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TexasRedneck wrote:Actually....I don't think the college can LEGALLY prohibit guns from vehicles in the parking lot. Under what basis would they "enforce" a rule that has no legal standing?

Of course they can. Just because the law doesn't prohibit it doesn't mean the school, (business or home owner) can't have rules, and consequences. While the student can't be prosecuted under the law.They can punish them under their own arbitrary rules. If someone visits a school, is not a student, or employee there is little the school can do to the visitor.

In fact the schools are specifically exempt from the parking lot bill as employers.

Liberty wrote:

TexasRedneck wrote:Actually....I don't think the college can LEGALLY prohibit guns from vehicles in the parking lot. Under what basis would they "enforce" a rule that has no legal standing?

Of course they can. Just because the law doesn't prohibit it doesn't mean the school, (business or home owner) can't have rules, and consequences. While the student can't be prosecuted under the law.They can punish them under their own arbitrary rules. If someone visits a school, is not a student, or employee there is little the school can do to the visitor.

In fact the schools are specifically exempt from the parking lot bill as employers.

School districts yes but not universities.

I would honestly be surprised if anything came of it being that so many students have firearms or CHLs and leave them in their car. I knew several guys and a few girls who carried in their car. It was well known that many of the Criminal Justice students were active LEOs and carried all the time. Not that they have the same rules but they are still students and no school board would reprimand them for having a gun on campus or in their car. Our university policy said on the physical premises for students and we were always told that in the car was fine. Then again things might have changed in the last 10 years but we had professors carrying box cutters openly because a knife was against campus policy. Nobody ever said anything to them at all and this was part of the same Texas University system. I can only imagine how they would even enforce that on the UT Austin campus. I am sure this has happened before and you are not the first case!

I had a buddy get his revolver stolen from his truck on the UH campus parking lot about 5 years ago and campus police responded and said nothing about school policy. They are all part of the Texas University System now so things could have changed but I wouldn't be caught dead driving around the UH campus at night without a firearm. That place is bad news at night!

Food for thought ...

The detective might be onto something where he said being a victim of a crime might prevent you from getting in trouble. I'd bet a case of ammo that if a drunken underaged female reports being raped in her dorm the school will not go after her for possession of alcohol and/or being drunk despite the fact that I'm sure both are against the rules (in addition to being illegal). Where I went to college they had an explicit policy against going after victims for rules that they may have been violating at the time they were victimized.

Keep that in your back pocket because if you can show that the school is treating victims of criminal activity inconsistently when it comes to student conduct policies it won't be a slam dunk for them.

Good luck!

Plead ignorance if questioned. Tell them you thought it meant not in buildings. Thank them for bringing it to your attention and assure them you won't do it again. Then park off campus as previously stated, or don't take a weapon on campus. Then graduate and carry where you legally can take it and don't contribute to the alumi association.

I don't understand why a civilian cop would have to notify the school, is he responsible for enforcing their rules as well as his jurisdictions laws?

jimlongley wrote:I don't understand why a civilian cop would have to notify the school, is he responsible for enforcing their rules as well as his jurisdictions laws?

I believe the original poster said it was the "campus police".

jimlongley wrote:I don't understand why a civilian cop would have to notify the school, is he responsible for enforcing their rules as well as his jurisdictions laws?

As mentioned before - the University of Texas at Dallas Police Department is the school's police department.

At the University of North Texas, both the campus police department AND Denton city police departments will report student code of conduct violations that coincide with breaking the law.

For this case, I doubt the city police department would have reported it since OP didn't break the law, but the campus police department most likely would have.