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This may need to go in Leo contact, please feel free to move if necessary.

I have 5 football teams spanning first though sixth grade. Our games this weekend were on a 9th grade field we rent for the day. The school district provides an officer for security, and I have several coaches that are active or retired LEO's. I always check in with the officer so that he knows who to find if there is anything wrong, and the guy this weekend was great, good with the fans and kids as he patrolled.

We did have one issue. Someone reported seeing a concealed handgun, the officer let me know and said he was going to go check ID and if a CHL tell them to put it in their car. I told him I thought that since this was a rental function rather than a school sponsored event that premises was the actual buildings. He replied that he had checked in with his Sargent and confirmed that no guns watching the game. He then went off to find the guy. I don't believe that a gun was ever found, maybe a cell phone case or binocular case was mistaken for a holster.

I don't carry at games as I am on and off the field and I am in and out of school Buildings during the day, but I thought that a fan, with a proper CHL, and not entering an actually building would be legal to carry on school grounds as long as it wasn't a school sponsored event? Am I wrong and why? I would hate to make mistake on my own carry, I'd the situation was different.

Thanks

You are correct. Just remember: the guy w/ the gun AND the badge can do what he wants to. It cost you the time, $$$s, win in court.
Your sircumstance is why we have such a simple 2nd Amendment. Shall not be infringed is so easy to understand for everyone except Poloticians & some Police.

longtooth wrote:You are correct. Just remember: the guy w/ the gun AND the badge can do what he wants to. It cost you the time, $$$s, win in court.
Your sircumstance is why we have such a simple 2nd Amendment. Shall not be infringed is so easy to understand for everyone except Poloticians & some Police.

Rhetoric aside, there it is! Well said, LT!

In my neck of the woods, a school facility is any building, stadium or other improved area which is used for school activities. If this is an open sodded park like area, the chg should be ok. If the area was fenced off, had erected goals, lighting, etc., then it sounds like a facility and is off limits. A school facility need not have a roof.

gdanaher wrote:In my neck of the woods, a school facility is any building, stadium or other improved area which is used for school activities. If this is an open sodded park like area, the chg should be ok. If the area was fenced off, had erected goals, lighting, etc., then it sounds like a facility and is off limits. A school facility need not have a roof.

Actually, 46.035 states 'premises' which is defined specifically as a 'building or portion of a building'. There is no 'facility' defined.

Sec. 46.035. UNLAWFUL CARRYING OF HANDGUN BY LICENSE HOLDER. (a) A license holder commits an offense if the license holder carries a handgun on or about the license holder's person under the authority of Subchapter H, Chapter 411, Government Code, and intentionally displays the handgun in plain view of another person in a public place.
(b) A license holder commits an offense if the license holder intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly carries a handgun under the authority of Subchapter H, Chapter 411, Government Code, regardless of whether the handgun is concealed, on or about the license holder's person:
...........
(2) on the premises where a high school, collegiate, or professional sporting event or interscholastic event is taking place, unless the license holder is a participant in the event and a handgun is used in the event;
..............
(f) In this section:
............
(3) "Premises" means a building or a portion of a building. The term does not include any public or private driveway, street, sidewalk or walkway, parking lot, parking garage, or other parking area.

Now, there is not really a legal definition of building, so I would think if it is a stadium, it would be a 'building', whether enclosed on top or not. However, there is no case law that I am aware of that says it is or is not a 'building'.

There is also: PC §46.03. PLACES WEAPONS PROHIBITED...any grounds or building on which an activity sponsored by a school or educational institution is being conducted...
A stadium would certainly fall under grounds, but I don't know that pee wee sports would be a school sponsored activity.

txinstructor wrote: but I don't know that pee wee sports would be a school sponsored activity.

for the purposes of this thread, the football in question is not school sponsored or affiliated. Only the field is being rented for use.