I believe what he is arguing is that if there are kids there, then it is a school sponsored activity. It is believed that a school sponsored activity is like football, band, cheer leading practice, etc. Dropping off and picking up your kids is not a school sponsored activity as they either have not started for the day, or have finished for the day.dds115 wrote:Sorry to bring up a topic that I'm sure has been beaten to death, but I am in a bit of an argument with one of my "no one should own a gun" friends. And no, I'm not sure why we're still friends.So I guess I'm needing help finding something that says that a parking lot is not an area of a school sponsored event?
Him - here is your problem unfortunately. virtually every state has a law banning guns on school grounds including texas. and this law makes it illegal for you to carry on school grounds in any state you're not licensed in. de facto=no carry on school grounds
Me - Could you point me to that Texas law?
Him - Sec. 46.03. PLACES WEAPONS PROHIBITED. (a) A person commits an offense if the person intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly possesses or goes with a firearm, illegal knife, club, or prohibited weapon listed in Section 46.05(a):
(1) on the physical premises of a school or educational institution, any grounds or building on which an activity sponsored by a school or educational institution is being conducted, or a passenger transportation vehicle of a school or educational institution, whether the school or educational institution is public or private, unless pursuant to written regulations or written authorization of the institution
an before you come back with the premises bull, a decent lawyer argues that the parking lot of the school at all times has activities sponsored by the educational institution because students have to attend school and they are constantly moving between parking lots and the building. therefore, during school hours a continuous time frame exists of school sponsored activities on institutional ground
Me- Notably, the new statute acknowledges an employer’s right to prohibit employees from carrying a firearm on its “premises,” but adopts the Texas Penal Code's narrow definition of premises—“a building or a portion of a building.” This definition of "premises" does not encompass all of the employer’s property, such as private or public driveways, streets, sidewalks, walkways, parking lots, parking garages, or other parking areas.
On my phone so I can't get the exact legal definition, but that is the summary.
Him - thats why i'm saying that the premises clause of the texas statute isn't key. its actually the institutional sponsored activity thats key. it could be interpreted to be a much more expansive clause because restrictions don't exist on what can be classified as sponsored
Now, there are no known test cases of this that I am aware of. However, I do know of an individual who was charged with disorderly conduct for arguing with an officer (wrongfully, but that's beside the point) while picking up his kids from school, and his license was suspended because of that, but they did not charge him under TPC 46.03 for having his handgun on school property while a sponsored activity was going on (since there wasn't one.)