20 U.S.C. § 8921
Section 8921 · 8921 to 8923. Repealed. Pub. L. 107110, title X, 1011(5)(C), Jan. 8, 2002, 115 Stat. 1986
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 9 court decisions — leading case 200 W. Va. 521 - Cathe v. Doddridge County Board of Education (1997)
Most recently applied in 33 Cal. 4th 859 - San Diego Unified School District v. Commision on State Mandates (August 2004)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
This section may be cited as the “Gun-Free Schools Act of 1994”.
(1) In general
Except as provided in paragraph (3), each State receiving Federal funds under this chapter shall have in effect a State law requiring local educational agencies to expel from school for a period of not less than one year a student who is determined to have brought a weapon to a school under the jurisdiction of local educational agencies in that State, except that such State law shall allow the chief administering officer of such local educational agency to modify such expulsion requirement for a student on a case-by-case basis.
(2) Construction
Nothing in this subchapter shall be construed to prevent a State from allowing a local educational agency that has expelled a student from such a student's regular school setting from providing educational services to such student in an alternative setting.
(3) Special rule
(A) Any State that has a law in effect prior to October 20, 1994, which is in conflict with the not less than one year expulsion requirement described in paragraph (1) shall have the period of time described in subparagraph (B) to comply with such requirement.
(B) The period of time shall be the period beginning on October 20, 1994, and ending one year after such date.
(4) “Weapon” defined
For the purpose of this section, the term “weapon” means a firearm as such term is defined in section 921 of title 18.
The provisions of this section shall be construed in a manner consistent with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act [20 U.S.C. 1400 et seq.].
Each local educational agency requesting assistance from the State educational agency that is to be provided from funds made available to the State under this chapter shall provide to the State, in the application requesting such assistance—
(1) an assurance that such local educational agency is in compliance with the State law required by subsection (b) of this section; and
(2) a description of the circumstances surrounding any expulsions imposed under the State law required by subsection (b) of this section, including—
(A) the name of the school concerned;
(B) the number of students expelled from such school; and
(C) the type of weapons concerned.
Each State shall report the information described in subsection (c) of this section to the Secretary on an annual basis.
Two years after October 20, 1994, the Secretary shall report to Congress if any State is not in compliance with the requirements of this subchapter.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
References in Text
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, referred to in subsec. (c), is title VI of Pub. L. 91 230, Apr. 13, 1970, 84 Stat. 175, as amended, which is classified generally to chapter 33 (§1400 et seq.) of this title. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see section 1400 of this title and Tables.
Applicability of Individuals With Disabilities Education Act
Section 314(b) of Pub. L. 103 382 provided that: “Nothing in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act [20 U.S.C. 1400 et seq.] shall supersede the provisions of section 14601 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act [of 1965] [20 U.S.C. 8921] if a child's behavior is unrelated to such child's disability, except that this section [amending section 1415 of this title and enacting provisions set out as a note under section 1415 of this title] shall be interpreted in a manner that is consistent with the Department's final guidance concerning State and local responsibilities under the Gun-Free Schools Act of 1994 [20 U.S.C. 8921].”