Student had gun on school property

[sk8r101all]

This is were I went to school. Very rural area.
http://readingeagle.com/Article.aspx?id=166697
If the kid didn't know it was in his truck, how did the other student know?

[RickD]

Baffling.
As you said, how did someone learn the gun was there?
Is it his truck or does he share it with his mother?
What did mom say about this?
Was the school locked down after the trooper searched the truck?

More questions than answers which is par for the course for the media.

[FormerUser123]

More questions than answers which is par for the course for the media.

Could be worse, this could have happened in Lancaster County. If you think the Reading Eagle has crappy reporting, you should pick up a copy of the Lancaster New Error...I mean Era. Yeah...Era...


And yeah, the kid shouldn't have let the faculty search his truck, but kids are dumb and tend to buckle under authority pretty quickly. I hope we can get more details from the paper on how this all turns out.

[Steve_NEPhila]

Ahh yes... "The gun was registered to..." BULLSHIT.

There is no Pennsylvania gun registration.

I know the young man was not supposed to have the weapon on school property. However, he should not have consented to the search by either the school official or the PSP. Now his life is going to be pretty fucked up because of a series of catastrophic failures in judgment.

If anyone reading this wants to learn a lesson, here are a few.

-Exercise your right to be secure in your property from search and seizure.
-Do not tell your buddies about your weapons.
-There is no fucking gun registration in Pennsylvania.

Class dismissed... well after the "Lock Down"
(is this school or county jail???)

[yawns]

how about this one..

http://www.dailypennsylvanian.com/ar...wned-residence

why would anyone need a gun in west philly??

oh wait..

http://www.dailypennsylvanian.com/ar...ng-40th-spruce

[TaePo]

18 Pa.C.S. § 6106: Firearms not to be carried without a license

(a) Offense defined.--

<snip>

(b) Exceptions.--The provisions of subsection (a) shall not apply to:

<snip>

(13) Any person who is otherwise eligible to possess a firearm under this chapter and who is operating a motor vehicle which is registered in the person's name or the name of a spouse or parent and which contains a firearm for which a valid license has been issued pursuant to section 6109 to the spouse or parent owning the firearm.

<snip>

At least they cannot be charged with this one, thankfully.

The next one is trickier though:

18 Pa.C.S. § 912: Possession of weapon on school property
(a) Definition.--Notwithstanding the definition of "weapon" in section 907 (relating to possessing instruments of crime), "weapon" for purposes of this section shall include but not be limited to any knife, cutting instrument, cutting tool, nunchuck stick, firearm, shotgun, rifle and any other tool, instrument or implement capable of inflicting serious bodily injury.
(b) Offense defined.--A person commits a misdemeanor of the first degree if he possesses a weapon in the buildings of, on the grounds of, or in any conveyance providing transportation to or from any elementary or secondary publicly-funded educational institution, any elementary or secondary private school licensed by the Department of Education or any elementary or secondary parochial school.
(c) Defense.--It shall be a defense that the weapon is possessed and used in conjunction with a lawful supervised school activity or course or is possessed for other lawful purpose.

Bold added for emphasis.

Can accidental possession be included as a lawful purpose, assuming lawful purpose defense would be allowed? It is, however, a possession incident to a lawful purpose, namely, target shooting with mother.

This would be an interesting case to follow. If neither of these possession issues are valid violations of law for him, then what can they charge him with? (School regulations aside which would be expulsion etc.)

This can not be a dangerous situation per se IMHO. It is not disorderly conduct either.

The only downside I see is how the other student knew it was there. They could explain that the defendant told them about it. In which case, the defendant can not claim ignorance of its presence. But the two laws above say nothing of intent or foreknowledge etc.

However, a judge did look at it and assigned a bond. But that is procedural and maybe the defendant was not yet adequately defended.

What do our resident lawyers and senior people think?

ETA = I am assuming that his mother has a permit for the gun. Otherwise it disavows having a loaded firearm in a vehicle at all for either of them.

[nlcrsn]

Any one remember when a gun & knife in school was as common as books & dad would a whooped your arse if you messed up!

[gnbrotz]

What do our resident lawyers and senior people think?

Typically speaking, the media does not provide enough in either quantity or accuracy to be able to accurately "game out" any particular case.

[loknload]

If you think the Reading Eagle has crappy reporting,

Don't call it The Reading Rag for nothing!

Any one remember when a gun & knife in school was as common as books & dad would a whooped your arse if you messed up!

Yes I do!,,, Always had either a Shotgun or a .22 in my trunk! Went out hunting or plinking right after school!
And I got my arse kicked plenty of time for messing up!

Now, today they're talking about putting a Court Room in Reading High!
Sad,,,Very Sad!

[sk8r101all]

When I went to Tulpehocken before Columbine happened, we had a hunting club. Students in the club would bring their shotguns in the morning and have them locked up in the teachers truck. During the club period they would shoot clays in a field next to the school.