Kentucky prohibits any person from knowingly possessing or carrying a firearm, whether openly or concealed, in a building, on a bus, or on any other property owned, used or operated by any elementary or secondary public or private school.¹ This prohibition does not apply to :

• People possessing firearms for instructional or school-sanctioned ceremonial purposes;
• A postsecondary school or a school of higher education;
• Adults who possess firearms which are contained within vehicles and which are not “brandished” while the vehicle is on school property;²
• Any other people, including exhibitors of historical displays, who have been authorized to carry a firearm by the board of education or board of trustees of a public or private institution;
• People hunting during the lawful hunting season on lands designated as open to hunting by the board of the educational institution; and
• People possessing unloaded hunting weapons while traversing the grounds of any public or private school, unless the grounds are posted with a sign prohibiting entry.³

With certain exceptions, public or private universities, colleges, and other postsecondary education facilities (including technical schools and community colleges) may prohibit the carrying of concealed weapons by licensees on their properties.⁴

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1. Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 527.070(1).[↩]
2. This exception does not apply to adults who are students at the school.[↩]
3. Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 527.070(1), (3). Other exceptions include people possessing guns when conducting or attending a “gun and knife show” when the program has been approved by the board of the educational institution. Id.[↩]
4. Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 237.115(1).[↩]