Posted on 10/22/2005 1:41:31 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Some years ago, long after a co-worker had left the Ministry of Truth, a number of us learned that, during this person's tenure among us, the individual frequently was armed and dangerous in the workplace.
If there is such a thing as a retroactive, post-traumatic, primal scream/crawling into a fetal position/whimpering with delayed fear syndrome -- the idea that many of us once worked alongside not only a complete crazy nut job, but a complete crazy nut job with a GUN certainly qualifies.
Or, put another way, if you ever needed a reason to install the mother of all panic rooms, consider this certifiably insane statistic: At the moment, across our fair beloved state, there are 354,552 Floridians with concealed weapons permits walking among us.
Let's face it, you just know at least a couple thousand of those folks running around with their hidden weapons are probably more unhinged than Edgar Allen Poe meets Rudolf Hess.
A Simple Test
Or perhaps they are directly behind you in traffic. Brrrrrrr.
Which brings us rather neatly to state Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Tea Cup Poodle, the legislative supernumerary of the National Rifle Association, who is the leading lotion boy on behalf of the gun lobby to deny employers the right to bar workers from keeping their weapons in their car while on company property.
How deranged is this?
Take this simple test.
Look around your workplace. Chances are there are one, or two, or three, or more co-workers you and your colleagues have often joked about as being the leading candidate to bring an AK-47 to the office someday.
Or maybe that Dilbert from Hell is -- you!
And now Dennis Baxley, R-You Talkin' To Me?, wants to make it just that much easier for your resident lunatic in the next cubicle to turn Amalgamated Widgets into a killing field.
We live in an imperfect world -- filled with very, very strange people who hear voices; who have issues; who really don't like you just ... because.
And many of these people are down the hall -- seething, fulminating, over in personnel -- filling out a job application.
Perfect World
Purely, as a general principle, can you make some kind of abstract Second Amendment argument that law-abiding citizens ought to be able to take their bazookas, their Uzis, their 50-caliber armor-piercing rocket launchers with them wherever they go, including onto the grounds of Acme Nose Tweezer International?
Well ... OK, whatever.
To be sure, in a perfect world where there was no workplace violence, where some employees weren't more unhinged than Son of Sam meets Lex Luthor, it would be fine if people drove into the company parking lot with their NRA-approved death ray, or their surface-to-air missile, or their Gatling Gun in the trunk. Who would care?
However, if the private sector can regulate other forms of employee behavior, such as smoking in the workplace, why can't employers also establish rules governing the presence of lethal weapons on private property?
There's no question the Florida Legislature, a subsidiary of the National Rifle Association, will pass Baxley's Fortune 500 meets "Six Feet Under" bill.
One question for Baxley, who does happen to have a conflict of interest in his legislation since he is an Ocala funeral director:
If as a result of the representative's legislative actions an act of workplace violence leads to the murders of workers, would Dennis Baxley also be willing to create a NRA-funded compensation account for the surviving families?
Didn't think so.
This columnist needs a concealed brain permit.
Sheesh, get ahold of yourself man - that's embarassing.
Can someone please give this guy a swift kick in the butt?
If you insist on carrying a gun to work and the employer says no, you need to find another job where you can carry a gun to work. Employers have rights too.
The 2nd amendment was meant to regulate the govt. not individual persons.
I thought the same thing about the author when I read that.
"This columnist needs a concealed brain permit."
They will need to see their permit to 'aquire' first!
When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns.
Consider the scenario where an employee has to work late and then is carjacked by armed thugs in the company parking lot as he is leaving to go home. What about the rights of the employee to defend himself on company property? A number of people have been carjacked in affluent parts of the Phoenix suburbs in recent months.
That fool is serious. The columnist is not in need of a permit for a brain. The columnist is in need of a brain. Sheesh!
Wow.....kinda lost for words,(although my wife claims that NEVER happens.....)...
Thanks for your post CW !! Hard to believe that this guy is THAT worried about EVERY single person he sees that "Might" have a "weapon".
I hope maybe after a long day of paranoia at his puter, his husband will give him a cocktail and a "back rub in the hot tub" to soothe his nerves......
BTTT !!
Politely ask the employer for an exception. If the employer refuses, you can find another job.
Consider the scenario where you can't feed your kids on what an employer pays. Do you want the govt. to mandate a "living wage"?
Consider the scenario where the employer does not offer free health care? Do you want the govt. to mandate that ?
Consider the scenario where the employer does not offer free child care, or a 401 k, or flexible time off, or time off for kwanza ?
Can't conceal what you don't posess.
Which Articles in the Bill of Rights are you alluding to in your post?
For a minute there, I was thinking, "Ruthie's gone over to the Times-Pravda!" I love the part about it being "several years ago" at the Trib--most likely before Sweetie Boy Reid purchased the paper, probably back when the Trib was still pro-American. Those were the days...
read posts 3, 8 and 13
What do company pay and benefits have to do with self defense? The right to self defense is inalienable and is not negotiable with anyone. Nobody has the right to say what kind of legal weaponry an employee can keep in his car on company property. Case closed.
Laws against having weapons in a car on company property will never stop anyone who wants to commit an armed felony crime from breaking those laws and committing this crime on company property. Criminals, by definiton, don't care about breaking laws. It's the law-abiding citizen who is hurt by this kind of law because he then cannot defend himself against the criminal.
Horrors! Horrors!
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