Question about carry (open or concealed) on city bus....

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The city bus bas signs inside every bus prohibiting weapons of any kind. These buses wear Municipal license plates. A portion of their funding comes from govt grants and whatnot. I ride the bus to get to the GVSU Health Science building because they have no parking for students up there.
Since they are using municipal license plates, and get some of their funding from public sources, would they fall under preemption? Or can they set their own rules?
The buses are not patroled, but the central station is patroled by a full-time City Police officer.

The bus system is operated by the "Interurban Transit Partnership", whose board of directors is made up of individuals from the service areas the bus covers. They claim to organize under PA196 of 1967 but I cant find that PA. 68% of their 2007 operating revenue came from local property taxes and state funding.

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Furner wrote:

The city bus bas signs inside every bus prohibiting weapons of any kind. These buses wear Municipal license plates. A portion of their funding comes from govt grants and whatnot. I ride the bus to get to the GVSU Health Science building because they have no parking for students up there.
Since they are using municipal license plates, and get some of their funding from public sources, would they fall under preemption? Or can they set their own rules?
The buses are not patroled, but the central station is patroled by a full-time City Police officer.

The bus system is operated by the "Interurban Transit Partnership", whose board of directors is made up of individuals from the service areas the bus covers. They claim to organize under PA196 of 1967 but I cant find that PA. 68% of their 2007 operating revenue came from local property taxes and state funding.

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Another one of those gray areas. Same here in Lansing. I don't now what to say. If the buses are in part funded by private money, they may be able to ban firearms. Are the buses owned by the city? One could argue that they are public property and the preemption law would apply. Just guessing here, I don't know the answer. Check with the transit authority and find out where they get the authority to ban firearms.

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Venator wrote:

Furner wrote:

The city bus bas signs inside every bus prohibiting weapons of any kind. These buses wear Municipal license plates. A portion of their funding comes from govt grants and whatnot. I ride the bus to get to the GVSU Health Science building because they have no parking for students up there.
Since they are using municipal license plates, and get some of their funding from public sources, would they fall under preemption? Or can they set their own rules?
The buses are not patroled, but the central station is patroled by a full-time City Police officer.

The bus system is operated by the "Interurban Transit Partnership", whose board of directors is made up of individuals from the service areas the bus covers. They claim to organize under PA196 of 1967 but I cant find that PA. 68% of their 2007 operating revenue came from local property taxes and state funding.

Click to expand...

Another one of those gray areas. Same here in Lansing. I don't now what to say. If the buses are in part funded by private money, they may be able to ban firearms. Are the buses owned by the city? One could argue that they are public property and the preemption law would apply. Just guessing here, I don't know the answer. Check with the transit authority and find out where they get the authority to ban firearms.

Click to expand...

I think the city has to own them if they have municipal plates. I cant find the exact legislation for using municipal plates however.

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Furner,

I've actually been thinking the same thing. I rarely use the Rapid, but if I needed to, I'd like to know if they can prohibit firearms.

I did a little research and this is what I came up with. I AM NOT AN ATTORNEY, and this in no way should be construed as legal opinion (Caveat lector) .

First, I needed to find the law. You are correct, I also could not find the law cited on the Rapid's website. However, I did find this: (go to the last 3 pages)

http://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/2005-2006/billanalysis/House/pdf/2005-HLA-5560-3.pdf

which just basically says that it is operating under Public Act 196 of 1986 (Public Transportation Authority Act) which authorizes two or more political subdivisions (counties, cities, villages, townships) to form a public authority.

Well, is this Public Authority a local unit of Government? Well, I searched everywhere and then came across this:

http://www.legislature.mi.gov/(S(rhqwzf45t2jtap45ym4a5p55))/documents/mcl/pdf/mcl-Act-170-of-1964.pdf

which basically says that a Public Authority has governmental immunity. Therefore, my personal belief is that the signs you described should be treated much like any other signs posted on city, township, or county offices: ignore.

PS
The law also make reference to public colleges, perhaps that information would be helpful to those concerned about open carry on University property. But, I am not an attorney so, Caveat lector.

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I wish I had seen this post a little earlier but I'm new to the forum and I'm trying to catch up. I posted some comments about the carry rules on the cata buses in Lansing as my first post. As Venator mentioned, the buses in Lansinghave signs on them saying all weapons are prohibited. I sent an email to Cata asking for clarification on their policies. If I don't hear anything in a couple of days I will follow it up with a phone call. I rarely ever ride the cata bus unless its as a shuttle to a local event but I still would like to see their ban lifted. If there is any place that you are likely to need to defend yourself it would be a Lansing city bus.