I’ve never had a problem with licensed individuals carrying weapons
wherever they happen to be. It has been generally accepted that
courts and airports — beyond the security checkpoint — were no-gun
areas except for LEOs and I’m comfortable with that. I have some
issues with anyone carrying in places that primarily serve liquor,
but if the gun carrying individual is drinking soda then I don’t see
a problem. I quit drinking, for the most part, because I was usually
carrying and was often the defacto designated driver, since two of my
last three significant others didn’t drive.

The entire idea of gun-free schools makes no sense. Since the main
problem has been students using guns against teachers and other
students and it is illegal for the minors to possess the weapons and
also illegal to use them to shoot people the notion that another law
will prevent them or punish them further is ludicrous.

Jamie
— In [email protected], “Nancy” <sw357mag@m…> wrote:
> http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10569-2000Jul31.html
>
> Loopholes Allow Guns In Schools
>
> By Jessica Portner
> Education Week
> Wednesday, August 2, 2000
>
> It’s against the law to bring a gun to school in the United States.
Right?
> Think again.
>
> In the post-Columbine world, when most schools are ratcheting up
their
> security to guard against
> gun-toting students, many adults can still bring guns on campus
without fear
> of prosecution. A
> little-known provision in a 1996 federal law allows adults to carry
> concealed firearms in schools if
> they have state- issued permits.
>
> More than half the states, including New Hampshire, South Carolina,
South
> Dakota, Utah, and
> Virginia, issue such licenses as long as the applicant is 18 or
older,
> hasn’t been convicted of a
> felony, and can pay a licensing fee that runs about $50. Though a
separate
> law signed by
> President Clinton calls for suspending students for a year if they
bring
> weapons to school, most
> adults in those states are legally free to carry handguns and
rifles into
> school classrooms, through
> crowded hallways, and to football games. And they do.
>
> ? A high school principal in Danville, Ala., this past school
year
carried a
> loaded .22-caliber pistol
> in his back pocket at school, saying he needed the weapon to
protect himself
> from student
> threats. The principal was fired, but so far has not been charged
with a
> crime.
>
> ? A janitor in the Milwaukie, Ore., public schools last
December
brought a
> loaded handgun to
> school for protection on the night shift. He was fired, though he
broke no
> state or federal laws.
>
> “This happens more often than people think,” said Special Agent Todd
> Reichert, a spokesman for
> the Alabama office of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and
Firearms.
> “There’s an
> impression that it’s either you’ve got a gun or you don’t. But
there are a
> lot of factors that have to
> be determined before you say a guy is breaking the law.”
>
> Anti-Gun Laws
>
> Several federal laws enacted in the past decade have sought to
prohibit guns
> from being taken
> anywhere near schools. Congress passed the Gun- Free Schools Act of
1994,
> which requires
> states receiving federal education funds to adopt laws suspending
students
> for a year if they bring
> a weapon to school.
>
> The passage of the 1996 Gun-Free School Zones Act was the
culmination of an
> effort by the
> Clinton administration to correct a similar gun-free- schools
measure that
> had been struck down
> by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1995 as unconstitutional. The court
ruled that
> the 1990 law signed
> by President Bush had failed to explain how possession of firearms
in
> schools related to interstate
> commerce, which Congress regulates. The 1996 law made that
connection
> explicit by stating that
> “firearms and ammunition move easily in interstate commerce and
have been
> found in increasing
> numbers in and around schools.”
>
> Under the 1996 law, adults are prohibited from bringing a weapon
within
> 1,000 feet of a school
> unless the adult is: a law-enforcement officer, traversing school
premises
> to gain access to hunting
> lands, in possession of a state-issued concealed-weapons license, or
> participating in a
> school-approved program.
>
> The practical effect for many schools is that while gun-carrying
employees
> and other adults may
> violate school policy, they may never pay a fine or spend a day in
jail
> because they’ve broken no
> laws.
>
> Gun-rights groups such as the National Rifle Association, which
successfully
> lobbied for those
> exceptions, maintain that parents coming home from work or hunting
can’t be
> expected to drop
> their guns off at home before they pick up their children from
school.
>
> Bearing Arms
>
> NRA officials also have argued that it’s appropriate that
frightened workers
> be allowed to carry
> guns for their protection.
>
> That’s exactly what the janitor in Milwaukie, Ore., argued in the
lawsuit he
> brought against the
> district that fired him for carrying a gun to work. The janitor’s
lawsuit
> challenges the North
> Clackamas district’s right to impose such discipline when the state
allows
> adults to carry guns on
> campus.
>
> “This was a fairly rough neighborhood,” said Michael Farnell, the
lawyer who
> represents the
> custodian, Greg S. King. “I don’t have a quarrel with a district
trying to
> protect students. But this
> guy wasn’t a daytime janitor who was walking around while kids were
present.
> He was working
> the swing shift in the middle of the night, and he feared for his
safety.”
>
> “While we understand he was doing this for his own protection, we
don’t
> believe weapons,
> particularly guns, should be on our campuses in any form,” said Ron
Naso,
> the superintendent of
> the 14,000-student North Clackamas schools. “We are working hard in
our
> community to make
> it clear to students that weapons in school are not to be
tolerated. The
> same holds for adults.”
>
> Nancy Hwa, a spokeswoman for Handgun Control Inc., a Washington-
based
> gun-control-advocacy group, agrees. “As far as we’re concerned, no
one
> should be carrying a
> gun to school unless they are law enforcement,” Ms. Hwa said. “If
teachers
> [or other staff
> members] want to be carrying guns, they should have become police
officers.”
>
> Wesley Mitchell, the chief of police for the Los Angeles public
schools,
> also shares that view.
>
> “There’s already concern about trained professionals using [a gun]
at
> school,” Mr. Mitchell said.
> “What happens to the security of that firearm if a principal is
caught
> trying to break up a fight?
> What if it’s taken away from him by students?”
>
> William Modzeleski, the director of the U.S. Department of
Education’s safe-
> and
> drug-free-schools program, said he hasn’t heard any complaints from
school
> districts about
> employees or parents roaming schools with weapons. “We haven’t had
any
> letters, cards,
> telephone calls saying they felt the law was being misapplied, or
any
> problems whatsoever,” he
> said recently.
>
> But Mr. Modzeleski did suggest that such actions contradict the
spirit of
> the federal legislation
> designed to keep guns out of schools?period. “Even if it’s not
against the
> law, it doesn’t make
> sense,” he said.
>
> Jon Leibowitz, the chief counsel to Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., who
sponsored
> the 1996 law,
> called the recent incidents troubling. The exceptions in the law
were meant
> to protect “deer
> hunters driving by a school” from federal prosecution, not
principals
> storing semiautomatic
> weapons in their desks, he said.
>
> “If we start seeing more of these cases, we are going to have to go
back and
> toughen the law,”
> Mr. Leibowitz said.
>
> Tightening Up
>
> In the meantime, Mr. Modzeleski called on states and districts to
enact laws
> and policies to close
> the loophole.
>
> Several states and communities are trying to do just that.
>
> Idaho recently passed a law to prohibit weapons in schools, with the
> exception of law
> enforcement.
>
> And in Utah, a coalition of gun-control, parents’, and education
groups
> called Safe To Learn,
> Safe To Worship has so far collected more than 40,000 signatures
for a
> ballot proposal that
> would prohibit people from carrying concealed weapons on school
grounds and
> in churches.
> Utah law already prohibits guns in airports, courts, detention
centers, and
> venues for the
> upcoming Winter Olympics.
>
> Shaken by a string of shootings at Colorado’s Columbine High School
and
> other schools in the
> past few years, a few municipal politicians have also decided to
enact gun
> bans of their own.
> Louis Bell, the mayor of Roseland, N.J., signed an ordinance in May
> establishing weapons-free
> zones around schools, recreation areas, and other public places.
>
> Under New Jersey law, anyone?except law-enforcement
officials? who
brings a
> gun to school
> is subject to a $1,000 fine. But officials in Roseland, a city of
5,000 that
> has never had any
> incidents with weapons at public facilities, believed that an extra
fine of
> $1,000 and 90 days of jail
> time might give people an added incentive to leave their guns at
home, Mayor
> Bell said.
>
> In California, the state has long required school superintendents
to give
> explicit approval for any
> weapon brought to school?from pepper spray to guns. Only police
officers are
> licensed to carry
> weapons without an administrator’s approval.
>
> “We arrest anyone who comes on campus with a firearm,” said Mr.
Mitchell,
> the Los Angeles
> schools police chief. So far, no teachers have been cited.
>
> The restriction may be inconvenient for gun owners, Mr. Mitchell
> said, but it reduces the
> likelihood of accidents.