School Property

[JayC]

If you are in possession of the keys then you are technically operating it by having it parked. You are still in control of it. That is my interpretation. Might be wrong, but that is how I see it.

If you're sitting outside your vehicle while drunk with the keys you can be charged with a DWI as an operator. It would seem that is sound way to look at it.

[Falcon1]

It is not an offense under this subsection © for a nonstudent adult to possess a firearm, if the firearm is contained within a private vehicle operated by the adult and is not handled by the adult, or by any other person acting with the expressed or implied consent of the adult, while the vehicle is on school property.

OK, so it's "not an offense under... subsection c" (whatever that means). So is it an offense under some other section or subsection?

It could still be interpreted to be an offense under Subsection b (the felony). As I understand it, after talking to a Tennessee constitutional lawyer (and a very active lobbyist in the legislature for firearms laws), the problem is that there is no definitive definition of "intent to go armed" in Tennessee Code Annotated. What he has advised me to do when I go onto a school campus to pick up my child is to lock the unloaded firearm in one safe and all of the ammunition in another locked container before entering the campus. Even this may not prevent prosecution.

This particular code section is really a mess.

I too am a public-school educator, and as for a faculty member carrying on a campus, I would still call that a definite no-no for the time being.

[Guest WingedWarrior]

I guess the bottom line is that it PROBABLY isn't OK to have a firearm in a vehicle when on school grounds. I'm still confused by this "intent to go armed" phrasing. Isn't legally carrying with a HCP going armed? So I've got a permit to do something illegal? Talk about an oxymoron! Heck, can I even legally carry ANYwhere?

[Falcon1]

I guess the bottom line is that it PROBABLY isn't OK to have a firearm in a vehicle when on school grounds. I'm still confused by this "intent to go armed" phrasing. Isn't legally carrying with a HCP going armed? So I've got a permit to do something illegal? Talk about an oxymoron! Heck, can I even legally carry ANYwhere?

Streets and sidewalks....JK.

[BBill_TN]

Having a HCP is only a defense to the "intent to go armed" as I understand it. "kind of like "incident to lawful purposes" hunting, camping, etc.

[Guest WingedWarrior]

Yeah the word "defense" confuses me too (easily done as you all see). It sounds like I can be arrested for having a firearm because I have intentionally gone armed. But that's OK, because after being arrested and hiring a lawyer, I'll have my day in court, at which time I'll have a defense - my HCP. I know that's overly dramatizing, but that's kinda what I see when I look at the words.

[macville]

You gotta love how you can be trusted at wal-mart, or now applebees. But on school grounds....nooooo we gotta protect the kids! What a load of bull. If you can't be trusted one place, then you shouldn't be trusted any where. Of course, logic and common sense has not been taught to our kids for at least the last 100 years.

Matthew

[Falcon1]

Having a HCP is only a defense to the "intent to go armed" as I understand it. "kind of like "incident to lawful purposes" hunting, camping, etc.

Yeah the word "defense" confuses me too (easily done as you all see). It sounds like I can be arrested for having a firearm because I have intentionally gone armed. But that's OK, because after being arrested and hiring a lawyer, I'll have my day in court, at which time I'll have a defense - my HCP. I know that's overly dramatizing, but that's kinda what I see when I look at the words.

Yes, I believe (IANAL) that that is essentially correct. I think in order not to risk arrest, it would need to be termed an "affirmative defense."

[Fallguy]

Yes, I believe (IANAL) that that is essentially correct. I think in order not to risk arrest, it would need to be termed an "affirmative defense."

Hmmmm....IANAL either, but I thought it was just the opposite.

Just like it is a defense to unlawful possession of a firearm if you are on your own property. I don't think everyone who owns a firearm risk arrest would have to prove they were on their property.

But like the affirmative defense in 39-17-1310(4) you may would have to prove that you were picking up or dropping off kids.