Why is body armor illegal to posses within 1,000' of a school?

[Kraut]

Here in Slidell, our police department stopped actively going after Vest Violators when the grant money ran out. We've since shifted our focus to people smoking in cars with children under 13 present and a new initiative against violators of LA R.S. 14:208. We're expecting some serious seizure money out of that one, like in the dozens of dollars.

I'm not trying to be an a$$ (OK, maybe just a little for laughs), but my point is that there are NO cops out there riding the school zones looking for people possibly wearing body armor. You would have to be the biggest, jack-a$$iest, youtube-video-recordin', Gadsen-flag-tied-'round-your-neck-like-a-cape, Triumph-the-Insult-Comic-Dog wannabe, argumentative fu@ktard on the planet to get a cop to take the time and effort to arrest you for something like having body armor in a diaper bag. Hell, the baby would have to be in the bag and dead for any cop to give you a second glance on this one. You'd have to run up and show them, and then direct most of them to the right statute to begin with. Take a deep breath, man. Maybe two or three in a row.

 

[Vanilla Gorilla]

Here here and there would have to be an odor of marijuana associated
With the dead baby, and early in the shift.

 

[olivs260]

So what y'all are saying is... there is still a chance???

 

[JadeRaven]

I wouldn't go that far. That's excepted by (6) and/or (7).

Good catch!

I like this part "participating in an activity requiring the use of body armor."

Well that could be almost anything, including illegal activities.

 

[JadeRaven]

Here in Slidell, our police department stopped actively going after Vest Violators when the grant money ran out. We've since shifted our focus to people smoking in cars with children under 13 present and a new initiative against violators of LA R.S. 14:208. We're expecting some serious seizure money out of that one, like in the dozens of dollars.

I'm not trying to be an a$$ (OK, maybe just a little for laughs), but my point is that there are NO cops out there riding the school zones looking for people possibly wearing body armor. You would have to be the biggest, jack-a$$iest, youtube-video-recordin', Gadsen-flag-tied-'round-your-neck-like-a-cape, Triumph-the-Insult-Comic-Dog wannabe, argumentative fu@ktard on the planet to get a cop to take the time and effort to arrest you for something like having body armor in a diaper bag. Hell, the baby would have to be in the bag and dead for any cop to give you a second glance on this one. You'd have to run up and show them, and then direct most of them to the right statute to begin with. Take a deep breath, man. Maybe two or three in a row.

You're right cops don't go looking for this, but I think what would happen is that somehow other kids/teacher would find out the kid has armor in his backpack, the kid would get brought to the principal, and the principal would call the cops and then have everybody arrested.

That opera statute is really ridiculous though.

 

[Vanilla Gorilla]

The Principal can't "have people arrested".

 

[JadeRaven]

The Principal can't "have people arrested".

He can certainly detain a student and call the police to report a crime.... or are you just pointing out the semantics?

 

[altimar]

I'm not trying to be an a$$ (OK, maybe just a little for laughs), but my point is that there are NO cops out there riding the school zones looking for people possibly wearing body armor. You would have to be the biggest, jack-a$$iest, youtube-video-recordin', Gadsen-flag-tied-'round-your-neck-like-a-cape, Triumph-the-Insult-Comic-Dog wannabe, argumentative fu@ktard on the planet to get a cop to take the time and effort to arrest you for something like having body armor in a diaper bag. Hell, the baby would have to be in the bag and dead for any cop to give you a second glance on this one. You'd have to run up and show them, and then direct most of them to the right statute to begin with. Take a deep breath, man. Maybe two or three in a row.

So I'm perfectly fine to violate state law, because you can presume to speak for every commissioned officer in the state and say that all cops are super cool and very understanding (or is it because as a group, none of you care about crimes that don't bring in money for the dept?) Can I have your name and badge # so I can print up a Get-out-of-jail-free card?

I guess I should mention I'm a bit of a type-A, slightly OCD rule-follower, aka law-abiding citizen.

Anyone okay with a new law barring private ownership of all firearms? Oh, but the police won't enforce it unless you're a "bad guy"... The phrase "arbitrary and capricious" comes to mind.

 

[Vanilla Gorilla]

He can certainly detain a student and call the police to report a crime.... or are you just pointing out the semantics?

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No Im pointing out that if a School Official said "arrest this person" and I didn't feel like it was warranted I would say no. I think your definition of detain and the legal definition are also different.

 

[Vanilla Gorilla]

I'm not sure which banned user you are yet but I think your being a little silly. I would also point out if you are in fact Type A and rule following that their is a path to having bad laws changed and it doesn't route traffic through internet discussion forums.

 

[JadeRaven]

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No Im pointing out that if a School Official said "arrest this person" and I didn't feel like it was warranted I would say no. I think your definition of detain and the legal definition are also different.

Yeah you're definitely right about authority to actually arrest someone.

I thought that a school principal, teacher, etc. did have the right to actually detain a child (or maybe even the responsibility to do so), sort of like a parent can detain their own kids (underage kids can't just walk out the door). I do not know the law on this though.

Out of curiosity, reading the above statute, would you arrest a kid/parent for bringing an armor/armored backpack/etc to school?

 

[madwabbit]

Yeah you're definitely right about authority to actually arrest someone.

I thought that a school principal, teacher, etc. did have the right to actually detain a child (or maybe even the responsibility to do so), sort of like a parent can detain their own kids (underage kids can't just walk out the door). I do not know the law on this though.

Out of curiosity, reading the above statute, would you arrest a kid/parent for bringing an armor/armored backpack/etc to school?

ill take a swing. I know they aren't addressed to me personally, but anyhow


the principals authority exists only in school policy, not any legal capacity whatsoever.

depends on a lot of things other than "what if". Arrest just because a school administrator told/asked me to? absolutely not.

 

[Vanilla Gorilla]

Yeah you're definitely right about authority to actually arrest someone.

I thought that a school principal, teacher, etc. did have the right to actually detain a child (or maybe even the responsibility to do so), sort of like a parent can detain their own kids (underage kids can't just walk out the door). I do not know the law on this though.

Out of curiosity, reading the above statute, would you arrest a kid/parent for bringing an armor/armored backpack/etc to school?

I know of no statute that allows a School Administrator to detain, by the legal definition, anyone. As to the second question I would take the totality of the circumstances into account. If after looking at the issue in total It was clear that the student was simply trying to protect himself and the armor was not some element in a more nefarious plot then no I would not arrest.

 

[altimar]

I'm not sure which banned user you are yet but I think your being a little silly. I would also point out if you are in fact Type A and rule following that their is a path to having bad laws changed and it doesn't route traffic through internet discussion forums.

I've never been banned from anything in my life (see previous comment about rule-following). If I were trolling, I wouldn't use a six year old account. If you had read / comprehended all of my posts in this thread, you'd understand the point of this thread is indeed to begin the process of changing this law. I'm gathering information. Trying to figure out if there is anything I'm missing, because on the surface there seems to be absolutely no reason for this law. It seems designed to prevent protection of innocent children. I am open to possibility that I'm wrong. Thus far though, no one has changed my mind.

In fact, I'm now told by a cop that they don't charge anyone with this law anymore. Why keep useless laws on the books? If / when I get to the point that I am confident that the law serves no purpose, I plan to compose a well-reasoned letter which I can hopefully get agreeable forum members to forward to their reps as well. This forum, I'm sure, has contributed to the favorable gun law changes in the last few years. I hope it can do the same for this issue.

Mr. Gorilla, if you have nothing to contribute but arguing semantics, calling me silly, and making vague accusations of internet misconduct, I'd like to ask you to please find something else to entertain yourself, thanks.

PS. Ironically, your responses thus far illustrate pretty well the type of holier-than-thou, you-will-respect-my-authority, everything-should-be-illegal-and-I-should-use-my-discretion-to-arrest-or-not attitude that a sadly increasing number of cops have. This is *precisely* why I'm concerned about this law, despite being told (also ironically, by cops) that "no cop will care about it." All it takes is one ******* cop to get arrested for it. I'm very confident that there are indeed lots of cops who, for whatever reason, act like assholes at least occasionally (honestly, a bit hard to blame them as they have to deal with lots of assholes themselves, but I digress). I have a feeling that the two cops in this thread telling me not to worry about it are filing this statute away in their obscure-violations-I-can-use-to-arrest-a-completely-innocent-person-who's-pissing-me-off notebook. I think it's my mission in life to slowly rip every last page from those books.

 

[Vanilla Gorilla]

Cops don't make laws nor do they "remove them from the books". Those are task left to elected legislators. If it is your mission what have you actual done in your efforts to remove a law, any law from the books? I mean outside of your letter writing campaign? Ever taken time out of your day to go meet with elected officials? Attend a committee hearing?

Yes the law is dumb, its ineffective and poorly thought out. Equally dumb, ineffective, and poorly thought out is the addressing of the law to those tasked with enforcing it rather than those who enact it.

 

[JadeRaven]

Don't take the VG too personally, he's just making his points. He tends to be a little more brash than others but he's usually a good source of knowledge.

 

[altimar]

If ... it was clear that the student was simply trying to protect himself and the armor was not some element in a more nefarious plot then no I would not arrest.

Nice to hear, but you could still use 14:95.3, or probably many others you know (criminal mischief?) to make such an arrest if it *were* warranted. I know officers like having many "tools" at their disposal, but I don't like tools that can be abused when there are already perfectly good tools for the job at hand.

 

[Vanilla Gorilla]

I could arrest someone for any number of stupid things they do,but, I'm a professional so I take things like intent, totality of circumstances, staffing, call volume, etc into account. I wouldn't arrest a kid for having an armored school bad unless that armor was clearly part of something more nefarious. this may shock you but most of us don't ride around looking to arrest people. It's actually pretty overrated.

As a side note armored back packs are a shitty tool for protecting your kids. It's a panacea.

 

[altimar]

As a side note armored back packs are a shitty tool for protecting your kids. It's a panacea.

Lol. Any "non-panaceas" you would recommend? Cops are too heavy.

 

[Vanilla Gorilla]

Teaching your kids to be situationaly aware. Make sure they go to safe schools. Lobby your local sheriffs office and school board to mandate a School Resource Officer be employed at every school. Teach your kids what to do if some one attacks their school. All of those things are far more effective than buying a soft armor insert for a backpack and hoping for the best.