Carrying in and around schools

**DonM55** · June 7th, 2012, 11:17 AM

Originally Posted by cgbudde

So it seems to be dependent on the law enforment dept.

Agree. A guy in Pittsburgh wasn't charged when caught CCing at a HS football game about a year ago.

However I wouldn't reccommend it unless you have deep pockets.

**knight0334** · June 7th, 2012, 02:58 PM

Unless you have a good lawyer and lots of cash, you should stay off of school property with a firearm. Until the General Assembly or the PA Supreme Court defines "other lawful purpose" you will be at the mercy of the police, the DA, the magistrate, the county judge, and 12 peers.

By default it is prohibited to carry on school grounds even if licensed. Then there is an affirmative defense that YOU must prove and it must qualify. If you just happen to roll the dice and get an anti-gun DA, judge, or 12 stupid peers - congratulations, you just won a Prohibited Person For Life Sticker.

And here is the kicker.. You don't even have to be on school grounds either to be caught up in the law. If you drive your kid to/from school and have a firearm in the vehicle - you are in violation of the same law even if you never pull your vehicle onto the school grounds. ..yep, even in your own driveway.

**GunLawyer001** · June 7th, 2012, 03:02 PM

Originally Posted by knight0334

Unless you have a good lawyer and lots of cash, you should stay off of school property with a firearm. Until the General Assembly or the PA Supreme Court defines "other lawful purpose" you will be at the mercy of the police, the DA, the magistrate, the county judge, and 12 peers.

By default it is prohibited to carry on school grounds even if licensed. Then there is an affirmative defense that YOU must prove and it must qualify. If you just happen to roll the dice and get an anti-gun DA, judge, or 12 peers - congratulations, you just won a Prohibited Person For Life Sticker.

Truth. I defended such a case, took it to verdict, won an acquittal, but it was hardly a slam-dunk. There's no binding case law defining "other lawful purpose", and the few judges who've even mentioned it in passing came out evenly for "lawful purpose is any purpose that's not unlawful" and "the statute means only those people who need to carry a gun as part of their job, like cops and security guards.)

**BoogerDog** · June 7th, 2012, 11:12 PM

I live right across the street from a parochial school. I submitted the question to the main part of this site if I could carry my weapon from house to car even though I could toss a stick to the school's back door from my car.

They said that I was exempt because I'm a home owner in that exclusion zone.

**ImminentDanger** · June 8th, 2012, 02:46 AM

Here's the two threads on PAFOA regarding opposing outcomes to having a firearm on school property....

http://forum.pafoa.org/concealed-ope...ball-game.html

http://forum.pafoa.org/concealed-ope...-property.html

I still believe if Mettler had accepted the help offered by PAFOA members he would never have had to plea out with ARD....

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