bigdodge25
Regular Member
Would there be any reason I couldnt carry at the gaslight festival in J-town?
Yes, you could be a felon.
This would be the only reason; unless of course it is within 1000ft of k-12 school property and you don't have your CDWL.
It's federal law not Kentucky law that would prevent you from carrying within 1000' without a cdwl.
What? You can't OC within 1000 ft of a school? I knew you couldn't be on school grounds, but I'm surprised about the 1000ft......or am I just misunderstanding here (probably lol)?
No you cannot OC within 1000ft of "K-12" school property without having a CDWL issued in the state you are carrying in. This is a Federal law and most commonly called the FGFSZ. The first time they passed such a law it was deemed unconstitutional, so they changed the terminology and passed it again. This second law has never been challenged to my knowledge, but I am sure if it was it woud also be deemed unconstitutional because it is very vague and makes someone a felon for carrying in their private conveyance near a school, whether they are on school property or not.
If the statute prohibited possession on school grounds only, then I believe our current SCOTUS would rule it constitutional, but it extends that ban to 1000ft beyond the edge of school property which is insane.
I don't believe anyone has ever been charged with this statute unless there were some other aggravating circumstances other than just carrying a firearm.
The GFSZ has been discussed on many occasions here on this forum.
You can read about it on Wikipedia here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun-Free_School_Zones_Act_of_1990
And the text of the act can be seen here:
http://www.gunlaws.com/Gun_Free_School_Zones_Act.pdf
Don't let it discourage you from OCing. It's doubtful that one would ever be prosecuted for this unless they were actually on school grounds. It seems as though that this is just another charge that they would tack on if you had committed a crime on school property. It's doubtful that local LEO would even enforce federal law. Heck, they may not even have the authority to do so.
I just finished reading about it on the links above...and in some other threads. Admittedly, this is a p*sser. I'm imagining how many people violate this every day -- just on their way to work.
As ya I mentioned before, I'm learning all this new at the moment as I'm new to owning. It's much more complicated than I ever imagined. I think you're right that local LEO won't pursue this, but it's still very concerning that it's on the books.
Sorry, didn't mean to hijack this thread either
I'm still trying to understand the significance of the law's wording about "a firearm that has moved in or that otherwise affects interstate or foreign commerce." It seems that they're just suggesting that because some people might be scared of guns, commerce will be affected and therefore having a gun makes the open carrier affect commerce (i.e., guns are bad, people are scared, if you have a gun, you'll screw with commerce by scaring people). That's messed up
It's doubtful that local LEO would even enforce federal law. Heck, they may not even have the authority to do so.
No, you've missed the point entirely. The original GFSZ Act was declared unconstitutional because the US Supreme Court said that congress did not have any authoity to do this, except as it applied to interstate commerce and congress had not established any connection between the two. The act was rewritten with this language in it to make that connection, then it was passed again. Not many people believe it will hold up in court this time, either and it has never been tested. Some prosecutors have refused to prosecute cases on this alone, because they don't believe it will hold up. This is charged most often in connection with another crime then thrown away during a plea bargain with the defendant. I believe you are safe from prosecution on this as long as you are not committing another crime in a school zone. You can make your own decisions. I have a CCDW and it doesn't apply to me. Who would arrest you for this federal crime? Is the FBI making traffic stops and setting up road blocks in your hometown?
When they mention firearms that have moved in interstate commerce they are speaking of a firearm that has been shipped from one state to another, or a firearm that was shipped from another country into our country. This would be like a Glock being shipped from Smyrna, Georgia, to Kentucky; it has crossed state lines and therefore the Federal government believes they have the right to control everything the firearm does because of the very minute Commerce Clause in the Constitution.
If a firearm was made in Kentucky, and it was shipped to someone who lived in Kentucky, and it never left the state, then it could be carried because it would not be affected by interstate commerce, and therefore the FGFSZ would not apply to the carrying of that firearm.
Truly amazing.