Armed "civilian", OCing, working courthouse security.

[HiredGoon]

For discussion:

A hypothetical situation at any county courthouse in PA.

You have a person wearing a "special deputy sheriff" badge (which does not confer any LEO powers to the person) who is Act 235 trained. Person is in everyday street clothes except for the badge.

He/she is on duty, armed and openly carrying, at the scanners at the courthouse checking people thru.

Is there any violation of "18 Pa.C.S. § 913: Possession of firearm or other dangerous weapon in court facility" here?

[BestDefense=StrongOffense]

Maybe like this...

[NShortino]

I think of a courthouse similar to an airport. There is a secure area past the checkpoint, where guns are not allowed, and an entrance area before that where guns are ok. I know that's not exactly what the law says for courthouses, but that seems to be how it works in practice. So as long as the person is standing before the metal detector, I would assume they are fine, but not if they are standing on the 'secure' side.

[merlin1372]

This should clear it up a bit:



(f) Definitions.--As used in this section, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings given to them in this subsection:





"Court facility." The courtroom of a court of record; a courtroom of a community court; the courtroom of a magisterial district judge; a courtroom of the Philadelphia Municipal Court; a courtroom of the Pittsburgh Magistrates Court; a courtroom of the Traffic Court of Philadelphia; judge's chambers; witness rooms; jury deliberation rooms; attorney conference rooms; prisoner holding cells; offices of court clerks, the district attorney, the sheriff and probation and parole officers; and any adjoining corridors.





"Dangerous weapon." A bomb, grenade, blackjack, sandbag, metal knuckles, dagger, knife (the blade of which is exposed in an automatic way by switch, push-button, spring mechanism or otherwise) or other implement for the infliction of serious bodily injury which serves no common lawful purpose.

[twency]

This should clear it up a bit:
...

That doesn't really help, since OP's questions aren't particularly about what constitutes a "court facility" and/or a "dangerous weapon".

[Greywolf]

Federal law prohibits firearms in all Federal facilities, except for on-duty law enforcement agents.

All Social Security offices are "protected" by private security officers. They are armed. My guess is that, if a sheriff hires security personnel and tells them to guard the entrance to the court facility, the fact that they are operating under the direct order of the person who is responsible for enforcing court facility security probably makes it as legal as it needs to be.

You have a person wearing a "special deputy sheriff" badge (which does not confer any LEO powers to the person) who is Act 235 trained.

How do you know the badge conveys no LEO powers? Do you know what the word "deputy" means?

[mrnyman]

we are all "civilians", if you are not in the Military you are a civilian.

[merlin1372]

That doesn't really help, since OP's questions aren't particularly about what constitutes a "court facility" and/or a "dangerous weapon".

But the area he is refering to is NOT considered part of the court facility as referenced in the text of the law. Therefore OC would be perfectly legal?

[gnbrotz]

But the area he is refering to is NOT considered part of the court facility as referenced in the text of the law. Therefore OC would be perfectly legal?

I've never seen anyone "working security" be on the 'outside' of the 'security perimeter', thus, my opinion would be that they are in the 'secure area/court facility'.

[twency]

I've never seen anyone "working security" be on the 'outside' of the 'security perimeter', thus, my opinion would be that they are in the 'secure area/court facility'.

That's my take on it. The security checkpoint personel generally work at least partially behind the security perimeter, which I think could reasonably be presumed to be within the "adjoining corridors" area of the "court facility".