Many people misunderstand
RCW 9.41.280, which states, in part:
(1) It is unlawful for a person to carry (a firearm) onto, or to possess (a firearm) on, public or private elementary or secondary school premises, school-provided transportation, or areas of facilities while being used exclusively by public or private schools...
So, let's parse it and see how a court is likely to interpret it. Broken down, the statute basically says:
It is unlawful for a person to carry a firearm onto, or possess a firearm on
a) public or private elementary or secondary school premises,
b) school-provided transportation,
or
c) areas of facilities while being used exclusively by public or private schools
The crucial part of the statute is the use of the word, "or" just before "areas of facilities." A disjunctive phrase is generally expressed by mutually exclusive alternatives joined by the word "or." This means that, in a list, several alternatives are offered for consideration, separated by commas. When the final item of consideration is preceded by "or," the previous use of commas in the list
implies the word "or." As such, the list is more properly interpreted as the following:
It is unlawful for a person to carry a firearm onto, or possess a firearm on
a) public or private elementary or secondary school premises,
or
b) school-provided transportation,
or
c) areas of facilities while being used exclusively by public or private schools
Therefore since each alternative item is presumed to be in the disjunctive, the phrase
"while being used exclusively by public or private schools" applies only to the alternative "areas of facilities" and not to the prior two alternatives. The common misconception is that in scenarios such as this, people interpret "or" to mean the same as "and." It does not, unless the terms "or" and "and" are defined in a statute to mean the same thing. This is not the case in RCW 9.41.
An argument that the phrase "while being used exclusively by public or private schools" applies to school premises or school-provided transportation
might enjoy some strength (although, it is not likely) would be
only if the phrase were separated from the "areas of facilities" alternative by a comma, thereby setting the "while" clause out as a disjunctive prepositional phrase. However, no such punctuation exists in the statute.
The statute unambiguously states that firearms are not permitted on school premises except as otherwise expressly provided in RCW 9.41.280(3). Of particular note, while RCW 9.41.280(3)(e) expressly states that CPL holders are exempted from the possession prohibition on school property while picking up or dropping off a student, it
doesn't require is that the pistol be concealed.