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Gun-Free School Zones

SecondAmendmentStudents

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I'm working on a project to try and get a couple of my state's laws improved. I need to get some accurate information on what your state's laws currently are. OCDO is about the best place I know of to find a group of knowledgeable people who are willing to help, so ... specifically:

1) Does your state criminalize possession of a weapon on school grounds or within 1,000 feet?

2) If yes, then how does your state define "school" for purposes of the above? Is it just K-12? Does it include colleges? Preschool?

3) Do you have URLs (links) to the aforementioned statutes or could you give me the reference?

Thank you very much.
 

Nevada carrier

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So what gives, Nevada says prohibited on school grounds, but according to the feds, your in violation of United states code [whatever] if you are within 1000 feet of a school.

I called the county sheriff and asked him what his take on it was, because a 1000 foot radius around an elementary school encompasses my apartment complex.

His words were. "your apartment complex is private property, the statute does not apply, however you may run into an issue if the owner of the property objects."

[note, I would like to see an eviction proceeding upheld because I exercise my right to OC on the property which I reside, regardless of weather I own it or not.. nothing in my lease mentions a prohibition on the OC, CC or possession of a firearm.]

I then asked him, How could I legally come and go from the property I reside on if the only exit onto a public street is within that 1000 foot radius? His answer was "I don't know."
 

greengum

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The Federal law was deemed unconstitutional by the SCOTUS. Congress then reworded it and passed the act again. It has yet to be heard from the court. I personally don't worry about it. This state is pretty cool with OC and every LEO I have encountered has been really cool about it too.
 

greengum

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Nevada carrier wrote:
So what gives, Nevada says prohibited on school grounds, but according to the feds, your in violation of United states code [whatever] if you are within 1000 feet of a school.

I called the county sheriff and asked him what his take on it was, because a 1000 foot radius around an elementary school encompasses my apartment complex.

His words were. "your apartment complex is private property, the statute does not apply, however you may run into an issue if the owner of the property objects."

[note, I would like to see an eviction proceeding upheld because I exercise my right to OC on the property which I reside, regardless of weather I own it or not.. nothing in my lease mentions a prohibition on the OC, CC or possession of a firearm.]

I then asked him, How could I legally come and go from the property I reside on if the only exit onto a public street is within that 1000 foot radius? His answer was "I don't know."
I know in Kalifornia if you search the forums PC 626.9 and 626 has been used against people standing on their own private property. One case involved a man on his front porch. He was convicted of being within 1000 feet of a school and the judge determined that even though he was on his property, it was not sealed off to where others could not gain entrance so he ruled it public. That is state law there but here in Nevada if you are not doing anything illegal or standing right outside the playground for hours looking like a pedo or something ( NRS 393.410 ) I highly doubt you will encounter any issues. If you do you should win in court if it is appealed all the way up like the last GFSZ federal act.

Detailed information on this is contained in the Nevada pamphlet.
 

Nevada carrier

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I only ask because there are good cops and there are rookie cops who want to go back to the office and brag about their first felony arrest. I intend to exercise my OC rights until I get my CCW as I only yesterday made my first handgun purchase. But I live in a high density part of las Vegas with sometimes an occasional violent crime and a lot of property crime on a regular basis.

I am a night owl and tend to walk 2 blocks to the filling station at Reno and Decatur, Sometimes at 4 in the morning, I see hookers, pimps, all types of gang bangers mostly the Malibu's most wanted type, but sometimes they are worse than OG's. I'm not about to be anyones victim in my own neighborhood.

Just want to make sure I can set foot on public property coming and going from my own home with my firearm.
 

jfrey123

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Public property yes, just fine. You just can't carry inside a posted public building (which is a building owned by the state).

The 1,000 foot school thing is vague. NV does not have that rule on the books, it is a Federal law. Technically, IANAL, but technically I'd say there's no reason for a local LEO to enforce it and many of them are unaware of it anyway. It should be up to the Fed to enforce it, but there is only one known case in the entire country where one was arrested for it.
 

doninvegas

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Nevada carrier wrote:
I am a night owl and tend to walk 2 blocks to the filling station at Reno and Decatur, Sometimes at 4 in the morning, I see hookers, pimps, all types of gang bangers mostly the Malibu's most wanted type, but sometimes they are worse than OG's. I'm not about to be anyones victim in my own neighborhood.
I think a CCW would serve you better in a gang infested neighborhood at 4am.
If I were a gang banger and seen a single guy walking around my turf with a gun, I would get some other gang bangers together and take your gun away from you…Are you ready to have a shoot out with a bunch of gang bangers just looking for some action… You will be out gunned, and just the fact that you are asking these questions, shows you have a different outlook on life..
I have seen gang bangers shoot people in a passing car just for fun…and not think anything about it…

But it is just my opinion……
 

vegasche1023

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Nevada carrier wrote:
I only ask because there are good cops and there are rookie cops who want to go back to the office and brag about their first felony arrest. I intend to exercise my OC rights until I get my CCW as I only yesterday made my first handgun purchase. But I live in a high density part of las Vegas with sometimes an occasional violent crime and a lot of property crime on a regular basis.

I am a night owl and tend to walk 2 blocks to the filling station at Reno and Decatur, Sometimes at 4 in the morning, I see hookers, pimps, all types of gang bangers mostly the Malibu's most wanted type, but sometimes they are worse than OG's. I'm not about to be anyones victim in my own neighborhood.

Just want to make sure I can set foot on public property coming and going from my own home with my firearm.

I'm guessing you live in royal palms?? right across from Helen Jydstrup Elementary?
 
M

McX

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gun free school zones suck.....................thank you, and good night.
 

Felid`Maximus

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jfrey123 wrote:
Public property yes, just fine.  You just can't carry inside a posted public building (which is a building owned by the state).
It depends also on what the public building is.

If it is the 202.3673 warning then you can open carry, just not carry concealed. (For example I've seen such signage at the DMV.)

If it is the property of a public or private school, university, or child care facility you can't carry even if there is no sign.

The Post Office is also an example of weapon free zone, in this case per federal regulations.
 
M

McX

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we like to think of them as; school free gun zones, since the criminals have no trouble bringing guns into the school zones, and if they attend school it's not like they will actually be learning anything, it's just a venue for them to continue honing the criminal skills until the graduate. so, i guess, strike that, they are learning something. the rest of the law abiding population just has to dig out their maps, and their rulers, and start figuring: how am i going to get from here to there, while avoiding there, and there, and there........................
 

Nevada carrier

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I'm guessing you live in royal palms?? right across from Helen Jydstrup Elementary?

No on the complex, yes on the school... what do I do? to stay legal? the feds say no Nevada says okay as long as I stay off the school's property... technically I cant even leave the complex without breaking a federal law the way I read it. Suggestions?

I think a CCW would serve you better in a gang infested neighborhood at 4am.

I intend to get a CCW forthwith, but in the mean time, Open carry is the only kind of carry for me. I wouldn't say the neighborhood is "infested," just not very "high society" per se.

And your opinion is appreciated, I wouldn't have come here if I didn't welcome opinions.
 

Felid`Maximus

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If you keep your firearm unloaded and in a locked case you could be exempt from the school zone law, but in doing so you might find yourself guilty of a felony offense for concealing the firearm in said locked case if you carry it and it does not appear to ordinary observation to contain a gun.

I cannot recommend anything for you, since you are responsible for your own legal risks, but I find the federal law ignorable. If they prosecute me for it, which I doubt they will, I will fight it and I believe I will win. If you concealed a firearm in a locked case they might not prosecute you for it but if they did it would be very hard for you to win that case in court.

If you live in Nevada and you ever owned a gun before you had a concealed firearm permit, chances are you have already done things which would be prosecutable as a felony under either Federal or State law.

If your car is parked on private property to be perfectly legal you could open carry to the car, and put it into a locked case in the car that you never pick up into your hands, close the case and lock it, then drive off the property and uncase it once you are farther than 1000 feet from a school, which pretty much rules out most urban areas.

If you park on public property, then there is no real legal option unless you devise a case that you can lock a firearm into that is discernible as a firearm to ordinary observation.

Federal law also provides an exception for possession
(v) by an individual in accordance with a contract entered into between a school in the school zone and the individual or an employer of the individual;
but good luck getting a contract with a school to carry next to them!
 

Nevada carrier

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I spoke to the Sheriff's office and they assured me that the 1000 foot rule is only enforced if there is another offense being charged. His reasoning behind this is that it is unreasonable to expect people to know of or be able to avoid all "gun free school zones." Nevertheless, I feel that I'm safe so long as I'm taking the most direct rout into and out of my apartment complex, and do not carry on the roads directly adjacent to the school.
 

Nevada carrier

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I spoke to a metro cop today and asked him about stepping off the private property where I reside and into a federal gun free school zone.

He said that "in his opinion, being barred from carrying a firearm off the premises of your residence with no legal alternate rout makes enforcement of the federal law constitutionally impossible."

He also said that if I knowingly entered the school zone and there was a reasonably convenient alternate rout around it that a metro police officer may in fact arrest me for the violation of the federal law. He did also say however, that because it's a federal law, the federal prosecutor would have to bring the charges, and they would have to do so in federal court. He said barring any other crime being committed, Metro cops would rather not bother themselves with a federal arrest unless there was a damn good reason.

Of course this is a metro cop talking and nothing he says can at all be construed as legal advice nor can he speak for all police officers.
 

CowboyKen

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Good to know that our Metro Officers are Constitutional Law Scholars.

Ken
 
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