Storing firearms while in college

[LtFrankie]

Well, I"ll be turning 18 this September and will be graduating (HS senior). I live in NYC, where you need to be 21 to own any kind of gun. My mom is as conservative as Bloomberg, and my dad sure as hell doesn't want to go through the process in getting a rifle/shotgun license. This is one of the many reasons I won't be going to college in NYC, but rather: Long Island.

But if I were in a dorm, would I be SOL from owning any gun still? I know no gun clubs let you store any guns, and severely doubt the campus would. There any alternatives, other than having to just not live in a dorm and rent a small studio or something?

 

[22-rimfire]

So how do you own guns now if you are turning 18 in Sept. 2010 if the NYC rule is 21?

The guns you have access to should probaly be left at home or at a friends house.

 

[LtFrankie]

I don't? I don't know where the confusion in my post may have come from, but I do not own any firearms.

My question was if moving to long island and renting an apartment would be the only way to own, possess and store firearms. I know of no way to store a gun/any place that'd let you store one while living in a dorm.

 

[rrruuunnn]

You might be able to store your guns at a storage rental.

A while back a big gun collection was stolen from a storage unit. But no one would expect a college kid of having guns at a storage rental.

 

[CooperThunder]

Our son goes to military school in North Dakota. He collect rifles. They have an armoury but because of his age, he stores his guns in the nearest police department. You might want to ask around about this system. When he went to college he was barely 17 years of age. He is now 20 years old and in his 3rd year in his helicopter scholarship there.

 

[rrruuunnn]

Is he going to fly helicopters for the army?

 

[mlaustin]

When I came to college (Davis, in CA, but I imagine the laws are similar), the local police had a great system, imho. Now a few years older and wiser, having a gun in the dorms would have been an awful idea - you don't know your roomate, the rooms are far from secure, you live in ridiculously close quarters with about 50 other people, and most people wind up drinking way too much and doing way too many stupid things when they first move away from home...not a great place to have a gun (and even if you are perfect, your roomate might well not be).

Anyways, the system Davis PD had was that you give them your guns and you can come by, flash your DL and check them out at any point during normal business hours. So if I wanted to go hunting, I'd stop by on Friday, get my shotgun, and then just leave it in my car until Saturday morning, go hunting, and then clean it in the parking lot at the Yolo Bypass, then return it to the station. I actually felt somewhat safer this way - my roommate wasn't a bad guy, but he had people over all the time and was not security aware at all (I wound up buying cables for my computer and monitors to lock them to my desk after the thousandth time of coming home to an unlocked door). You should see if your local PD has anything similar. I live in an apartment now and just keep my long guns locked in the back of my closet (I got huge eye-bolts and threaded them into the studs and have a long cable I run through the actions of my long guns and then lock with a padlock). I almost got in trouble once for having a box of birdshot on my desk, but luckily my RA knew I hunted and was a reasonable girl and just told me to not have stuff like that visible and preferably not tempt fate by even having it around.

 

[Nick5182]

I did work study as a Campus Security Student Officer at the University I was enrolled at. In the Security office we had a dozen or so gun safes that the students were allowed to keep their firearms in. If a student wanted to take a gun out, a senior security officer needed to be called to escort the student and the firearm off of campus, and also called again to escort the student and the firearm back to the safe from off-campus. However, after the Virginia Tech incident in April 2007, I think they stopped allowing students to keep firearms on campus after Fall semester '09.

 

[mljdeckard]

Spend a few years in the military. Get the new G.I. Bill. Go to school when you are over 21. Move to Utah and carry to class. Live off-campus and do what you want as a normal adult with full rights and priviliges.

Do you REALLY think that Bloomberg is conservative, or were you being facetious?

 

[Tim the student]

I think a storage unit is your best bet.

I can't imagine any school on LI would let you keep them in the dorms.

My school won't, and we have a trap and skeet team...

 

[LtFrankie]

Thanks for the responses, everyone. If I can't store it at a local PD, then I"ll get a storage unit.

mljdeckard: lol, you're asking on a gunboard if Bloomberg of all people is Conservative? Ofcourse not. But in NYC, he almost is considered one, or atleast seen as a "Republican".

 

[mgkdrgn]

When I was in College (Penn State), the campus police stored mine in their gun room. When I went to shoot, I would go by, check them out, then check them back in when I returned to campus. Of course that was, oh, 35 years ago ...

Be worth a phone call to see if a similar policy is in place where ever you might be going to school.

But ... at some point you have to go home for the summer/holidays!

 

[LtFrankie]

mgkdrgn: I guess I"ll just get a storage unit in Long Island once I turn 18.

 

[Sam1911]

When I was in College (Penn State), the campus police stored mine in their gun room.

Yup! When I was there a decade ago, that was still supposed to be done (though I never did, myself) and it is still the case today. I have friends who have worked in the campus police dept. who say they keep a might fine collection of student's guns in their armory room. And mostly, usually, resist the temptation to play with them a bit (If there's anybody watching! ) Of course, this is in the woods and hills of central PA...what else would you expect?

I kept my competition rifle in the secured room at one of the campus ranges. I can neither confirm nor deny whether I ever had any other guns on campus...

-Sam

 

[TEAM101]

I attended 3 colleges and 2 had had policies providing a place to store student firearms in the Police Department property room.

 

[MrCleanOK]

Oklahoma State University PD will store guns for students. Your college or local PD may do the same. Something to think about though, is how long they will hold it for you? Will they hold it during the summer while you are no longer at school? If they won't, it doesn't sound like you'd be able to bring it home with you. Then what?

 

[DoubleTapDrew]

What is the purpose for the gun? If it's for personal protection reasons will the P.D. lockup be open at all hours so you can walk over and get it if you are in the process of being killed?
When I was in a university there were quite a few people that kept their firearms in their dorm rooms. The ones that couldn't keep their mouths shut got expelled. The ones that could were fine (ok, not "legal" but it's like the concealed means concealed line). Then again the state I live in prohibits schools from making rules against legal gun ownership and they haven't gotten the memo and haven't been seriously challenged on it yet.

 

[Schutzen]

Just a question, what would be wrong with purchasing a gun safe, storing the guns in the safe in your parents home with only you having the combination? Neither of your parents would have access to the firearms and I suspect they would not be required to have a firearms license if they do not have access. You (the owner with a license) are still a resident of the home, but are temporarily living at another location. You would have to run this by your local chief law enforcement officer or the local DA and I would get a letter opinion.

Just the thoughts of country bumpkin that does not have to worry about this type of BS.

 

[LtFrankie]

I suppose it'd be illegal possession of a firearm?

Would a college dorm even be considered a legal residency/my new technical residency? Meaning, if I were to go get a dorm, have an off-site storage unit, would I then legally be able to purchase and own guns?

 

[Art Eatman]

I'll assume that the university's conditions of enrolment do not speak to off-campus possessions.

Whatever legal activity is done off campus is generally of no concern to a university, even if one resides in an on-campus dormitory.

If you live off-campus, you can own any legal item. If you live on-campus and have off-campus storage, your possessions should be of no concern to the university.

 

[Backpacker33]

Do NOT expect you’ll be safe storing off-campus.

Call the U security office and ask if you can store your guns in their vault. Some allow it.

One of our sons attended the U Minn. The first year he stayed in campus dorms, and kept his guns with the security office. No guns were allowed in campus housing.

After he moved to off-campus housing he could have stored his guns in a safe but feared some idiot would damage the safe trying to break into it.

The last two years he worked part-time for the security force. Even then he had to take off his gun and leave it in the vault before going home.

At the time it was illegal in WI, where we lived, for a minor (under 21) to have a handgun in his/her “possession.” I got the WI AG to write a letter saying it was legal for him to transport the guns - with my written permission - unloaded and separate from ammo, locked in boxes in the trunk of his car. He was never stopped. He did ask several jurisdictions if they would arrest him, and they all said “No.”

Do NOT trust the U. There was a story in the news recently about a student who was duck hunting in the early morning and left his legally stored shotgun in his truck, off campus. The community cops took explosive-sniffing dogs along the streets and one flagged his truck. The cops noted the student sticker on the truck and notified the “zero tolerance” school. They expelled him.

Get a copy of any written policy and then get a signed letter from the highest school official possible saying they abide by it. I still wouldn’t trust them, but you might have lawsuit material when they don’t follow it.
- Backpacker

 

[ga red clay]

I began taking my guns to school during sophomore year. In Georgia, it's illegal to take any gun within 1000 feet of a school 'safety' zone outside of a vehicle parked on public streets or in residences within 1000 feet. However, I found older friends who lived in houses and apartments that were perfectly legal to store them for me. Granted, I made sure these friends were familiar (and safe) with firearms and that I could trust them enough to keep their hands off my stuff without my permission.

Up until 2 years ago, our campus police department would allow us to bring our guns and put them in a gun safe at the station. Then our super-liberal school President decided that all guns for all people were evil and had the safe taken out of the department. I'd be willing to bet that there are now more illegally stored guns on campus than there were before. Go figure.
-J

 

[NavyLCDR]

I suppose it'd be illegal possession of a firearm?

Would a college dorm even be considered a legal residency/my new technical residency? Meaning, if I were to go get a dorm, have an off-site storage unit, would I then legally be able to purchase and own guns?

Page 126 of the Federal Firearms Regulations Reference Guide:
http://www.atf.gov/publications/download/p/atf-p-5300-4.pdf

27 CFR 178.11: MEANING OF TERMS

An out-of-State college student may establish residence in a State by residing and maintaining a home in a college dormitory or in a location off-campus during the school term.

ATF Rul. 80-21

"State of residence" is defined by regulation in 27 CFR 178.11 as the State in which an individual regularly resides or maintains a home. The regulation also provides an example of an individual who maintains a home in State X and a home in State Y. The individual regularly resides in State X except for the summer months and in State Y for the summer months of the year. The regulation states that during the time the individual actually resides in State X he is a resident of State X, and during the time he actually resides in State Y he is a resident of State Y.

Applying the above example to out-of-State college students it is held, that during the time the students actually reside in a college dormitory or at an off-campus location they are considered residents of the State where the dormitory or off-campus home is located. During the time out-of-State college students actually reside in their home State they are considered residents of their home State.

[ATFB 1980-4 25]

 

[Speedo66]

Find a mature friend who lives locally, and store it there with a high quality lock through the action.

There are many public and private ranges on LI to shoot at. There is also a limited deer firearms hunting season on LI, plus the regular waterfowl season.

 

[LtFrankie]

Well, it's in the same state, just different college. But I suppose that since you'd be considered a resident of that state, it's then by extension the county?