Posted on 04/03/2013 9:01:06 AM PDT by marktwain
Mohave County Board of Supervisors approved employee weapon carry Monday during a general meeting in Kingman. Supervisor Gary Watson, R-Dist. 1, and Supervisor Hildy Angius, R-Dist. 2, were opposed.
The measure affects the county administration building, at 700 W. Beale Street, in Kingman. The policy will be evaluated in six months.
“I’m uncomfortable with the whole thing because I understand people,” said Angius during the meeting.
Watson and Supervisor Joy Brotherton, R-Dist. 4, agreed.
“I really feel uneasy to allow those weapons to our employees as a whole, there is a liability we have to entertain,” Watson said. “The county is in a unique situation and that liability is extremely huge. And a number of employees have expressed their discomfort.”
Brotherton picked the lesser of two evils.
“I’m uncomfortable with the whole situation, too, but I’m more uncomfortable with citizens coming in with guns and the employees not having the guns,” she said. “I’m not sure I want to be a sitting duck if something happens and I have no protection.”
During the meeting, eight individuals, most of who are county employees, addressed supervisors on the issue. The majority supported employee gun carry, especially if individuals are trained to handle the weapon. The few opposed cited reasons of personal safety when it comes to disgruntled co-workers.
(Excerpt) Read more at havasunews.com ...
Nice to see you here and commenting. I am glad that you are a freeper.
Did you know that when Wisconsin passed its long overdue “shall issue” law in 2011, part of the law removed employers legal liability if they allowed their employees to carry?
That sounds like a good reform for the Arizona legislature.
Here is a story about a company in Wisconsin that allows its employees to carry. It has more than a hundred employees. How many employees does Mohave County have?
Name me one Corporation, anywhere, that allows its employees to carry weapons into the workplace.
It’s not the AZ legislature, it is ONLY Mohave County. There is no other government building, as far as I am aware of, in all of Arizona that allows its employees to carry weapons. There were insurance issues as well. The building in question had an metal detector. One of the first things we did as a board was to get rid of the metal detector. We are a right to carry State. That was put in place in 2010 and it was put in place as punishment for people who spoke against the County. We voted to take that out. The building is about 3-500 ft. away from the Sheriff’s Dept. and has armed guards roaming it. They are the safest building in the County. This is a complicated issue. Again, please name me one Corporation that allows their employees to bring in weapons. Again, I was torn with this vote. I knew it was going to pass, but I just don’t think we had all the information we needed right now.
Locally to me, most gun store employees carry as a matter of course. Closer to you, the Scottsdale Gun Club allows their employees to carry in accordance with AZ State law. News stories from several States are cropping up where school Districts are allowing their staff to carry personal armaments.
Still more info here and on just about every gun forum...
So yeah... We're in the minority, but that doesn't make the practice wrong, insane, silly, or inadvisable. Quit to the contrary, we need to do everything we can to get responsible folks carrying everywhere and anywhere.
Sorry that I was not more clear. I was suggesting that the reform that was put in place in Wisconsin would be a good reform for the Arizona legislature to put in place. I realize that you are not a member of the Arizona legislature.
"There is no other government building, as far as I am aware of, in all of Arizona that allows its employees to carry weapons. "
I believe you are correct. It is always scary to be a pioneer. Still, I think your County board did the right thing.
You now have the link about the story in Wisconsin where Blair Hardware (which is a corporation) is allowing its employees to carry. Thank you for your service. It is not easy serving as a public servant. I think that six months from now you will be supporting this position.
Again, the devil was in the details. I did not feel comfortable with the way this motion was written. It left out a whole bunch of building that really do need, in my opinion, to be able to have weapons. IT was narrowly focused to this one building with hundreds of employees and I didn’t feel I had all the information on liability, etc. But it did pass. And now that we are letting this particular building carry guns, I think it’s only fair to allow the building in outlying areas, that really do deserve and need to have them, be allowed to have them. I will work towards that.
“IT was narrowly focused to this one building with hundreds of employees and I didn’t feel I had all the information on liability, etc. But it did pass. And now that we are letting this particular building carry guns, I think it’s only fair to allow the building in outlying areas, that really do deserve and need to have them, be allowed to have them. I will work towards that.”
I am so glad to be hearing your side of what happened. You are absolutely correct. How many of your employees work in remote areas on roads or other projects, a long, long way from any response from the Sheriff?
Thank you again for taking the time to give us the inside story.
I remember my father working as a State surveyor for the State Highway Department in the 1960s. They routinely carried a gun or two among them, and there was no problem. All of these prohibitions have been slowly pushed onto us to demonize the ownership of firearms over the years.
Heck, I even brought a pistol to a federally funded crew that I was working on about 1970. We worked out in the woods and had informal target contests (where I won back my poker losses) at lunch. No one said “boo”.
I just found out that Supervisor Johnson put this back on the agenda for our special Board meeting on Monday. I bet that’s what it’s about. I will keep you posted.
You mean allowing all county employees the same rights as those in the one building?
Thanks for the update!
thanks Hildy!
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