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Wife is not but will soon be a CHL. Know this allows her to have a gun within the "gun-free zone" around the school including the parking lot by law. But not sure of the employment implications. I assume it is up to each school district right now....

1) What are you teachers doing/seeing as far as ability to lock your weapon in the car during the day? School policies prohibiting it?
2) What about school districts who have a policy but you have decided to take your chances? Any anecdotal advice...
3) I know some districts occasionally have dogs run through to sniff out weapons and drugs. Are the districts running the dogs through the teachers parking lots as well? What about at non-high school locations which have no student automobiles?
4) Lastly, would the parking lot bill have any effect here?


Any and all feedback is appreciated.

My best advice is READ, STUDY and KNOW the weapons policy for her particular district. There should be one in the Employee handbook. I am blessed in my district's was pretty straight forward, but I can stow in my safe in the lot. I do have to wonder if anyone has seen my contortions for holstering after school in my car, what they think. I wear my holster all day, and just put in the important piece when I get back to my car.

My other suggestion... tell NO ONE. There are a few folks that know, but I have known them for years, and they are like minded, just not like armed. I also do know that there are at least 2 other CHL holders on campus sure wish we could carry there, and pray we never have to be locked down wishing we had what was safely locked in our cars.

Divided Attention hit the nail on the head. Check your district policies! Most still allow CHL holders in the parking lot but it is becoming more common to have a policy against district employees keeping firearms in their vehicle or anywhere on district owned property. My district unfortunately has a policy that specifically prohibits employees who are CHL holders on any district property while carrying.

My school district does have munitions sniffing dogs and they go through the whole campus and parking lot. I don’t know how often they do the munitions searches but drug searches are done all the time by the K-9 units. Come to think of it, I think the munitions sniffing dogs are U.S Customs dogs and not campus police but I am sure each district is different.

Read the fine print!

CC Italian wrote:Divided Attention hit the nail on the head. Check your district policies! Most still allow CHL holders in the parking lot but it is becoming more common to have a policy against district employees keeping firearms in their vehicle or anywhere on district owned property. My district unfortunately has a policy that specifically prohibits employees who are CHL holders on any district property while carrying.

My school district does have munitions sniffing dogs and they go through the whole campus and parking lot. I don’t know how often they do the munitions searches but drug searches are done all the time by the K-9 units. Come to think of it, I think the munitions sniffing dogs are U.S Customs dogs and not campus police but I am sure each district is different.

Read the fine print!

Does your district policy also prohibit ammunition? If not maybe you could leave a couple boxes of ammo in your trunk. Maybe after the 5th time the dogs hit on your car they'd stop searching it... Or then again, maybe they'd ban ammunition too...

I wonder if these dogs can actually detect small arms ammo in a pistol. Mine usually smell like Rem Oil and solvent. If that set them off you'd think they'd be hitting on a lot of toolboxes and maintenance vehicles. I kind of assumed they were more aimed at high explosive.

Can sniffer digs detect a firearm/ammo if it's within an airtight container, like a Pelican case? A Pelican case with quality padlocks makes a great gun lockbox for vehicle use.

CC Italian wrote: . . . My school district does have munitions sniffing dogs and they go through the whole campus and parking lot. . . .

It's been quite a while since my school days, but I GUARANTEE you that if this sort of thing had been done back then, in short order virtually every car in the lot would have the trace smell of gunpowder. (And the dopers would probably have sacrificed some weed or pills to "anoint" darned near every locker in the school.)

You could be really difficult and stage a protest, have as many people as you can get dump a couple of milligrams of gunpowder into the carpet of their vehicle trunk. Then, if they do bring munitions sniffing dogs through the parking lot the dog will be going berserk giving tons of positive readings all over the lot. They will either have to search all of the cars, finding nothing, because that amount of powder would not be visible, or they will assume that something is wrong with the dog.

It could be funny to watch, plus it would arouse privacy concerns if they did end up searching 15 different cars.

This is from a local college's "Administrative Procedures" manual. Not pretty. (Emphasis mine.)

Violence includes, but is not limited to, intimidating, threatening or hostile behavior, physical or
verbal abuse, harassment, stalking, vandalism, arson, sabotage, use of weapons, possession of
weapons on College property, the threat of any of the above, or any other act inconsistent with
this policy.

Prohibited Weapons are classified as follows:
Weapons of Choice - Objects designed for the purpose of causing harm to others or to property
and are prohibited on campus. Such weapons of choice are typically brought on campus in a
premeditated manner. Intentionally bringing a prohibited weapon on campus is a violation of
this policy.

Thus, it can be interpreted in many ways not intended by Texas law.
This is from a school that has a well-respected police academy.

Lonest4r wrote:You could be really difficult and stage a protest, have as many people as you can get dump a couple of milligrams of gunpowder into the carpet of their vehicle trunk. Then, if they do bring munitions sniffing dogs through the parking lot the dog will be going berserk giving tons of positive readings all over the lot. They will either have to search all of the cars, finding nothing, because that amount of powder would not be visible, or they will assume that something is wrong with the dog.

It could be funny to watch, plus it would arouse privacy concerns if they did end up searching 15 different cars.

You wouldn't even have to put it in the trunk.
Just sprinkle it anywhere on the vehicle.
You could be really mischievous and sprinkle a can in all kinds of places without telling any one.

Lonest4r wrote:You could be really difficult and stage a protest, have as many people as you can get dump a couple of milligrams of gunpowder into the carpet of their vehicle trunk. Then, if they do bring munitions sniffing dogs through the parking lot the dog will be going berserk giving tons of positive readings all over the lot. They will either have to search all of the cars, finding nothing, because that amount of powder would not be visible, or they will assume that something is wrong with the dog.

It could be funny to watch, plus it would arouse privacy concerns if they did end up searching 15 different cars.

I really really like that idea.

austinrealtor wrote:Can sniffer digs detect a firearm/ammo if it's within an airtight container, like a Pelican case? A Pelican case with quality padlocks makes a great gun lockbox for vehicle use.

I dog's nose is a remarkable thing. I can't speak to the pelican cases, but I have known dogs that smell a cadaver from a boat under several feet of water and search and rescue dogs that can follow a trail days old over various types of terrain and surfaces. My own dogs can find articles as small as a quarter by following a trail a few hours old in most weather conditions. I would not be surprised if a trained dog could detect ammo inside an airtight container. I'm not so sure about a gun. After all, it is just metal and wood or plastic. I wouldn't be surprised if a dog wasn't picking up on any GSR left on the gun or the cleaning materials scent. Who knows?! It's a mystery, but they work pretty good.

HankB wrote:

CC Italian wrote: . . . My school district does have munitions sniffing dogs and they go through the whole campus and parking lot. . . .

It's been quite a while since my school days, but I GUARANTEE you that if this sort of thing had been done back then, in short order virtually every car in the lot would have the trace smell of gunpowder. (And the dopers would probably have sacrificed some weed or pills to "anoint" darned near every locker in the school.)

A strong breeze, an air cannon upwind of the parking lot, a couple pounds of mixed powder from pulls...

If a bomb/weapon sniffing dog ever gets around my truck, he's going to go ballistic. It has to be a veritable GSR laboratory.

When I shoot out in the pasture, my tailgate is my bench. In the bed (under the topper) is my much-perforated target stand, new & used targets, my brass magnet, & a bucket that holds my fired brass.

The poor animal may just lie down and go into convulsions!

HankB wrote:

CC Italian wrote: . . . My school district does have munitions sniffing dogs and they go through the whole campus and parking lot. . . .

It's been quite a while since my school days, but I GUARANTEE you that if this sort of thing had been done back then, in short order virtually every car in the lot would have the trace smell of gunpowder. (And the dopers would probably have sacrificed some weed or pills to "anoint" darned near every locker in the school.)

you just gave me the vision of a kid in lab class extracting essence of hemp and annointing each locker in school with a drop.

My congratualtions to your wife. Many of the school teachers I have had the dsipleasure to know could not be trusted with a water pistol and live in La-la land..If they say it can't happen, it is not supposed to... She is one of the few..