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T Bill

Federal Gun Free School Zone Act of 1990 and CCW Reciprocity

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For those who have or will have a NR CCW and plan on carrying in states using a CCW that was not issued by the state you carrying in, better bone up on the FEDERAL Gun Free School Zone Act of 1990.  There are only three exemptions in the law that give you a get out of jail free card,   Having a CCW issued by a state other than the state you are in, even with reciprocity, is NOT one of the exemptions.

I have ticked some reading material for your reference.  I am sure if you read the last link you can make the necessary substitutions.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun-Free_School_Zones_Act_of_1990

 

http://ok2a.org/fedgfsza

 

https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/ok2a/pages/89/attachments/original/1403564901/Atf07252013gfsza.pdf?1403564901

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Also remember that state law can be more restrictive than the Federal GFSZA. In NJ you effectively cannot be on the school grounds with a gun with only very limited exceptions.

 

 
2C:39-5 Unlawful possession of weapons.
 
e.Firearms or other weapons in educational institutions.
 
(1)Any person who knowingly has in his possession any firearm in or upon any part of the buildings or grounds of any school, college, university or other educational institution, without the written authorization of the governing officer of the institution, is guilty of a crime of the third degree, irrespective of whether he possesses a valid permit to carry the firearm or a valid firearms purchaser identification card.
 
 
So the GFSZA effectively applies to the 1000 radius around the school property in NJ. That means if you drive near a school you better have your pistol locked in a container.
 
Out of state it is worse without that states permit as you have no exemptions for the 1000 radius around the school property. In many places there is no way to travel with a gun without violating the GFSZA.

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So if my house is 1000' away from a school I can't carry on my grounds?

 

Actually that is one of the exceptions.

 

(2)
(A) It shall be unlawful for any individual knowingly to possess a firearm that has moved in or that otherwise affects interstate or foreign commerce at a place that the individual knows, or has reasonable cause to believe, is a school zone.
(B) Subparagraph (A) does not apply to the possession of a firearm—
(i) on private property not part of school grounds;

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Actually that is one of the exceptions.

 

(2)
(A) It shall be unlawful for any individual knowingly to possess a firearm that has moved in or that otherwise affects interstate or foreign commerce at a place that the individual knows, or has reasonable cause to believe, is a school zone.
(B) Subparagraph (A) does not apply to the possession of a firearm—
(i) on private property not part of school grounds;

 

so any resturant must be considered private property not part of school grounds.

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It's a crazy law (btw: introduced by Biden and signed by HW).

 

There are no exemptions for off-duty LEO's which means they are in the same situation as civilians when traveling out of state.

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whats the legit chances federal charges would be brought against you?

 

you could walk by 4 schools in Philadelphia that you dont even know are there..

 

 

also, everything i have read as far as cases go, the normal issue with the prosecution is that they can expect citizens to know exactly where 1000 feet starts.

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whats the legit chances federal charges would be brought against you?

 

you could walk by 4 schools in Philadelphia that you dont even know are there..

 

 

also, everything i have read as far as cases go, the normal issue with the prosecution is that they can expect citizens to know exactly where 1000 feet starts.

 

That's when they started posting the school zone signs at each side of the school on the nearby roads.

 

The law also has a very big exemption: The actor has to know or reasonable know that they are in a school zone. "for any individual knowingly to possess a firearm at a place that the individual knows, or has reasonable cause to believe, is a school zone." This was used as a defense in one of the cases where I believe he was at a bar that was within a school zone and didn't know it.

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Gun-Free Zone Signs

Section 1702(b)(5) of Pub. L. 101–647 provided that: “Federal, State, and local authorities are encouraged to cause signs to be posted around school zones giving warning of prohibition of the possession of firearms in a school zone.”

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And this is why I'm not all bent out of shape because i cant ccw  WHERE I LIVE. I am in  a small town in very densely populated Brgn cnty, lots of schools- public, private, pre-k, colleges etc situated all over. Toss in the 1000' perimeter from the grounds/property and it would be ridiculously impractical to carry. Also would be hard to argue "w/o knowledge" when you live in an area for 50+yrs. Throw in another point for discussion, when i need to dis-arm myself and lock it up because I'm entering a GFSZ am I now traveling out of the listed exemptions of travel? Way too much regulations & ambiguaty to think justice would be on my side if I got jammed up.

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Also remember that state law can be more restrictive than the Federal GFSZA. In NJ you effectively cannot be on the school grounds with a gun with only very limited exceptions.

 

 
2C:39-5 Unlawful possession of weapons.
 
e.Firearms or other weapons in educational institutions.
 
(1)Any person who knowingly has in his possession any firearm in or upon any part of the buildings or grounds of any school, college, university or other educational institution, without the written authorization of the governing officer of the institution, is guilty of a crime of the third degree, irrespective of whether he possesses a valid permit to carry the firearm or a valid firearms purchaser identification card.
 
 
So the GFSZA effectively applies to the 1000 radius around the school property in NJ. That means if you drive near a school you better have your pistol locked in a container.
 
Out of state it is worse without that states permit as you have no exemptions for the 1000 radius around the school property. In many places there is no way to travel with a gun without violating the GFSZA.

 

I know this thread is little old, but does this same 1000 ft apply to long guns too , in NJ ?   Does NJ FPID act qualify as "license" for long guns  and be used to satisfy the GFSZA ?

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I know this thread is little old, but does this same 1000 ft apply to long guns too , in NJ ?   Does NJ FPID act qualify as "license" for long guns  and be used to satisfy the GFSZA ?

 

IANAL. The requirement is that the license is issued by the state that the school is located in (NJ in our case) and that the license requires that the state verifies that you are qualified to carry the firearm. So the FPID does qualify.

 

"(ii) if the individual possessing the firearm is licensed to do so by the State in which the school zone is located or a political subdivision of the State, and the law of the State or political subdivision requires that, before an individual obtains such a license, the law enforcement authorities of the State or political subdivision verify that the individual is qualified under law to receive the license;"

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Never heard of 1000ft rule and  I dont think there is one. At least  national law. As a matter of fact there are quite of few Universities that allow conceal carry on their property.

 
18 U.S.C. § 921 : US Code - Section 921: Definitions
 
(25) The term "school zone" means -
     (A) in, or on the grounds of, a public, parochial or private school; or 
     (B) within a distance of 1,000 feet from the grounds of a public, parochial or private school.

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Thanks for that explanation, but where does it say you cannot carry a gun in a School zone

 

THE GUN-FREE SCHOOL ZONES ACT

The Gun-Free School Zones Act (GFSZA) prohibits any person from knowingly possessing a firearm that has moved in or otherwise affects interstate or foreign commerce at a place the individual knows, or has reasonable cause to believe, is a school zone.1

It sounds gibberish to me. In FL dont bring a gun to school and dont worry about it. Nobody is going to make any detour from their travel just because there is a school somewhere  within 1000 ft of the road, At least thats what I do.

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One of the reasons for the School Zone signs is to make everyone aware when they are in a school zone. The interstate commerce line was to meet the Supreme Court overturn of the original act which didn't have this in it.

 

On a practical level I don't know how many people get charge with this. One of the exceptions is that you have to be aware you were in a school zone and as long as you have a state issued carry permit you can ignore the 1000 foot rule within the state that permit was issued in.

 

The 1000 foot rule also has an exemption if the firearm is locked and unloaded.

 

This law should be removed as it serves zero purpose other than to get law abiding citizens to worry about it (well I am not sure how many worry about it). Interestingly the law has no exception for off duty police officers.

 

The following is a short discussion of the issue:

 

THE VERY REAL LIMITS ON CONSTITUTIONAL CARRY: THE PROBLEM WITH GUN-FREE SCHOOL ZONES
 
"....But Federal law clearly hasn’t caught up with the Constitutional Carry movement.  The problem is that the Federal Gun Free School Zone Act prohibits firearms of any kind within 1,000 feet of a school ground, and not the center of the school, but the edge of the property...."
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Carry aside, what if youre going to a range and drive by a school with the firearm properly stored?

 

 

It's a crazy law (btw: introduced by Biden and signed by HW).

 

There are no exemptions for off-duty LEO's which means they are in the same situation as civilians when traveling out of state.

 

And the import ban. 

 

So many laws which need to be repealed. 

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Carry aside, what if youre going to a range and drive by a school with the firearm properly stored?

 

As long as the firearms are unloaded and locked you are OK (and it doesn't really matter if you are going to the range as long as you are legally allowed to travel to your destination).

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