Students on college and university campuses find themselves in a highly regulated environment. Student codes of conduct address all kinds of student behavior. Those codes also routinely reach and prohibit the possession of weapons on campus. And your school's definition of a weapon may be much broader than you think. You can easily face serious disciplinary misconduct charges for weapons possession, and potential school suspension or expulsion, when the item you possessed was solely for self-defense, religious purposes, historical display, or a nonfunctioning collector's item. Retain the Lento Law Firm's premier Student Defense Team if you face college or university disciplinary charges for weapons possession. Call 888.535.3686 or use our contact form now to tell us about your case.
Student Conduct Codes Prohibiting Weapons
Do not underestimate your school's willingness to closely regulate anything that may appear to another student or staff member to be a threatening weapon. Your college or university generally reserves the right to define the student conduct it will or will not permit. Schools generally do so by promulgating and distributing student conduct codes, like the one at the University of Florida. Those codes routinely prohibit weapons possession and display. School officials are generally well aware of school shooting events, even if those events are thankfully rare on college and university campuses. School officials take very seriously their responsibility to protect the school community from weapons violence. Chances are very good that your school's student conduct code prohibits you and other students from possessing or displaying a weapon while on school property or at a school-sponsored event. If you face such charges, get our help.
Schools May Generally Prohibit Legal Weapons
It won't generally matter to the school whether the weapon you possess is legal, such as a hunting weapon or properly licensed handgun, or illegal, such as a sawed-off shotgun or unlicensed handgun with a silencer. Colleges and universities generally take it into their own hands to determine whether to permit weapons on school grounds or at school events and, if so, then what kinds of weapons. The single biggest mistake students make about weapons may be to believe that because they lawfully possess a weapon, their school will permit them to bring it on campus. To the contrary, you may face serious school misconduct charges even if the weapon you possessed on campus was perfectly legal in every respect. You may have grown accustomed to carrying your lawful weapon on your person or in your vehicle without issue. But things may be very different on your college or university campus. Get our Student Defense Team's help if you face disciplinary charges over a weapons issue.
School Officials May Act Without Police
You may also face serious school misconduct charges even if police were not involved and the only report was from your dormitory roommate, a classmate, or a school staff member. Another big mistake that some students make is to believe that as long as law enforcement is not involved, they are free to carry their weapons according to their usual practice. However, that is not the case on a college or university campus. Some colleges and universities have state authority to form their own police forces. Yet even when they do not do so, school officials still retain the authority to discipline students for conduct that school codes prohibit, including weapons possession. Police need not be involved, and you could still face a school disciplinary proceeding over your weapons possession, which would result in your suspension or expulsion from school. Get our help when facing school weapons charges, even if the police are not involved.
Illegal Weapons May Lead to More-Serious Discipline
You may, on the other hand, face more serious discipline if the weapon you possessed was unregistered, stolen, illegally modified or equipped, or otherwise illegal. Again, police need not be involved. Your school's disciplinary officials may file disciplinary charges against you and pursue those charges to the point of your school suspension or expulsion, whether your weapon was legal or illegal, and whether police were involved or not involved. But if your weapon was illegal, school officials may use that evidence to impose more serious discipline. They may, for instance, expel you rather than impose probation or a brief suspension. They may use the illegality of your weapon to draw an inference of your unsafety and poor character, as a threat to other students and the school community. Once again, get our help if you face weapons charges, including if the item you possessed was illegal.
State Law May Define What a Weapon Is
Colleges and universities generally retain the authority, and have the responsibility, to define the conduct they will permit or prohibit on campus, including to define what weapons, if any, a student may possess. However, the law of the state in which your college or university is located may require your school to prohibit certain weapons and may define what constitutes a weapon. The State of Florida is an example, as shown by a statute prohibiting the possession, display, or use of firearms or other weapons on campus or at school-related events. The State of New York is another example, making possession of a weapon on a college or university campus a crime. The States of New York and Florida, like many other states, leave their colleges and universities no choice in the matter. Under the states' statutes, colleges and universities must prohibit weapons on campus. Your school may have the authority of state law behind it when prohibiting weapons on campus.
States May Define Prohibited Weapons Broadly
The definitions under state laws, like Florida's above statute, may also be incredibly broad. Florida's statute prohibits all sorts of weapons in schools including “any sword, sword cane, firearm, electric weapon or device, destructive device, or other weapon as defined in s. 790.001(13), including a razor blade, box cutter, or common pocket knife.” You may wonder how having a razor blade could constitute a violation, but the statute refers to exhibiting the item, presumably meaning using the razor blade or other innocent item in a non-innocent, threatening manner. The other statute to which Florida's law refers further expands the weapons definition to include “any dirk, knife, metallic knuckles, slingshot, billie, tear gas gun, chemical weapon or device, or other deadly weapon except a firearm or a common pocket knife, plastic knife, or blunt-bladed table knife.” Beware of possessing or exhibiting anything that someone else may construe to be a weapon. The state law governing your school may prohibit that item on school grounds or at a school event.
Schools May Also Define What a Weapon Is
While some states define the weapons that a college or university must prohibit on campus, those laws wouldn't generally prohibit the schools from going even further with their definitions. Colleges and universities within a state that has a no-weapons-on-campus law, like the laws in New York and Florida, may incorporate the state statute in their student conduct codes. The University of Florida's student conduct code takes that approach, relying on the state's definition of prohibited weapons. However, colleges and universities may also separately define prohibited weapons. The State University of New York (SUNY) takes that approach, adopting its own regulation prohibiting additional forms of weapons, including air guns, firearms, rifles, shotguns, or other weapons state law defines. Those other weapons include an “electronic dart gun, electronic stun gun, switchblade knife, pilum ballistic knife, metal knuckle knife, cane sword, billy, blackjack, bludgeon, plastic knuckles, metal knuckles, Chuka stick, sandbag, sand club, wrist-brace type slingshot or slingshot, shuriken, or Kung Fu star.” Again, beware of the breadth of these definitions. Let our Student Defense Team help you defend any such charges.
Items Prohibited on Campus as Weapons
You can see from the above statutes and school student conduct codes that school officials could define as a weapon, nearly any item capable of inflicting a wound on another person, including anything from the Swiss Army knife you've carried in your pocket for years, right up to an AR-15. The AR, by the way, stands for ArmaLite Rifle. Indeed, that is a good way to think about whether your item constitutes a weapon. School student codes of conduct, like the one at the University of Tennessee, may define a weapon to be “any device, instrument, or substance that is designed to, or reasonably could be expected to, inflict a wound, incapacitate, or cause serious bodily injury or death….” If you can hurt someone with your item, you may have to defend college or university disciplinary charges, especially if you brandished it in a threatening fashion. Here are categories to consider.
Firearms as Weapons Prohibited on Campus
Student codes of conduct generally begin by defining any firearm as a weapon in order to prohibit all firearms on campus. The University of Tennessee student conduct code just cited, for example, prohibits firearms, both “loaded and unloaded,” including not only “real firearms” but also “devices that would reasonably appear to a law enforcement officer to be real firearms….” In the same UT example, those prohibited firearms would include “devices designed to discharge an object” like “bb guns, air guns, pellet guns, potato guns, and slingshots, but not water guns.” Codes prohibiting firearms may also prohibit related devices, including, again in the University of Tennessee example, “ammunition.” Other examples might include ammunition clips, gun sights, and silencers. Beware of possessing or displaying firearm-related items on campus.
Martial Arts and Combat Items as Weapons Prohibited on Campus
Your college or university may do much more than prohibit firearms. It may also prohibit other forms of weapons that do not discharge a bullet or other object. Those weapons may even include items traditionally used for martial arts and other combat sports. The University of Tennessee's student conduct code, for example, expressly prohibits “martial arts weapons, bows and arrows, artificial knuckles, nightsticks, blackjacks, dirks, daggers, swords, and knives with fixed blades longer than four inches.” For a similar example, Western Michigan University prohibits “martial arts devices such as nunchucks, bokken, throwing stars, throwing knives, bow staffs, Sai, tonfas,” and any similar device usable as a weapon. Your college or university may have a provision permitting possession of these items in connection with a school-authorized club and its organized activities. You may, for instance, have a historic display sword, a religious dagger, or a similar item you wish to exhibit related to a course, club, or other authorized activity. Beware, though, removing these items from their authorized locations, where you might face weapons disciplinary charges.
Explosives as Weapons Prohibited on Campus
Colleges and universities also routinely prohibit explosives and other incendiary devices. Terror threats involving bombs and similar devices have been common enough for school officials to include prohibitions of devices and the materials a student or other person may possess, out of which to make a bomb or other incendiary device. The University of Tennessee's student conduct code, for example, prohibits “explosives” and “dangerous chemicals such as mace, tear gas, and oleoresin capsicum.” The University of Minnesota's student conduct code, for another example, prohibits “possessing or using weapons or articles or substances usable as weapons, including, but not limited to, firearms, incendiary devices, explosives, and dangerous biological or chemical agents.” Students wouldn't generally possess a literal bomb without nefarious intentions. However, college and university students may study in clinics, laboratories, and other school facilities and programs using chemical and biological agents. Beware of removing those agents from their authorized locations. Get our help defending disputes over explosive materials.
Fireworks as Items Prohibited on Campus
College and university codes prohibiting explosives on campus may also prohibit students from possessing fireworks. The University of Missouri is an example, expressly prohibiting students from carrying fireworks on campus. Fireworks may not be especially useful as a bomb or other incendiary device for one intent on causing terroristic threats and violence. However, fireworks can present significant personal safety issues, especially when used carelessly by students or others lacking experience in their safe uses. Do not be surprised if your college or university prohibits you from possessing fireworks on campus.
Pocket Knives as Weapons Prohibited on Campus
Students carrying pocket knives on campus may face confusion over how school officials will treat the item. They may face weapons disciplinary charges, depending on their college or university student code of conduct and state law. You have seen above that Florida's statute initially prohibits “a razor blade, box cutter, or common pocket knife” in one section while separately permitting “a common pocket knife, plastic knife, or blunt-bladed table knife.” The University of Tennessee's student conduct code, for another example, states that weapon “does not include pocket knives that fold,” although the same provision does prohibit switchblades. New York's law prohibiting weapons on campus is equally ambiguous, prohibiting “any dagger, dangerous knife, dirk, machete, razor, stiletto, imitation pistol, [or] undetectable knife,” although not obviously prohibiting a small pocket knife. Beware, though, of carrying any knife on campus without knowing your school's student conduct code and related laws, rules, and regulations. Get our help if you face disciplinary charges.
Personal Safety Items as Weapons on Campuses
As surprising as it may seem, college and university campus policies may even prohibit personal safety items such as pepper spray and stun guns. Student advocates take different positions on self-defense items; some advocates regard them as necessary and appropriate means for protecting vulnerable students, while others regard them as a loophole for bringing threatening items on campus. If you intend to bring a self-defense item with you on campus, be aware of your school's policy. Get our Student Defense Team's premier representation if you face disciplinary charges over trying to protect yourself by arming yourself with a personal safety item.
Personal Safety Item Campus Policy Examples
Boston University is an example of a school that continues to prohibit students from carrying mace or pepper spray despite student disagreement over the prohibition's wisdom. Boston University's prohibition expressly applies “even by those licensed to carry pepper spray through the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.” Similarly, the University of Tennessee's above student conduct code prohibits “electronic control devices such as tasers and stun guns” along with prohibiting firearms and other weapons. On the other hand, the University of Tennessee's student conduct code permits possession of “chemical repellents available over-the-counter for self-defense….” Your college or university could go either way. Find out your school's policy before carrying a self-defense item. If you already face disciplinary charges for doing so, then get our help.
Weapons at Various Campus Locations
Keep in mind when considering carrying any weapon on or about campus that your school's policy may apply to more than just the classroom and classroom buildings. Your school's no-weapons policy may also apply to your dormitory or other college or university residence, dining halls, cafeterias, and even outdoor areas, including not only parking lots but also where you and other students might stroll in the evening. Under these broad policies, your school may or may not permit you to leave a weapon in your vehicle in the on-campus parking lot while you attend classes. Marquette University, for example, prohibits weapons in vehicles parked in campus parking lots unless the vehicle remains locked. The policy also prohibits weapons in vehicles used for school business unless disclosed to the supervising official. Beware of bringing a weapon onto your campus in any location under any circumstances until you know the policies. Get our help defending any such charges.
Weapons at Off-Campus School Events
Some students might wrongly assume that a college or university weapons policy applies only in a classroom or dormitory, or only on campus. On the contrary, colleges and universities may determine to regulate not only every physical location on the school's campus but also locations off campus where the school holds an activity or event. Those locations may include off-campus clinics, laboratories, intern sites, athletic events, recreational events, social events, and study trips, no matter how far from campus. The off-campus weapons prohibition may be part of state law, as in the case of the above Florida statute prohibiting weapons possession not only on campus but at off-campus school-sponsored events. The prohibition may be in your school's policy, as in the case of the University of Florida weapons policy cited above, which also prohibits. Beware of inadvertently violating a weapons policy that reaches off-campus school-sponsored events. Get our help for defense.
Reporting of Weapons Possession on Campus
You may wonder how your college or university would find out that you violated its weapons policy. Generally, anyone may report a student's violation of the student conduct code. The complainant need not be a campus police officer or security officer, nor even a school staff member such as a resident assistant in your dormitory. Your classmates, roommates, or other student acquaintances may report your weapons possession. School disciplinary officials are likely to take such a report just as seriously as a report by a school official and perhaps even more seriously, given the presence of student concerns. No matter who reports your weapons possession, school disciplinary officials are likely to promptly investigate. They may charge you with discipline, and you may face disciplinary sanctions no matter who reports the suspicion. Once an investigation begins, the school may search your school housing, locker, and other school locations, inquire of student friends, and interview you, requiring that you make truthful disclosures. Get our help the moment you learn of a weapons investigation. Let us help guide you through the process to achieve the best disciplinary outcome.
Discovery of Weapons Possession on Campus
You may also find that others discover your weapons possession, even though you intended to keep, and largely did keep, your weapons possession secret and hidden. Beware of trying to conceal a weapon when unforeseen circumstances may bring about its disclosure to your detriment. For instance, if you have a weapon in your vehicle, and you suffer a vehicle accident or break-in on campus, you may find that campus officials or local police discover the weapon, resulting in school disciplinary charges. Likewise, if you suffer an unexpected medical event, and school officials and medical personnel find it necessary to search your person or personal belongings, discovering a weapon, you may face school disciplinary charges. You do not necessarily control what you think you control when unforeseen circumstances arise. Let us help if you face school discipline under such circumstances. They may prove mitigating of any sanction.
The Right to Bear Arms on Campus
You may also wonder about your right to bear arms on your college or university campus. That right, to the extent it exists, may have a lot to do with the laws of the state in which your college or university campus is located. Those state laws change frequently and can be quite detailed. However, in the broadest view, about one-third of states allow students to carry lawful handguns on campus, no matter what the college or university would prefer to provide. Another one-third of states prohibit students from carrying handguns on campus, no matter what the college or university would prefer to provide. The other one-third of states permit colleges or universities to determine the handgun policy that the school prefers. Some states that prohibit handguns or allow schools to prohibit handguns permit students to lock their handguns in their cars on campus. The laws on the right to bear arms on campus are thus all over the figurative and literal map. We can help you raise those laws in defense of school disciplinary charges, to the extent that they apply.
Innocent Weapons Possession
Depending on the circumstances of your weapons event, your possession of an item that technically qualifies as a weapon under your state's law or your school's weapons policy may be entirely innocent. The University of Tennessee's student conduct code, for example, permits “instruments used solely for personal hygiene,” such as razors. If your alleged violation had to do with a razor or similar personal hygiene item, we may be able to present that evidence to advocate for prompt dismissal of the charges. The same policy also permits knives and similar instruments when used for “preparation of food.” If your alleged weapons possession was innocent in a similar regard, we may be able to obtain a prompt voluntary dismissal of the charges, clearing your college or university record of discipline. The same policy also permits the use of items necessary for “maintenance, University-related instruction, or University employment-related duties.” If you carried a weapon to participate in an authorized class activity, or as part of your school student employment, you may have a similar defense. We can help you advocate for such defenses.
Inadvertent Weapons Violations
In some cases, students find themselves facing school disciplinary charges over weapons possession, after an inadvertent violation. With our skilled and experienced representation in defense of your charges, the circumstances that gave rise to your weapons disciplinary charge may go a long way toward minimizing or even eliminating any sanction, even if you technically did violate the school's weapons policy. Inadvertent weapons possession may mitigate the sanctions or even exonerate you from any discipline, depending on your circumstances. Examples of inadvertent weapons violations can include:
● a student who hunts regularly forgets and leaves a hunting rifle, shotgun, or handgun carried as an auxiliary weapon while hunting, in the student's vehicle in the campus parking lot;
● a student who is a member of law enforcement or in a security position where a handgun, stun gun, or other weapon is required at all times, mistakenly assumes the need to follow that policy on the school campus;
● a student who carries a ceremonial knife or other small, decorative weapon as part of religious observance neglects to remove the item while on campus, misunderstanding the school policy;
● a student who must walk to her vehicle in a dark parking lot at night after class mistakenly presumes the right to carry mace or pepper spray in self-defense after reports of assaults;
● a student who uses scalpels and other sharp instruments in a clinical program mistakenly removes and carries the items outside of the clinical setting, where another student reports the concern;
● a student who makes the social arrangements for a fraternity New Year's party mistakenly overlooks the school's prohibition on fireworks.
School Sanctions for Campus Weapons Possession
School violence is a significant national concern. College and university disciplinary officials nationwide are likely to have little tolerance for students whose activities look to them to present a safety and security threat, around violence perpetrated with firearms, explosives, or other weapons. Even if school disciplinary officials are sympathetic to the accused student's situation, in an inadvertent weapons violation, public safety advocates and campus activists may hold those officials accountable to school policies, demanding severe sanctions against violators. Student conduct codes, like those cited above, routinely authorize the widest range of disciplinary sanctions, including in progressive order:
● oral caution, warning, or reprimand, not entered in the school record;
● written caution, warning, or reprimand, entered in the school record;
● probation for a definite or indefinite term, with or without conditions;
● remedial education and training, including assignments and writings;
● community or school service for a fixed number of hours;
● school suspension for one or more terms, with or without conditions;
● school dismissal and expulsion.
The Impact of Sanctions for Weapons Violations
Beware of any school sanction, especially one relating to something as serious as a weapons violation. Some students make the mistake of believing that as long as they can soldier on toward graduation, with or without disciplinary delay, they'll be fine. However, discipline on a student's record can have a wide range of serious collateral impacts, especially when the discipline has to do with a safety, security, and character issue like weapons possession. The collateral impacts of discipline may even be more severe than the direct impact of school sanctions. For instance, probation or even suspension may seem like a manageable circumstance. But any form of discipline may cause the student to lose scholarships, grants, or even student loans, crippling the student's ability to proceed with the education. Any discipline may also result in the loss of references and recommendations necessary or helpful for admission to graduate school or for internships and jobs. Any discipline may also prevent a student from transferring to another school or gaining admission to a preferred graduate program. Beware of the impact on family, friends, and school relationships, too. You may well find it far better to fight the charges with our help than to submit to any form of school sanction.
School Disciplinary Procedures for Weapons Charges
Fortunately, your college or university is very likely to have protective procedures that our attorneys can help you invoke to defend the charges for the best possible outcome. Public colleges and universities generally owe students due process of law before affecting the student's property and liberty interest in the education. Private schools have similar contractual obligations. Due process typically includes both a fair notice of the disciplinary charges and a fair hearing before an impartial decision maker. Unfortunately, too many college and university officials will happily overlook their school's protective procedures if a student does likewise, failing to invoke the procedures as is the student's right. Our skilled and experienced attorneys know how to invoke those protective procedures for your best possible outcome. We may be able to take any one or all of the following actions on your behalf to help you defend and defeat your weapons possession charges:
● obtain the school's detailed specification of the allegations, including any evidence the school has supporting the charges;
● answer the school's charges, raising your legal defenses and invoking your procedural rights;
● identify, acquire, organize, and present your exonerating and mitigating evidence;
● invoke informal resolution conference procedures, while advocating and negotiating for early voluntary dismissal of the charges;
● invoking the formal hearing at which to help you present your defense evidence and arguments;
● cross-examining school witnesses and challenging school exhibits, showing where they lack credibility;
● appealing any adverse findings to a higher school authority, while seeking court relief in appropriate cases.
Alternative Special Relief from Weapons Charges
We may be able to help, even if you have already exhausted all school disciplinary procedures. Colleges and universities typically have general counsel offices, ombudspersons, outside retained counsel, risk management officials, or other oversight officials to ensure that the school provides students with appropriate rights and relief. Our attorneys have the skill, reputation, and relationships to identify, reach, and negotiate with those officials for special alternative relief. Oversight officials may have broader authority than the disciplinary officials with whom you dealt. Oversight officials can account for other school interests, while considering your better interests, too. We may be able to show those officials that the better outcome, over any school sanction, is a win-win proposition for alternative relief.
What Is at Stake with Weapons Charges
The above discussion should have suggested to you what you have at stake when facing school weapons possession charges. Don't lose sight of what you have at risk in a school disciplinary proceeding involving allegations that you possessed a dangerous weapon on school property or at a school-authorized event. Consider the following summary points.
The Seriousness of Weapons Charges
First, you must recognize that weapons charges are among the most serious of all misconduct charges because of their implication for safety and security. If you suffer sanctions for weapons violations, you may find yourself without an educational, vocational, or professional future, or with severe obstacles to pursuing that future. The stakes may be that high. You may be fighting for your future. Better, then, to fight and defeat the charges with our skilled and experienced representation, rather than give in and give up all for which you have already worked.
The Significance of Your Investment
Second, consider how much you have poured into your college or university education. That investment began even before you gained admission to your school, after all the academic and other work you put into your high school studies and activities that qualified you for admission to your college or university. Once you matriculated at your college or university, you not only paid tuition or took out loans to do so, but you also invested great effort and substantial time in pursuing your studies. If you suffer suspension and expulsion over weapons charges, or even if you suffer other significant sanctions, you could lose your entire higher education. You might find yourself unable to earn a college or university degree. Everything you've poured into your education could be at risk, not only your own investment but also the investment of your family members, employers, friends, and other supporters.
The Value of Your Future
Finally, consider the value of your future when facing college or university weapons charges. Your future may include professional licensure and employment or other vocational pursuits that could earn you vast income over the course of your lifetime, all dependent on your college or university education. Your future may also include exciting and engaging appointments, honors, and activities, once again all dependent on your college or university education. Your future may also include a spouse, children, extended family, and other social and community relationships, all affected by the nature, quality, and level of your education and personal development. That's a great future when you think of all that your college or university education means to you. Don't throw it away to disciplinary charges. Get our skilled and experienced representation.
Premier Student Defense for Weapons Charges
If you are a college or university student facing disciplinary charges for possessing a weapon while on campus, then retain the Lento Law Firm's premier Student Defense Team. We have successfully represented hundreds of students nationwide, defending weapons charges and other charges of misconduct. Call 888.535.3686 or use our contact form now to tell us about your case.
