"The state law here exemps firearms legally carried in your vehicle so long as it is locked."
OK. Then by unlocking the trunk and transferring the firearm on school grounds, I'd guess these kids would have been breaking the law, even in CO.
This was in NY. I believe there is a state law there prohibiting firearms on school grounds, except for law enforcement types. I'm not positive on that, but that's my recollection.
The reason I wondered if this was hysteria was because the kids apparently did nothing but a hand off in the parking lot AFTER school let out.
Is that foolish? Probably. But it just seems to me that a proper course would have been to question the kids, find out what was going on and then, if there's nothing more to the story, give them a good tongue lashing and maybe a couple days detention or suspension.
Instead, these kids had their names in the papers as having been arrested and they have to answer "yes" on a job application to having been arrested for perhaps the rest of their lives. All over something that might have been an innocent mistake in a rural community where kids hunt (you'll notice that rifle was owned by one of the kids, this wasnt a stolen handgun or something).
Granted, there may be more to story, and I conceded that in my initial post. It just seems to me that, if there isn't anything more, this is the type of case where someone could be let off with a warning and school suspension, not arrest.
Correct. §265.01 of New York Penal Law ("Criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree") makes possession of a firearm on school grounds a Class-A misdemeanor. There is no exception for CCW permit holders, by the way - only law enforcement officers are exempted.