Carrying at my son's soccer practice

[Kodiak101]

I know that I can not carry at a sporting event, but can I carry at my child's practice? The fields are over 500 yards away from the parking lot. The walkway is lit only 50% of the time and quite frankly I do not feel safe all of the time.

Question, can I carry at a sporting practice?

[C-dub]

If it is school sponsored then no. If it is not school sponsored then yes and you can even carry at the games. (i.e. a city league)

[RottenApple]

I know that I can not carry at a sporting event, but can I carry at my child's practice? The fields are over 500 yards away from the parking lot. The walkway is lit only 50% of the time and quite frankly I do not feel safe all of the time.

Question, can I carry at a sporting practice?

You can't carry at a professional sporting event or school sponsored sporting event/practice (without written permission from the school/ISD). But if it's a non-school sporting event/practice, then you can carry.

[Teamless]

I agree with the above, just remember, if the event is on school grounds, don't make the mistake and enter any building for any reason, even to use the bathroom

[Kodiak101]

Great help, thanks!

The good news for me is that the league is not school sponsored. The practices are not on school grounds. The games are and I leave my gun in the car.

[RottenApple]

Great help, thanks!

The good news for me is that the league is not school sponsored. The practices are not on school grounds. The games are and I leave my gun in the car.

No need to unless the games are in a building that is 30.06 posted. You can carry at non-professional sporting events.

Edit: Whoops. I missed that the games are on school property. As Teamless said below, as long as you don't go into a building, you can still carry.

[Teamless]

Unless the games are indoors, you CAN carry at his games also, just don't go inside buildings.

[Kodiak101]

Unless the games are indoors, you CAN carry at his games also, just don't go inside buildings.

Great to know! I always thought that I couldn't carry on the grounds of the school and in the stands at the sporting event. They have a bathroom under the bleachers, which I assume would be considered inside the school.

[bdickens]

The school "premises," for our purposes, is defined in the law as the interior of the buildings.

[RottenApple]

Unless the games are indoors, you CAN carry at his games also, just don't go inside buildings.

Great to know! I always thought that I couldn't carry on the grounds of the school and in the stands at the sporting event. They have a bathroom under the bleachers, which I assume would be considered inside the school.

Yep. If its a building, it's off limits. So unless the bathroom under the bleachers is a bush ( ), you can't carry there.

[gdanaher]

Wooow. Any good prosecutor worth his salt is going to argue that a school owned stadium, even if it open air, is a school facility, and once you enter the ticket gate, you are inside a school facility, just as you would be if entering the adjoining high school. I would encourage you to rethink the idea of taking your concealed weapon into the stadium if it is owned by the school. Recreational soccer games, played on open fields with no permanent infrastructure are another matter.

[RottenApple]

Wooow. Any good prosecutor worth his salt is going to argue that a school owned stadium, even if it open air, is a school facility, and once you enter the ticket gate, you are inside a school facility, just as you would be if entering the adjoining high school. I would encourage you to rethink the idea of taking your concealed weapon into the stadium if it is owned by the school. Recreational soccer games, played on open fields with no permanent infrastructure are another matter.

The law doesn't say school "facility", it says school "premises" and defines that as a "building or portion of a building". As has been stated, as long as the OP doesn't enter the premises (a building or portion of a building), then they are good to go.

[RoyGBiv]

Wooow. Any good prosecutor worth his salt is going to argue that a school owned stadium, even if it open air, is a school facility, and once you enter the ticket gate, you are inside a school facility, just as you would be if entering the adjoining high school. I would encourage you to rethink the idea of taking your concealed weapon into the stadium if it is owned by the school. Recreational soccer games, played on open fields with no permanent infrastructure are another matter.

The law doesn't say school "facility", it says school "premises" and defines that as a "building or portion of a building". As has been stated, as long as the OP doesn't enter the premises (a building or portion of a building), then they are good to go.

This "Is a stadium a building?" issue has been discussed previously, and never resolved to my own personal satisfaction.
Playing it safe, my own personal policy is... If you can lock me out of it, I won't carry in it.

For example...
If the "stadium" is fenced, but the fence allows unrestricted ingress and egress at any time, by simply walking through a never-locked gate or an intentional gap in the fence, then I'll carry there (except for school sponsored events, of course).
If can go to the "stadium" in the middle of the night on a holiday and find it locked, such that I would have to climb a fence or break open a lock to get in, then I treat it like a "building" and don't ever carry there.

YMMV.

I'll need to think about stand-alone toilet facilities.
Not sure I've ever seen one in an "unlocked stadium".

To my recollection, Texas PC defines "Building" as "intended for use as a habitation"... Which would NOT include a stand alone toilet.

From 30.01:
(2) "Building" means any enclosed structure intended for use or occupation as a habitation or for some purpose of trade, manufacture, ornament, or use.

The "or use" part at the end there is the question mark...

I am not a lawyer. This is my OPINION, not legal advice.

[Keith B]

Wooow. Any good prosecutor worth his salt is going to argue that a school owned stadium, even if it open air, is a school facility, and once you enter the ticket gate, you are inside a school facility, just as you would be if entering the adjoining high school. I would encourage you to rethink the idea of taking your concealed weapon into the stadium if it is owned by the school. Recreational soccer games, played on open fields with no permanent infrastructure are another matter.

The law doesn't say school "facility", it says school "premises" and defines that as a "building or portion of a building". As has been stated, as long as the OP doesn't enter the premises (a building or portion of a building), then they are good to go.

I thnk a stadium may be considered a building. Per TPC 30.01(2) "Building" means any enclosed structure intended for use or occupation as a habitation or for some purpose of trade, manufacture, ornament, or use.

Enclosed structure is not defined, but per the dictionay, enclose says:

en·close/ɛnˈkloʊz/ Show Spelled [en-klohz]
verb (used with object), en·closed, en·clos·ing.
1. to shut or hem in; close in on all sides: a valley enclosed by tall mountains.
2. to surround, as with a fence or wall: to enclose land.
....

So, a stadium that has controlled access and is 'enclosed' on all sides would be an enclosed structure and hence off-limits.

[gdanaher]

In this part of Texas a number of college campuses have expansive open surroundings, and frequently these are laid out for soccer fields. No formal structure beyond a few portable metal bleachers if you are lucky. Since there is no structure, there is no building and concealed carry is a non issue. If a school district constructs a stadium at great expense and fence it in so that access is normally permitted through a specific location, what you now have here is a school facility that is off limits to concealed carry. Seems pretty simple and straightforward. You don't have to have a roof over it.