial feelings are that this situation does not fall into the official "high school sporting event" category, but I sure wouldn't want to deal with being hauled off in the back of a squad car.

As I typed this out, I realized I may be in trouble with the other teams, even though I believe all of them are unofficial as well.

Thoughts?

[speedsix]

...a felony sure does get expensive...why dance around this one? I'd say you were in violation...common sense tells me it's school-related...a good, high-priced lawyer might get you off...but I don't think so...

[TXCHL7474]

Consider your statement "only roster students that attend the school"...and the use of the term "interscholastic" within the law.

in·ter·scho·las·tic ( n t r-sk -l s t k). adj. Existing or conducted between or among schools.

I am a huge advocate for concealed carry just about anywhere but, if I was on the jury, you would be toast. Don't do it.

[Teamless]

I am a huge advocate for concealed carry just about anywhere but, if I was on the jury, you would be toast. Don't do it.

[SQLGeek]

I am a huge advocate for concealed carry just about anywhere but, if I was on the jury, you would be toast. Don't do it.

I'd go the other way since this league is not sponsored by the schools or school district but as speedsix put it, I'm not sure I'd want to chance it.

[Teamless]

I'd go the other way since this league is not sponsored by the schools or school district

I would agree, except that the team is comprised of all school kids

"unofficially" a high school team

I am not sure how it can be unofficially a high school team without it being interscholastic. when it

participates in a league with other high school teams

[SQLGeek]

I'm envisioning a league made up of club teams funded privately, many teams are organized the same as the schools that the kids belong to but not all of them. The schools are used as a way to group players. This isn't so different from leagues that use school boundaries to define where their players come from. INAL of course but I don't see this meeting the definition of interscholastic.

And...as I said before, better safe than sorry in this case.

[barres]

My son's Little League team is made up of kids from the elementary schools in the area. Does that make their games a school sporting event? No.

Just because school (ISD/CSD) boundaries are used to determine what pool of kids a team can select from doesn't make the teams school teams. If there is no obvious school involvement, i would think that it would not be a school sporting event. The OP knows his brother's team is not in any way supported by his brother's school, but, if an opposing team shows up in a school bus, I'd hightail it back to the car to disarm.

IMHO, IANAL, I did not sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night, etc.

[WickedOwl]

I'm envisioning a league made up of club teams funded privately, many teams are organized the same as the schools that the kids belong to but not all of them. The schools are used as a way to group players. This isn't so different from leagues that use school boundaries to define where their players come from.

That's pretty much how it is. The league is private and run by parents of the students. The coaches are hired and paid by the parents, and each team has a "booster club" feel to it with positions like president, treasurer, etc. all filled by parents. All the games are played at third party locations and never on any school's property. It's purely extra-curricular and the only involvement some schools have is lending their name. Some don't even do that.

Thanks for your input, everyone. I understand this is a pretty gray area and I certainly don't want to be the test case.

[srothstein]

I have to warn that this is my opinion and other cops, and especially prosecutors may not agree. Having said that, I would point out that if it was public schools, I would go with the interpretation that a high school interscholastic event is one sanctioned by the UIL. There is also a sanctioning body for private schools but I don't remember the name off-hand. if the event was not sponsored by oen of these two groups, i would say it is not interscholastic.

But, since I live out int he country where there is just one high school for my town, and one for each of the neighboring cities, I am much more used to seeing unofficial teams that use the school team name. For example, it would not be unusual to see a Luling team being called the Eagles and a Lockhart team being named the Lions, even in the regional soccer associations.

[SQLGeek]

I have to warn that this is my opinion and other cops, and especially prosecutors may not agree. Having said that, I would point out that if it was public schools, I would go with the interpretation that a high school interscholastic event is one sanctioned by the UIL. There is also a sanctioning body for private schools but I don't remember the name off-hand. if the event was not sponsored by oen of these two groups, i would say it is not interscholastic.

There are a few private school sanctioning bodies, the largest is TAPPS - Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools.