VA AG affirms legality of carrying for self defense in church

Responding to a request from Del. Mark Cole, R-Spotsylvania County for an interpretation of that law, Cuccinelli wrote that "carrying a weapon for personal protection constitutes a good and sufficient reason under the statute to carry a weapon into a place of worship while a meeting for religious purposes is being held there."

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ocholsteroc said:

I am still lost on church/school gun bans, does sunday school count as a "school" and thus no guns allowed in church/grounds? I know churches that meet at high schools, that is a SCHOOL. But does a church that runs no school programs, no Preschool/K/1~6 grade... Just on sunday morning they have childerns sunday school ages 1~18 years old, does that COUNT as a school?

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skidmark said:

The school ban is on grades K-12 only. Preschool is NOT considered a "school" unless it is accredited by the Va, Dept. of Education as a Kindergarten. You can tell without looking for paperwork just by asking if the care providers have/maintain a valid teaching certificate, or get paid more than near-minimum wages, or have daily planning periods where they are not responsible for watching/teaching the kids, or ... well, you get the idea.

Same for Sunday School - in order to qualify for the school ban the facility needs to provide 180 days worth of instruction at approx. 5.5 hours per "day" and cover all of the material in the SOL (Standards of Learning). So unless your Sunday School is covering Algebra 1, English & American Lit, and PE for the older teens I doubt it is a "school" within the meaning of the school ban.

stay safe.

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