Carrying Guns in Ludington and Ann Arbor Schools

[XLFD]

At the beginning of the 2014-2015 school year, I sent a FOIA request to Ludington Area School District (LASD) Superintendent Andrea Large introducing the request by:  " Teachers Ryan Cox, Jon Stowe, Mark Willis and Sarah O' Connor all teach in the LASD and serve as reserve police officers on the Ludington Police Department, as per public records received from LPD Chief Barnett."

I continued to the request:  "Any policy, procedure, or protocol by the LASD that any or all of the above teachers (or reserve officers in general) can (or cannot) exercise police powers (those powers include, but are not limited to, concealed carry of guns, making arrests, using information gained in the classroom for police intelligence) while on school grounds.  If applicable, include the LASD school board meeting minutes when these policies, protocols or procedures were adopted."

I received the simplest response:  "No records exist."   I thought it odd that such a policy would be absent with at least four quasi-cops present on the payroll, and I quickly determined that the superintendent had not completed her assignment correcty.

I read through the bylaws and found section 4217 which seemed to be the responsive policy for my request, and is reproduced here:

One still wonders with just this section whether reserve cops acting as teachers qualify for the exemption.  Section 7217, however, explains that "State law establishes a "Weapon-Free School Zone" that extends 1,000 feet from the boundary of any school property."  Then it gives further clarifications of who exactly is exempt from the weapons policy:

But a serious problem arises in that the state actually does not define a "weapons free school zone" as they do in the school policy.  Both MCL 750.235a(4)(d) and MCL 750.237a(6)(d) define it as "school property and a vehicle used by a school to transport students to or from school property."  This is important since the LASD definition not only makes any distinction for having a weapon on an LASD bus outside of the 1000 ft. radius, but also makes all private property/residences inside that 1000 ft. radius (about a three block radius) of any school property into weapon-free zones. 

How can a school district make such a rule to affect all houses within such an arbitrary radius outside of school property?  Section 7217 defines weapons as "any object which, in the manner in which it is used, is intended to be used, or is represented, is capable of inflicting serious bodily harm or property damage, as well as endangering the health and safety of persons. Weapons include, but are not limited to, firearms, guns of any type, including air and gas-powered guns (whether loaded or unloaded), knives, razors, clubs, electric weapons, metallic knuckles, martial arts weapons, ammunition, and explosives."

Now some of these houses may not have firearms or even BB guns in them, but I'm sure they have plenty of kitchen knives, baseball bats, golf clubs, hammers, power tools, etc. that are or can be classified as weapons.  Why hasn't the LASD authorized the school resource officer to take that guy using the electric hedge trimmers living two blocks down the street from the high school into custody?

Definitely, our school district's current superintendent, Andrea Large, needs to read up on current weapons policies of the school, because these two policies I have went over were responsive to my request, publicly available, and seem to indicate that the four Ludington Police Department Reserve Officers serving as teachers in the district are exempt from the weapons policies of LASD while in the weapons free school zone-- properly defined by the state.

This fact makes me feel more secure in the safety of my kid while attending LASD.  If these four reserve officers, and other properly licensed concealed carry teachers and administrators, are packing heat, any deranged school shooter is more likely to think twice before hitting LASD, and more likely to have a quicker, surer response.  But one could be alarmed that these teachers may flip out one day and use their firearms unwisely.

A story from Ann Arbor this last Thursday illustrates two different ways to look at guns on school property.  It follows the picture and is slightly edited from the Daily Caller article it is taken from.

 

A Michigan man was not acting erratically or threatening other people at an Ann Arbor high school music recital, but he was openly — and legally — carrying a firearm.  That was enough for a school choir director to call police and for a music professor to publicly shame him at the event.

The incident happened Thursday evening at Pioneer High School when Steven Lorenz, the director of choirs at the school, spotted the man, later identified as Joshua Wade, openly carrying a gun and called police.

As Michigan Live reported, police arrived to investigate and determined that Wade had not broken the law. While it is illegal for citizens with a pistol licenses to carry concealed weapons on school grounds, license holders can open carry, Ann Arbor police Sgt. Shane Dennis told Michigan Live.

But that was not good enough for one event attendee, University of Michigan, Flint music professor Brian DiBlassio.  DiBlassio took unsolicited photos of Wade carrying the holstered gun and uploaded his picture to Facebook along with two breathless posts.  The professor wrote in his first missive:

There’s an idiot with a handgun with two magazines attending the Ann Arbor Pioneer Choral Cavalcade, sitting in the tenth row. Police came in droves, escorted him out to interview him in the hallway and could do nothing based on his permit. He’s now back listening to 8th grade girls singing Hey Jude. My first experience witnessing this ridiculous show of…I don’t know what. Who does this at an event with 100s of children ffs??? Who does this anywhere? ‘Merica!

DiBlassio’s second post included the man’s picture and other identifying information. DiBlassio said that Wade is the grandson of a former superintendent of Ann Arbor public schools.

I decided that the parents of 200+ junior high and high school students might want to know that they had someone with a military weapon, replete with rounds of ammo, watching their kids sing (he was in the front row). After the last song (about global unity and peace, from the olympics. .oy), I got up on my soapbox — literally, it was a theatre box — and announced as much to the entire audience. In the lobby, [redacted], the former Deputy Superintendent for. Business Affairs. for Ann Arbor Public Schools lectured me on how wrong it was for me to disrupt a public event (disrupting people exiting the auditorium?), etc. Soon after I learned who brought the weapon into the concert. [redacted] grandson (phone in the pocket).

Asked whether he thought Wade behaved in any way that should set off any alarms, DiBlassio said that “judging his behavior is speculative.  Ask any “people” you’d like why they were concerned. I can tell you that I am concerned about firearms being brought into schools,” he added.  DiBlassio says he is “otherwise fine with people owning guns,” but objects to them being brought into schools.

“I would like the law to be changed so that people cannot bring firearms into schools,” he said.  He also said he was not aware of the legality of openly carrying on school grounds before speaking to police, but he added that even if he had known that open carry was legal beforehand, ”I would not have responded any differently, and I will not respond any differently in the future.”

Gun-toter Joshua Wade, who was attending the recital with his wife, father, brother, and grandparents, said that what happened Thursday was the first dramatic incident he’s had while openly carrying a gun. He even carried to his sister’s choir recital at the school in the fall with no incident.

He said he open carries in most places, except work. That includes schools which Wade says are especially vulnerable because under normal circumstances “someone intent on doing harm can enter these areas and know that no law-abiding citizen will have a weapon there.”  Wade is moderately involved with Michigan Open Carry, a group he said aims to “educate, the general public about the legalities of open carry.”

He said that the group helped him overcome some of the anxieties which come with the territory of open carry.  “It can be a little bit intimidating starting out carrying a weapon, not really sure what reactions will be.”  Wade said he generally seeks to inform others about the legalities of open carry should they have questions, but that nobody gave him that opportunity at Thursday’s recital.

He said that Lorenz approached him five minutes before the recital began to say that “some people were concerned” by the presence of the firearm.  Wade said he thanked Lorenz who then walked away without asking to see a pistol license or to ask any other clarifying questions.  “I would have been happy to explain all that stuff to him,” Wade said.

Minutes later, a police officer [also open-carrying a handgun] tapped Wade on the shoulder and asked him to step into the lobby. After Wade showed his pistol license and explained what was going on, the three police officers let him go back into the concert.

“If that had been where it ended that would have been fine,” Wade told TheDC.  He said DiBlassio escalated matters when he “just walked up, pulled out his phone and started taking pictures.”  Wade said that at the end of the concert, DiBlassio stood on a stool and told the audience that “a guy with a gun is here and your children are in danger.”

Wade and his father also had a physical encounter with a woman at a reception for the event. He said that the woman lunged at his father after he began recording her while she was yelling at his son for carrying the gun.  “I don’t know what the reaction was based on other than an irrational fear and invalid assumptions,” Wade said of the whole affair.  But he said the incident will not deter him from openly carrying in the future.

“I intend to do what I’ve always done,” said Wade, adding that hopefully people will “become educated and hopefully avoid any negative encounters in the future.”  As for death threats lobbed at him, Wade said those have mostly been contained to local news websites. He has not received any threats directly, but some of those made online have contained his address and phone number. One such threat called for Wade to be hanged, he said.

http://dailycaller.com/2015/03/06/school-choir-director-and-college...

[AQUAMAN]

I don't think most in the school system educate themselves in this law. And afterall,  isn't that what teachers are supposed to be? Educated, and willing to learn themselves? On a continuing lifetime basis? To berate this man, even after the police exonerated him, is without question, a travesty. Most teachers I read about and listen to today seem very liberal and emotional in their actions and words. The police should be taking action against the woman whom attacked Wade's father, and against those whom have threatened him online. To do nothing now, just adds to this mindset into the future.

[Willy]

X, I never would have thought to look into school rules regarding auxiliary police officers and their weapons. Good job. What is disturbing is the fact that the school district took it upon itself and thought it could  ban weapons within 1000 ft of a school. It's almost as if Attorney Wilson had a hand in writing the schools regulations.  It seems that the Superintendent doesn't read the "rule" book. She needs to know and understand what regulations she must enforce. As far as the leftist that went overboard and over reacted to a legally displayed firearm, all I can say is this is typical behavior by progressives and we see it in every oppressive, freedom robbing agenda that the left try to control people with. How stupid can that person be. If someone is bent on doing harm, they're not going to let it be known that they have a weapon. And If I'm not correct, hasn't all of the mass killings been committed in "gun free zones"? 

[XLFD]

An interesting event happened at a Ludington program at the schools last night.  A young woman, who is also a local small business proprietor, put up a post on Facebook wondering hypothetically about what would happen if she carried a firearm to the program where her kids were starring.  Mind you, she was commenting along the lines of Second Amendment rights, and said that she wasn't planning on testing the waters because she wished to enjoy the program.

At the program herself, she was approached by LPD Sergeant Steve Wietrzykowski and consented to a search of her person and her handbag, where there was no gun to be found.  She posted the encounter on Facebook.

Whereas it is unclear at this point what led to the chain of events that started with an innocent Facebook post and an intrusive search of this one person on school grounds, the Ludington Torch is committed on getting the full story and analysis when we can fully research it and make it available.