TexasCHLforum.com

Today I attended an award & graduation ceremony for a friend's child in the cafeteria of a local elementary school.

There was an armed Texas Game Warden in uniform there, attending the event as a spectator
( unless he was looking for 4th graders hunting deer out of season )

Now I'm glad to have LEOs attending such events, on duty or not, openly armed or not. I'm sure most others are too.

Out of curiosity I have to ask, strictly speaking, is that legit with regards to the Gun Free School Zone act?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun-Free_S ... ct_of_1990" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It does list as an exception:

(vi) by a law enforcement officer acting in his or her official capacity;

Is "on duty" the same as "acting in his or her official capacity"?

Does GFSZA not apply in this case?

katmandu wrote:Today I attended an award & graduation ceremony for a friend's child in the cafeteria of a local elementary school.

There was an armed Texas Game Warden in uniform there, attending the event as a spectator
( unless he was looking for 4th graders hunting deer out of season )

Now I'm glad to have LEOs attending such events, on duty or not, openly armed or not. I'm sure most others are too.

Out of curiosity I have to ask, strictly speaking, is that legit with regards to the Gun Free School Zone act?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun-Free_S ... ct_of_1990" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It does list as an exception:

(vi) by a law enforcement officer acting in his or her official capacity;

Is "on duty" the same as "acting in his or her official capacity"?

Does GFSZA not apply in this case?

GFSZA doesn't even apply to CHL holders.

The father of one of my students at school is HPD. We have talked before since we are both firearms friendly and he carries concealed in the school whenever he comes to pick his child up in plan cloths and when in uniform he just walks right in. No big deal! Teachers and administration like as many cops as we can get on or off duty! The administration and campus police know and they are glad for his presence.

CC Italian wrote:The father of one of my students at school is HPD. We have talked before since we are both firearms friendly and he carries concealed in the school whenever he comes to pick his child up in plan cloths and when in uniform he just walks right in. No big deal! Teachers and administration like as many cops as we can get on or off duty! The administration and campus police know and they are glad for his presence.

They should be just as happy to have CHLs on premises too but we are far away from that.

LEOs can carry anywhere in the state of Texas open or concealed expect for federal buildings.

nightmare69 wrote:LEOs can carry anywhere in the state of Texas open or concealed expect for federal buildings.

Yes, certainly as it should be. ( I didn't know about the federal building limitation for LEOs - that seems a bit strange too )

I guess what's confusing me is:

1) Federal law overrides state law, and

2) GFSZA seems to imply the exception is only for LEOs while they're "working" ( "official capacity" ). An observer / parent at a school event doesn't seem to fit that description.

I've heard sworn LEOs are considered on duty 24/7, regardless of whether they're actually at work or not, so maybe that's it.

Thanks for the replies.

katmandu wrote: I guess what's confusing me is:

1) Federal law overrides state law, and

2) GFSZA seems to imply the exception is only for LEOs while they're "working" ( "official capacity" ). An observer / parent at a school event doesn't seem to fit that description.

I've heard sworn LEOs are considered on duty 24/7, regardless of whether they're actually at work or not, so maybe that's it.

Thanks for the replies.

Fed LE has better things to do than arrest state/local LE who are carrying somewhere that's not federal property but where federal law might prohibit them from carrying in certain instances under certain interpretations of the law. That's assuming said Fed LE is even at some local school in the first place and that they even know about how the GFSZA might apply to state/local LE in certain instances. And federal prosecutors have better things to do with their time than prosecute such a case.

CleverNickname wrote:

katmandu wrote: I guess what's confusing me is:

1) Federal law overrides state law, and

2) GFSZA seems to imply the exception is only for LEOs while they're "working" ( "official capacity" ). An observer / parent at a school event doesn't seem to fit that description.

I've heard sworn LEOs are considered on duty 24/7, regardless of whether they're actually at work or not, so maybe that's it.

Thanks for the replies.

Fed LE has better things to do than arrest state/local LE who are carrying somewhere that's not federal property but where federal law might prohibit them from carrying in certain instances under certain interpretations of the law. That's assuming said Fed LE is even at some local school in the first place and that they even know about how the GFSZA might apply to state/local LE in certain instances. And federal prosecutors have better things to do with their time than prosecute such a case.

Given that a fed LEO will most likely be carrying himself, I don't foresee a state/local cop getting arrested for this at all. Heck, certain federal properties welcome state/local cops, armed or not, no matter what the sign on the door says.