Posted on 11/14/2004 4:58:38 PM PST by LouAvul
TULSA, Okla. — In Oklahoma, "Take Your Gun to Work Day" could be every day — but some employers are trying to change that.
Whirlpool Corp. (WHR) has sued to block a new law that allows employees to keep guns in their locked vehicles on workplace parking lots. The law was scheduled to take effect Nov. 1, according to the Associated Press, but a federal judge blocked it. Only Kentucky has a similar law.
Whirlpool, which is trying to save its ban on firearms (search) on company property, believes workplace safety should override the rights of gun owners.
"This is a standard company rule that's intended to protect employees ... and to minimize the risk of any incident occurring," Whirlpool said in a statement to FOX News.
Tulsa police are similarly concerned about the prospect of violence in the workplace.
.......snip..........
State Rep. Jerry Ellis (search), a Democrat, believes that keeping guns off employer property won't prevent workplace violence.
"People that are going to do violence in the workplace ... it doesn't make any difference how many laws that you have on the books. They have no respect for the law and they're going to do it anyway," Ellis told FOX News.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Bears repeating.
The focus should be on property rights. In my opinion, if I own a parking lot, I should be able to determine what things are allowed on that lot and which things are prohibited. I am against state-imposed gun control, but if someone doesn't want firearms on THEIR property, they should be allowed to make that decision. No one is forcing anyone to work for am anti-gun private employer.
Great now the criminals just found them self some more easy targets for robbery, rape and mayhem.
Wow.. a Democrat that "gets it". Worth noting.
Some companies are saying that they have the right to restrict people from having guns in their cars that are *not* parked on company property.
And how upset would they be if, as I pulled in the gate, I handed the guard my weapon and asked for a claim-check?
What do the expect, people to toss it out the window before pulling in off the street?
This is NOT frivolous.
I lived a mile up a dirt logging road, 7 miles from the nearest hamlet, and 25 miles from the hospital in town where I worked. There was always a pistol, and often also a rifle, in the car...I had CCW and a hunting license, and often went shooting, hunting, or fishing after getting off work at 7 AM. A lot of the nurses and techs lived in the boonies, too, and darn sure did not drive to work at 11 pm unarmed, especially not after one was run off the road & raped one night.
What is kept in a locked vehicle is not the employer's business, nor anyone elses, as long as it isn't creating a public nuisance or public hazard.
So, if you work for me and park in my lot, I can ban your car from displaying a John Kerry bumpersticker?
Of course not, the First Amendment trumps my property rights.
Just as the Second Amendment trumps Whirlpool's property rights here.
To have to get off at eleven or three in the morning or go in for that matter and have to drive an hour or so to get to work or home with no protection in case of a break down .
Lots of times these jobs are in the worst part of town around docks and warehouses or you have to go through them to get there.
Then if you are single when you get home in the middle of the night and have to go inside your house where someone could be waiting between you and your gun.
It's awful easy for stalker to pattern someone who works regular.
This really stupid.
I second that.
Is Whirlpool going to guarantee the employees' safety to, from, and at work?
How many other rights am I supposed to lose when I enter someone's personal property?
Dude, you are way off.
I see your point - but only up to a certain point. The employees should make it publicly known that the employer cares more about the possibility of a lawsuit than it does about the lives of their employees. Much like the pizza companies that won't allow their delivery drivers to be armed or the convenience store owners who leave their late-shift workers defenseless. In the last analysis, it's an individual decision. Ignore the company's silly rule and make a large public stink if they do happen to catch you and fire you for it. What's the old expression? "Better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6"?
Maybe timm22 might provide escorts.
If a potentially violent employee knows that that many of his co-workers are armed and willing to stop him dead in his tracks...he very may well rethink his murderous plans and not go postal at Whirpool
The police (or perhaps just the police chief) agree with Whirl Pool's anti gun anti second amendment stand..
imo
Exactly. There must be some real commie gun-grabber types running policy at Whirlpool. Time for a consumer boycott of Whirlpool applicances to wake them up . . .
And you would be wrong. "Your" property (the parking lot) begins at the outer skin of the automobile. Inside that skin is the private property of the owner of the vehicle. Only if he moves the firearm across that threshold have YOUR property rights been violated.
In SC we have shall issue laws, and folks I have worked for have tried to say that we cannot carry guns in our cars.
I say if no one knows what is the issue.
If someone wants to search my car without a search warrant, I may lose my job, but I have my freedoms intact.
I've often wondered, for any legal folks out there, can my car be my property and then become my employers property once I drive onto their lot.
If my car remains my property on thier lot, it seems that I have the right to keep my gun on my property, as long as I am not breaking the law.
Now, where's my Sig? (just kidding).
I don't know if you can, but you SHOULD be able to do so, yes. I don't have the right to drive my car onto your property.
Of course not, the First Amendment trumps my property rights.
So if I want to peacefully distribute KKK literature in someone's business or front yard, I should be able to do so?
Care to elaborate?
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