CC on county property during school activity

[flowrie]

My child is attending a Veterans Day function on county property (county courthouse lawn), during school hours. He is with his school choir and they will be singing. According to what I read (pasted below) I would be in violation of the law to CC and also attend this function ("any grounds"). Do I read this correctly?
However, what if I had no child in this activity and I was just a non-interested person that happen to be walking by, what then?
Perhaps "sponsored" is the key work here?

Any thoughts?


PC §46.03. PLACES WEAPONS PROHIBITED.
Text of subsection effective until Aug. 1, 2016
(a) A person commits an offense if the person intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly possesses or goes with a firearm, illegal knife, club, or prohibited weapon listed in Section 46.05(a):
(1) on the physical premises of a school or educational institution, any grounds or building on which an activity sponsored by a school or educational institution is being conducted, or a passenger transportation vehicle of a school or educational institution, whether the school or educational institution is public or private, unless pursuant to written regulations or written authorization of the institution;

[C-dub]

This whole situation is a bit of a gray area. It is generally understood to mean an area that is under the control of the school, but has not been tested in court. If I were not attending this event and happened to be there for whatever other reason I should be okay. The problem for you is that you are attending this event and a child of yours is participating. If I were in your shoes, I would not carry under those circumstances.

[LucasMcCain]

This whole situation is a bit of a gray area. It is generally understood to mean an area that is under the control of the school, but has not been tested in court. If I were not attending this event and happened to be there for whatever other reason I should be okay. The problem for you is that you are attending this event and a child of yours is participating. If I were in your shoes, I would not carry under those circumstances.

This has always been my interpretation as well.

[nightmare69]

Take away the word "sponsored" and it's clear you would be prohibited from carrying as a school activity is taking place regardless of where it's held.

[mloamiller]

This whole situation is a bit of a gray area. It is generally understood to mean an area that is under the control of the school, but has not been tested in court. If I were not attending this event and happened to be there for whatever other reason I should be okay. The problem for you is that you are attending this event and a child of yours is participating. If I were in your shoes, I would not carry under those circumstances.

This has always been my interpretation as well.

Mine, too, but I started to wonder if the intent of "any grounds or building" was supposed to only refer to parts of school grounds that aren't considered "premises." By 46.035(3), "premises" includes only buildings and specifically excludes sidewalks, parking lots, etc.; meaning you can carry on a school sidewalk. It would make sense if the intent of the "any grounds or building" statement under 46.03(1) was to say "you can carry on a school sidewalk, unless there is a school-sponsored activity on that same sidewalk." This would fit in the full context of 46.03 (1), since it refers specifically to "premises of a school...", then "transportation vehicle of a school...". In other words, the context of 46.03 (1) seems to be specific to a school, so it's logical that "any grounds or building" would also refer to a school. Granted, the inclusion of "building" mucks that up, since buildings would be off limits any way due to 46.035.

PC §46.03. PLACES WEAPONS PROHIBITED.
Text of subsection effective until Aug. 1, 2016
(a) A person commits an offense if the person intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly possesses or goes with a firearm, illegal knife, club, or prohibited weapon listed in Section 46.05(a):
(1) on the physical premises of a school or educational institution, any grounds or building on which an activity sponsored by a school or educational institution is being conducted, or a passenger transportation vehicle of a school or educational institution, whether the school or educational institution is public or private, unless pursuant to written regulations or written authorization of the institution;


Sec. 46.035. UNLAWFUL CARRYING OF HANDGUN BY LICENSE HOLDER. (a) A license holder commits an offense if the license holder carries a handgun on or about the license holder's person under the authority of Subchapter H, Chapter 411, Government Code, and intentionally displays the handgun in plain view of another person in a public place...
(f) In this section:
(3) "Premises" means a building or a portion of a building. The term does not include any public or private driveway, street, sidewalk or walkway, parking lot, parking garage, or other parking area.

If "any grounds or building" means any area, any where, any time a school sponsored activity is taking place, then if you are in a fast food restaurant, and school bus drives up to unload a bunch of kids on a field trip, you'll have to leave or disarm.

Definitely a gray area; maybe it will get cleaned up in 2017.

[RossA]

This ^^^^^^^^

The "any grounds" language is a problem. My office is next to the Galleria Mall in Houston, a really large place. At lunch I often go stretch my legs walking around the mall (can't afford to shop there). There are times when I encounter a school choir singing in the mall. I guess that is a school sponsored activity, and the mall is any grounds, so I am illegally carrying there. That kind of overly broad language needs to be tightened up.

[Pawpaw]

I think everyone is missing one vital point. The OP's daughter's school choir is participating in the event. That does not mean the school is sponsoring the event.

The law says we can't carry at a school sponsored event. Participation is not sponsorship.

[tk1700]

I think everyone is missing one vital point. The OP's daughter's school choir is participating in the event. That does not mean the school is sponsoring the event.

The law says we can't carry at a school sponsored event. Participation is not sponsorship.

[mloamiller]

I think everyone is missing one vital point. The OP's daughter's school choir is participating in the event. That does not mean the school is sponsoring the event.

The law says we can't carry at a school sponsored event. Participation is not sponsorship.

Excellent point related to the specific scenario proposed by the OP, which I missed. In this specific case, I think the OP would be OK to carry, since it doesn't sound like the Veteran's Day ceremony is being sponsored by the school.

There's still a gray area here, however, since it isn't unheard of for a school to sponsor an event somewhere that would otherwise be OK to carry, such as a HS band sponsoring a carwash at a local restaurant.

[Morbidrealities]

I think everyone is missing one vital point. The OP's daughter's school choir is participating in the event. That does not mean the school is sponsoring the event.

The law says we can't carry at a school sponsored event. Participation is not sponsorship.

Excellent point related to the specific scenario proposed by the OP, which I missed. In this specific case, I think the OP would be OK to carry, since it doesn't sound like the Veteran's Day ceremony is being sponsored by the school.

There's still a gray area here, however, since it isn't unheard of for a school to sponsor an event somewhere that would otherwise be OK to carry, such as a HS band sponsoring a carwash at a local restaurant.

That's quite the conundrum....

[RossA]

Yeah, if I see a bunch of school kids doing something, how am I supposed to know whether the school is just participating or whether they are sponsoring?

[flowrie]

Thanks to everyone for their posts.
I did not carry at the event today, I figured I would be surrounded by plenty of other vets ( which was the case) and it would be a relatively safe event. It all went very well!
There were some anti-Trump protests at the same area the day or two before, so I kept a careful watch over all the kids.
Since I did not carry, I decided to go to the school early and signed in to print off my "volunteer" badge, which by the way requires a background check in order to be eligible to be a volunteer.
Next year, I think I will not volunteer but just be an attendee, so I will likely CC, if it is not sponsored by the school.
Thanks again to everyone!