Requesting 626.9 exemption in San Francisco

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I too have been following this thread since it started, I actually live in a nice secluded court , but there happens to be a Junior high school that my daughter attends less than 250 yards from the school. I asked them about this in their office once and they said there is no way they will sign off on something like this. I am in the IT sector, most laws require IT to archive emails that pertain to legal questions or corospondence, I could be mistaken for them because they are a public school, and dont comminucate that much with legal questions, but most of the time if they have a legal department then those email have to be retained for a certain length of time. I can retirieve emails from 2 years ago even before i had to comply with this rule, but it could also be that the comany i work for deals in legal claims.

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Asking the local school does no good. The statute requires that you ask the school district superintendent, or his/her designated representative.

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Still no word about the 626.9 exemption, but I received this answer to my PRAR today:

Per my phone conversation with you on February 3, I asked the department heads in Central Office to help me fulfill your records request under the California Public Records Act. Neither the department heads nor department memebers in Central Office are in possession of "emails, memos, letters, records, files in electronic form or otherwise with the phrases 'open carry', '626.9', '<my name>', 'GFSZ', or 'Gun Free School Zone.'"

Sincerely,
Susan Wong

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I find this rather incredible considering there is a letter from me asking for the PRAR, and that she probably sent an email to the department heads with those words in it. To think that there is not a single instance of the phrase "gun free school zone" is simply too amazing to believe. Not sure what my next steps are...I'm going to give her a call tomorrow and see if I can get a status report on the 626.9 exemption and to see what email system they use and whether or not it supports text searches.

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I called my contact Ms. Wong at SFUSD today and asked her about my 626.9 exception. She apparently hadn't forwarded my request to the superintendent, but she will do so and I will get a nice written response back saying that my request is denied (I'm sure).

A couple of curious things about the conversation. She had taken my written request out and read it to me, except when she got to the 626.9 part, she said, "which is the Gun Free School Act of 1995." I didn't write that anywhere on my request, so clearly she is either independently aware of the penal code, or she has read something or talked to somebody regarding this law.

She then said that they generally just go by the law, like the selling cigarettes thing. I said I understood, but the law allows for a person to be granted an exception by the superintendent. She then asked me why I wanted the exception, what was I going to do if I got it. I said I actually didn't expect to do anything with the exception (except taunt my fellow open carriers as to how I could open carry in SF somewhat freely!). I just may want to open carry sometime and I can't even walk outside my door without locking up my firearm.

She asked me what school I lived near, and I said there was a school like 800 feet away, which I can't even see, but technically I'd be violating the law if I walked outside without having locked up my concealable firearm. Then she said that was really for the best, and having to lock up my firearm was for my protection.

Quite surprised at this, I asked her what she meant, and she said how I didn't want to have kids near my exposed gun or asking me about it or bothering me about it. I explained how I was quite far from the school, and I never even see kids near my residence, and I had no intention of going anywhere near the school. I said if the law said I couldn't bring my firearm within 50' of the school, I could possibly understand the desire to protect kids, but being 800' away with a handgun doesn't do much for a child's protection.

She understood and said she'd forward the request on to Superintendent Garcia. She asked if I wanted a written response, and I said I'd love that. I thanked her for her immense help.

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bigtoe416 wrote:

Then she said that was really for the best, and having to lock up my firearm was for my protection.

Quite surprised at this, I asked her what she meant, and she said how I didn't want to have kids near my exposed gun or asking me about it or bothering me about it.

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Full of crap. Having to lock up firearms is for the CRIMINALS' protection, and harm for law-abiding citizens. That is what the law was written for.

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I lol'd at the part about it being "for your protection."

"The government bureaucracy responsible for your safety is so inadequate at preventing crimethat we've decided to take weapons away from the people who obey the laws."

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So, after many subsequent phone calls, I finally received my denial today. Here's the text of the denial.

I've received your voicemail today and one prior voicemail regarding California Penal Coded 626.9, also known as the Gun-Free School Zone Act of 1995. On January 26, 2010 and February 17, 2010, I responded in writing to your records request.

On January 26, 2010, you wrote to Superintendent Garcia,
"Pursuant to California Penal Code 626.9, I hereby request your written permission which is granted to you by subsection (b) of the aforementioned code."

Neither the Superintendent, nor I, as his designee, gives you written permission to possess a firearm in a place that the person knows, or reasonably should know, is a school zone as defined in paragraph (1) of subdivision (e).

Sincerely,
Susan Wong

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My next steps will probably be to wait for the right to bear arms to be granted from McDonald, apply for a CCW, get denied, and then sue the city for denying me my right to bear arms. I'm just tossing that out there, haven't given it much thought.

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bigtoe416 wrote:

So, after many subsequent phone calls, I finally received my denial today. Here's the text of the denial.

I've received your voicemail today and one prior voicemail regarding California Penal Coded 626.9, also known as the Gun-Free School Zone Act of 1995. On January 26, 2010 and February 17, 2010, I responded in writing to your records request.

On January 26, 2010, you wrote to Superintendent Garcia,
"Pursuant to California Penal Code 626.9, I hereby request your written permission which is granted to you by subsection (b) of the aforementioned code."

Neither the Superintendent, nor I, as his designee, gives you written permission to possess a firearm in a place that the person knows, or reasonably should know, is a school zone as defined in paragraph (1) of subdivision (e).

Sincerely,
Susan Wong

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My next steps will probably be to wait for the right to bear arms to be granted from McDonald, apply for a CCW, get denied, and then sue the city for denying me my right to bear arms. I'm just tossing that out there, haven't given it much thought.

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send susy a picture of a CA compliant OLLAK47 and tell her its legal for you to transport that through her school zone with or without her permision, but you find your handgun to be more descreet.

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dirtykoala wrote:

send susy a picture of a CA compliant OLLAK47 and tell her its legal for you to transport that through her school zone with or without her permision, but you find your handgun to be more descreet.

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Careful how you do that (if you do it at all)... I could see that being quickly and easily misconstrued as a "threat" and next thing you know you got SWAT kicking down your door...

Remember, there's no such thing as being "too careful" when we're talking about the safety of our children...:quirky

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This has been a good thread. I am going to do the same thing will my school district.

Do you have any advice for me ? Would you do anything differently ?

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I e-mailed the district superentendent in my district. He forwarded it to the local sheriff. The local sheriff called me about it. I had to show the sheriff the part of the penal code about it. We had a short discussion, about why I wanted to carry with all the obvious questions. He was very aware about open carry. and didn't have a problem about it. He indicated that a "no answer" from the school district would indicate that I didn't have permission. I never got an answer. I suspect it's a waste of time.

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Ca Patriot wrote:

This has been a good thread. I am going to do the same thing will my school district.

Do you have any advice for me ? Would you do anything differently ?

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If I had to do it all over again I would have gone in to the school district office back in November and handed my request for the 626.9 exception to the superintendent with my contact information. Then I would have called every week until I had received a response. I don't think the wording of the request makes any difference at all. Pullnshoot25's letter was very informative and helpful and mine was terse and explained nothing. It might be interesting for somebody to try the request without explaining anything about 626.9, just to see if they bother researching it themselves.

Once that was out of the way I would have immediately filed the PRAR paperwork to see any details as to why I was denied. I'd deliver this by hand as well since there doesn't seem to be any recourse for PRARs or the 626.9 requests to be ignored.

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Statkowski wrote:

Asking the local school does no good. The statute requires that you ask the school district superintendent, or his/her designated representative.

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Hope,correct: "... unless it is with the written permission of the school district superintendent, his or her designee, or equivalent school authority..."

626. ...definitions apply:...For a school, the principal of the school, a person who possesses a standard supervision credential or a standard administrative credential and who is designated by the principal, or a person who carries out the same functions as a person who possesses a credential and who is designated by the principal.

Therefore, SASC40caldid is A-OK.

Asking again...

Since I asked before I had a fundamental right to keep and bear arms, I figured I'd ask again to be granted an exemption to CA PC 626.9. Surely the SFUSD wouldn't willingly deny me one of my fundamental rights, right? Here's my request:

Superintendent Garcia,

Earlier this year your representative denied me an exemption to California Penal Code 626.9. This law prohibits the carrying of unlocked, unloaded pistols or revolvers from being transported within 1000 feet of a private or public K-12 school. However, it is still perfectly lawful for a person to carry a locked pistol or revolver, or an unlocked and exposed shotgun or rifle within 1000 feet of any school.

On June 28, 2010, the Supreme Court of the United States incorporated the second amendment of the U.S. Constitution to the states in the case McDonald v. Chicago. What this means is that the second amendment now applies to the states, whereas before it only applied to the federal government. The second amendment states that “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”

Since I now have a civil right to not only keep, but also to bear firearms, I now request an exemption to CA PC 626.9 once again.

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Sent this back on July 10th (certified mail / return receipt), still haven't received any word from the school district. I'll be contacting them soon to inquire about their lack of a response. If they don't reply, I'll be contacting the Department of Justice.

i also have advocated asking for permission!

i thought that EVERYBODY should ask for permission to carry in a 626.9 GFSZ!!!!
keep on them,,,, make them answer!!
i await with baited breath!!

the civil rights of Californians are the civil rights of the nation.

Called SFUSD, spoke to Tullah Carter at the superintendent's office. She didn't have a copy of my letter, so she asked that I email her a copy of it. She basically scoffed at me.

Her response to me citing McDonald v. Chicago and stating that since the second amendment was a fundamental right was along the lines of, "They're going to need to respond to you, it's probably not going to change from what you already had heard. I don't think the position will ever change, but if you want I can get a written response."

Clearly the SFUSD is a big supporter of civil rights.

When (not if) they deny your request, you might have grounds to sue the denying rep, the district, and the state for denying your right. Would be a solid legal challenge since you've tried every possible legal avenue to exercise your right.

CA_Libertarian said:

When (not if) they deny your request, you might have grounds to sue the denying rep, the district, and the state for denying your right. Would be a solid legal challenge since you've tried every possible legal avenue to exercise your right.

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It's like you can read my mind. Since the second amendment has become a fundamental right, I am going to attempt to fulfill every possible attempt at being able to carry arms in my city. Once they successfully deny my right multiple times over, I will have no other choice but to sue them.

It's been a week, so I made another round of phone calls regarding my currently open requests from various SF government entities.

The SFUSD response was mildly interesting. It sounded like there was some actual consideration going on as the entire legal department had viewed the letter and were discussing it. Maybe fundamental civil rights can prevail in San Francisco? We shall see.

The woman answering the phone said I should expect a response in the next couple of weeks. That's fine with me. At least they're giving it some consideration.

I sent a 626.9 exemption request to my local school district. Not only did they not answer, they forwarded my request to the local sheriff's dept. The sheriff called me wondering what I was asking for. I had to show him where in the penal code the exemption was. As you might guess, It was denied.