Joshua Wade says a school is the last place he would want to go unarmed but he’s taking quite a bit of heat after he showed up at his sister’s high school openly carrying a handgun. The incident occurred last week and several teachers and staff members say they were concerned when they saw Wade carrying a gun.
“I think the school was concerned about the same thing I was concerned about – that a firearm was being brought to an event like this, in a school,” a person who was in attendance at the event told WXYZ, a local ABC affiliate.
Wade, 22, has a valid concealed carry permit and he was attending the event with his wife and other family members to watch his younger sister perform. He says he wasn’t expecting such controversy, considering the fact that he has openly carried a firearm at school functions in the past an no one has ever said anything.
Controversy is what he got, however, as the school’s choir director not only confronted him about his firearm but called the police as well. Wade was escorted into the lobby of the school by police who, after checking to make sure his carry permit was valid, informed the choir director that he was acting within the confines of the law.
In the state of Michigan, anyone with a valid concealed carry permit can legally carry a firearm openly on school property. Carrying a gun on school grounds is only illegal if the person is carrying it concealed or if he or she does not have a valid concealed carry permit.
The choir director wasn’t the only one to approach Wade that night. Bill DiBlassio, who was also attending the event, approached him and tried to take his picture multiple times. He also says he was encouraging others at the event to contact the school board and state elected officials and voice their concerns about guns in schools.
Wade is standing by his decision to carry his firearm to the school event, suggesting that schools are often targets of those who wish to do harm. He also says he feels it is his moral obligation as a Christian to protect his family and others, even if that means carrying his gun to a school function.
The school board released a statement saying that they were “very concerned” about the incident and they have scheduled a meeting to discuss school safety on March 16th.
