# Gun limits on sworn officers? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 7, 2017, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gun-limits-on-sworn-officers/783999 "2017-04-07T18:31:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gun-limits-on-sworn-officers/783999/1 "2017-04-07T18:31:19Z")
In my state (Montana) there are certain places I’m not allowed to bring my gun. I happen to have a license to carry a concealed weapon, but that doesn’t matter. I can’t take my sidearm into places like banks, bars, state or federal buildings or schools. I also can’t take my gun into any business that forbids guns on their premises and has a sign stating that. An on-duty officer can of course carry their gun wherever they want, but what if they are off-duty? Does an off-duty officer have the right to take their gun anywhere, unlike a lawful citizen like me? ---
**Author:** ![Weisshund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba8739/32.png) [@Weisshund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weisshund)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gun-limits-on-sworn-officers/783999/2 "2017-04-07T19:07:19Z")
I believe that when off duty, they have to abide what any normal citizen would have to. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gun-limits-on-sworn-officers/783999/3 "2017-04-07T19:22:03Z")
I wouldn’t be so sure that an on duty copy can take go anywhere he wants with his sidearm either, say like a Federal courtroom or certain Federal buildings. Officers of the court and Federal agents yes, but local cops may have to check their sidearms. ---
**Author:** ![Bone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bone/32/407_2.png) [@Bone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bone)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gun-limits-on-sworn-officers/783999/4 "2017-04-07T19:41:18Z")
> [@Weisshund](#): > > I believe that when off duty, they have to abide what any normal citizen would have to. Not so. From [MN DOJ](https://dojmt.gov/enforcement/concealed-weapons/): > [@](#): > > Law Enforcement Officers > > Federal legislation signed in July 2004 exempts current and retired law enforcement officers from Montana’s concealed weapon statute. Any qualified law enforcement officer with proper identification can carry a concealed weapon, overruling state concealed weapons laws to the contrary. The LEOSA does allow private business and certain governmental buildings to prohibit carry. I’m not aware of the rules for LEO in banks and other government buildings. ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gun-limits-on-sworn-officers/783999/5 "2017-04-07T19:49:02Z")
Montana law doesn’t give off-duty LEOs any special status for carrying beyond not needing a permit. Federal Law from 2004 exempts active and qualified retired LEOs from needing a permit and from some state and local restrictions - they can’t carry in a building posted against carry or a local government office, but are exempted from the other restrictions on specific locations. [https://www.fop.net/legislative/issues/hr218/hr218faq.pdf](https://www.fop.net/legislative/issues/hr218/hr218faq.pdf) ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gun-limits-on-sworn-officers/783999/6 "2017-04-07T19:49:11Z")
I’m a little fuzzy on the details, but there’s a thing called the Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act (LEOSA). > **[Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_Enforcement_Officers_Safety_Act)** > > The Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act (LEOSA) is a United States federal law, enacted in 2004, that allows two classes of persons—the "qualified law enforcement officer" and the "qualified retired or separated law enforcement officer"—to carry a concealed firearm in any jurisdiction in the United States, regardless of state or local laws, with certain exceptions. > LEOSA is often incorrectly referred to as "H.R. 218". The act was introduced during the 108th Congress as H.R. 218 and enacted as Pu... These sections of the wikipedia article relate to the OP: > [@](#): > > Although LEOSA preempts state and local laws, there are two notable exceptions: “the laws of any State that (1) permit private persons or entities to prohibit or restrict the possession of concealed firearms on their property” (such as a bars, private clubs, amusement parks, etc.), or “(2) prohibit or restrict the possession of firearms on any State or local government property, installation, building, base, or park” [1][10][11][12] Additionally, LEOSA does not override the federal Gun-Free School Zone Act (GFSZA) which prohibits carrying a firearm within 1,000 feet of elementary or secondary schools. Although the GFSZA authorizes on-duty law enforcement officers to carry firearms in such circumstances, off-duty and retired law enforcement officers are still restricted from doing so unless they have a firearms license issued from the state in which they reside and then it is only good for the state in which they reside.[13] Individuals must also obey any federal laws and federal agency policies that restrict the carrying of concealed firearms in certain federal buildings and lands, as well as federal regulations prohibiting the carriage of firearms on airplanes.[12] > [@](#): > > Persons who are qualified to carry nationwide under LEOSA are not exempt from: > > ``` > state laws regarding magazine capacity limits (However, Most states do provide an exemption for Law Enforcement members to purchase, possess and carry so called "high capacity" magazines) - no longer valid after the 2010 amendment > restrictions imposed by private persons on their own private property > restriction imposed by state and local governments regarding state and local government properties > restrictions prohibiting carrying a firearm in federal facilities, including US post office buildings > restrictions prohibiting carrying a firearm in federal Gun Free School Zones or national parks unless the person is complying with state law regarding carrying a firearm. For instance, if a qualified law enforcement officer from Pennsylvania travels to Yellowstone National Park for vacation, he/she can only carry legally in the park if he/she has a valid carry permit from PA because WY has a reciprocity agreement with PA and therefore he/she is complying with WY state law. > > ``` ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gun-limits-on-sworn-officers/783999/7 "2017-04-07T20:40:54Z")
I recall some article a decade or so ago about a spectacular car crash by a silicon valley shyster: > **[Gizmondo's Spectacular Crack-up](https://www.wired.com/2006/10/gizmondo/)** > > Directors of the game device company went on living large long after their handheld flopped. Then a high-speed Ferrari crash blew their world to bits. One interesting thing was the “Homeland Security officials” who showed up, who were part of some Transit Authority Police: > [@](#): > > Perhaps the biggest mystery, however, was how Eriksson had become part of an “antiterrorism” unit. The detectives learned that Eriksson’s appointment to this position had been arranged under the auspices of an obscure bus company called the San Gabriel Valley Transit Authority, based in Monrovia, a tidy little city northeast of LA. The outfit, they found out, was run by a 39-year-old man named Yosuf Maiwandi. > > Maiwandi explained that the SGVTA started when he obtained a small bus in trade for several motorcycles. With that bus and four others purchased later he had created a service to transport disabled people throughout the San Gabriel Valley. Maiwandi said he had been told that bus companies in California are entitled under state law to form their own police departments. He had done so, he claimed, because it would allow him to perform background checks on volunteers more quickly. Such private police forces are typically created to patrol college campuses – the SGVTA appeared to have taken advantage of the same regulations that permit Stanford and USC to outfit uniformed officers with badges and guns. basically, they got their friend with the semi-private police force to make them officers. So would this sort of thing make a person capable of ignoring almost any state concealed weapon carry laws, thanks to the federal law?