Duval County Public Schools is weighing a policy change that would let administrators, employees, independent contractors and parents keep a legally possessed firearm locked inside a vehicle parked on school property — though students would still be barred from doing so. The proposal comes as the district grapples with a split school board, a recent gun discovery at a Baldwin school, and a sharp rise in guns stolen from vehicles across Jacksonville.
What the Proposed Policy Would Actually Allow
Under the plan, a firearm would need to be “securely encased” to qualify, according to Action News Jax, which reports that even an unlocked glove box would meet that definition. That detail alone has fueled skepticism from critics who question how much real security the requirement would add. The Duval County School Board currently bars anyone, including employees, from keeping a firearm in a vehicle parked on school grounds, whether the vehicle is locked or unlocked, as News4JAX reported, and violating that rule can lead to a misdemeanor.
That existing policy was thrust into the spotlight after a loaded handgun was found inside Baldwin Middle-Senior High School Principal Michael Smith’s vehicle on September 15. Smith was reassigned away from campus and issued a misdemeanor criminal citation, per the same report. The incident has become a reference point in the board’s current debate over whether to loosen the vehicle rule rather than tighten enforcement of it.
A Board Divided, With Silence From Elected Officials
The school board is split on the proposal, Action News Jax reports, and the outlet says it reached out to all seven board members and Sheriff T.K. Waters for their positions but had not received responses as of its report. That silence leaves the public guessing where individual decision-makers stand ahead of a possible vote. The board could take up the measure as early as November 9, according to the station’s reporting, though the timeline has not been finalized.
Florida law generally prohibits possessing a firearm on school property, but Florida Statute 790.115 carves out an exception allowing firearms to be stored in vehicles on campus. The same statute lets school districts waive that exception through written, published policy — which is exactly what Duval County has done. St. Johns County and Clay County have taken the same approach, telling Jacksonville Today that their districts do not allow anyone besides law enforcement and security officials to bring guns onto school property. The proposed Duval change would apply not just to regular school days but to school-sponsored events such as football games, Jacksonville Today reported.
Rising Car Break-Ins Loom Over the Debate
The timing is colliding with an uptick in gun thefts from vehicles across Jacksonville. The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office reported that 388 guns had been stolen from cars by October 7 this year, up from 330 at the same point in 2025, per News4JAX. In just the 21 days before that report, 38 firearms were reported stolen from vehicles in the city, the same report notes. JSO has urged gun owners to remove firearms from their vehicles altogether and secure them at home instead, and has separately advised residents not to leave guns in cars in the first place.
Z Farhat, a Jacksonville gun store owner, said secure storage matters precisely because firearms can be stolen from vehicles, and he reported that customers of his have had guns taken from outside his store. He said such thefts are rare but have happened. The tension between that reality and the proposed policy’s loose definition of “securely encased” is part of what has critics uneasy about expanding where guns can be stored on campus.
Supporters See a Deterrent, Critics See a Rushed Decision
Supporters of the proposal argue that having a gun within reach could help stop an attacker, and one supporter said security systems and monitoring could allow an armed person to act before a threat reaches students. Backers have also pointed to an Oregon case in which police said a bystander who was not at the school responded after hearing gunshots, Action News Jax reported.
Katie Hathaway, a Duval County mother, opposed the proposed policy change and criticized the school board chair for rushing it without meaningful input from families or educators. Hathaway said the debate has helped fuel her Jacksonville City Council campaign, giving the school policy fight a political dimension beyond the boardroom.
District Also Investing in Detection Technology
Separate from the vehicle-storage debate, Duval County Public Schools says it is expanding security technology, including CEIA OPENGATE weapons-detection systems that are being installed at roughly 30 elementary schools per year until every elementary school has the equipment, according to the district’s own safety update. That rollout runs on its own timeline, independent of whatever the board decides about guns in parked cars.
For now, the vehicle-storage policy remains unresolved, with the board’s next steps and the positions of individual members still unclear.
