Darker side: Bring your guns to work
September 23, 2008 by Bill MeltzerPosted in: Compliance, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, Uncategorized
On the surface, it sounds humorous, but a recent court ruling in Florida has given some employers in that state pause for concern.
The ruling says that according to state gun laws, employees, contractors and volunteers are allowed to carry guns in their vehicles as long as they’re in possession of a valid license.
The Florida Retail Federation and the Florida Chamber of Commerce said the law conflicts with the U.S. Constitution by violating property rights and is preempted by OSHA. But the court disagreed. Florida employers must allows licensed employees to carry weapons in their vehicles.
Employers aren’t allowed to:
- bar guns in company parking lots
- ask in job interviews whether a prospective employee carries a gun in their vehicle
- take action against a worker based on whether or not they have a gun in their vehicle
- condition employment on whether a person has a concealed-carry permit, or
- terminate or discriminate against a worker who carries a gun in their vehicle.
The court did ban the portion of the law that didn’t allow employers, with permit carrying employees, to ban customers from carrying weapons. They said that portion of the law lacked rational.
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September 25th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
About TIME. To me, it is the BRIGHTER side. The sun is shinng on the 2nd Amendment.
September 25th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Why is this the “Darker Side?” An employee should be allowed to carry anything legal in their car and leave it in their locked car. Why is society becoming so gunphobic?
September 25th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
Well after a few judges and legislators get gunned down the law will change.
September 25th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
This Forida court is the one not rational. Since when did the NRA supersede OSHA? Or my constitutional rights as a property owner. This is a good reason not to vacation in Florida. The maid cleaning your room could have a loaded glock in her car. No wonder the Florida Chamber of Commerce is fighting this.
September 25th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
To Katie and Maggie – read the law – don’t base your thinking on emotion. The law allows only those who possess a CCP (Concealed Carry Permit) to bring the weapons. These people have been screened by law enforcement, fingerprinted, etc. to be authorized to carry guns. Only the crooks who haven’t been thru the process may not carry weapons to work – but wait, they do that now anyhow. Get a grip, in states where the right to carry is permitted, gun crime has gone down considerably.
BTW -what the hell does it matter if a maid cleaning my room has a loaded glock (sic) in her car?
September 25th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
If you can legally carry or store a weapon in your vehicle or on your person, this is an American right. Just think of all those who carry illigally….We need to be able to carry if we “can” and keep gun control out of it.
September 25th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
I agree with Capt Crunch & Larry…this is the brighter side. If you ban guns from law abiding citizens, then only the criminals will have guns. And they’re the ones who commit the crimes and will do so no matter what the law is. That’s why they’re called criminals!
September 26th, 2008 at 8:27 am
The right to keep and bear arms is a fundamental constitutional right; neither OSHA, nor any other regulatory body has any authority to infringe that right.
The irony of this issue is that the bad guys dont care what’s legal…they will have guns anyway. Gun bans only disarm the law abiding, and leave us all defenseless.
September 26th, 2008 at 9:00 am
I as a male also carry the potential of rape with me (inside the building,consealed of course). We need to be able to make choices and receive the conseqences for our choices whether they are good or bad. Just because we have the potential for rape doesn’t mean we exercise that very awful choice.
September 26th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
The writers of this law have obviously never had to fire a disgruntled employee in the world of manufacturing. There is no cooling down period. A disgruntled employee can go right to their car and get a firearm. I would feel much safer having a no weapons (including firearms) policy for my company’s property…this does, essentially, decrease the chance of someone going to their car to get a gun to “blow someone’s brains out” in my facility.
September 29th, 2008 at 11:22 am
The problem is balancing employee’s Constitutional rights to bear arms with employer’s rights over their property. If a (now-fired) non-employee can come into the building easily with a weapon, then there appears to be a security issue, regardless if employees can carry weapons in their locked vehicles.
If an employee can’t park his/her vehicle on company property with a weapon locked inside, then this effectively prevents the employee from bringing the weapon in their vehicle at all (even when not on company property) if they are on their way to/from work.
Perhaps some middle ground can exist such as separate parking areas for those who wish to keep weapons locked in their vehicles, etc. Another option might be to require those who carry weapons to check them in, unloaded, with the security guard, etc. Of course there will be problems with solutions like these, but hopefully some smart people will figure out the details to balance everybody’s rights and responsibilities.
October 12th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
Keith,
The fact – not based on your theories, emotions, or “what-ifs” – is that CWP holders are statistically very unlikely to commit crimes – ESPECIALLY with firearms. Most of us are fastidiously law-abiding citizens. We understand that an infraction may endanger our ability to keep that CWP permit and that a felony will definitely get it revoked. We have not paid $200, gone through a class and done all the paperwork just to lose that permit on a crazy whim.
Incredibly, in spite of all the nonsense rhetoric, it seems that adults most often choose to think rationally and logically, even when angry. I’ve gotten pissed off at people before. Who hasn’t? I would never think of even reaching for my firearm when angry though, because that’s not what it’s for. I’d be far more likely to reach for my phone and call someone to complain, if possible.
Your “no weapons” policy can and will be ignored by anyone who wants to bring a gun with them. Are you going to search every car that comes into the lot? Do you really want to be in a big room with one angry lunatic who brought a gun despite your unpersuasive signs, and all of the other unarmed people are running for their lives? At that point, you might be wishing you’d have carried yourself.