Posted on 08/24/2005 3:15:02 PM PDT by Dan from Michigan
Guns At Work
Big business and the gun lobby are going at it over workplace firearms. Will the Bush administration pick sides?
By Robert B. Reich
Web Exclusive: 08.18.05
Listen to the evening news and you’re likely to hear a grizzly story about a disaffected worker or estranged spouse or dissatisfied customer arriving at a workplace and going ballistic. It’s all too common.
About 17 employees are murdered every week in American workplaces by someone with a gun, making gun-related killings the third-biggest safety hazard facing American workers -- right after vehicles and machines. In fact, gun-related homicide is the leading cause of death at the workplace for women.
Researchers at the University of North Carolina have shown that killings are five times more likely to occur at workplaces where guns are allowed as where they’re prohibited. It’s just common sense.
So what are we doing about this? Some well-known American companies are taking action. It’s government that’s the problem.
A while back, the Weyerhauser Corporation banned weapons in cars parked in its employee parking lots. Workers who thereafter arrived with shotguns, handguns, rifles, and automatic weapons were fired.
But legislators in Oklahoma didn’t like this at all. Apparently Oklahoma’s lawmakers are more concerned about protecting gun owners than protecting average working people. So they enacted a state law preventing companies from instituting no-guns-in-company-parking-lot policies. Unless something’s done, the law goes into effect this November.
Thankfully, something is being done. A group of companies is going to court to block that Oklahoma law. They say they have a right to take action to protect their employees on company property. These companies -- including the energy giant Halliburton; aircraft-part maker Nordam; and ConocoPhillips, the largest oil refiner in America -- deserve the thanks of workers in Oklahoma and in any other states where gun-fawning lawmakers are intent on endangering them.
True to form, the National Rifle Association is taking a stand against these companies, and in favor of people who want to bring guns to work. It’s even organizing a boycott of ConocoPhillips gas stations.
Now, you may ask, where is the federal government in all this? The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is supposed to set national policy for workplace safety. Since it was established more than 30 years ago, OSHA has often been corporate America’s worst nightmare, focusing its enforcement on picayune rules and regulations.
Now here’s OSHA’s chance to side with corporate America and protect workers’ lives. OSHA ought to ban guns in every workplace across America -- thereby preempting the Oklahoma legislation and sending the National Rifle Association packing.
If OSHA fails to take action on this one, you might suspect that the National Rifle Association has trained its sights on the Bush administration.
Wow. You would think we would hear more about these 17 weekly shootings on the MSM...what, we don't? Could it be because it's another case of "lies, damn lies, and statistics"???
I will have you know that I have no problems with guns anywhere except in the hands of criminals!
Or how about a shooting range?
I hope our mail carriers don't hear about the proposed ban...they might go postal.
A key phrase meaning "I have no proof for this but you're a Nazi if you doubt it." You hear it a lot in gun control debates.
Uh, I work from home...does that mean no guns at home or just my work area? What if a person with a cwp visits?
To come up with that figure, I suspect he is including robberies by people that don't work there. ...Or he is just making it up. I also suspect he might be including suicides as well.
That said, how many of these times is anyone else there armed?
I work on a military post. I'm also a concealed carry licensee. Last I heard, I still can't carry my weapon on post - even if I chose to, which I don't.
If you look at the quote, notice it doesn't say "by a fellow employee". If a convenience store cashier is killed in a robbery, that's a "workplace murder"
Bookmark bump...
To be eternally guarded against....
imo
What about at a gun shop? I wonder if that's their plan.
No guns at the police station or at military bases, it's against OSHA reg's ya know... [/rolling eyes
im so shocked, you mean they are actually fighting for something they believe in. /sarcasm
fighting gun control is one the main purposes of the NRA,so why does the author choose to word the sentenc like this? could it be because it pisses liberals off that conservatives believe in something
"Researchers at the University of North Carolina have shown that killings are five times more likely to occur at workplaces where guns are allowed as where they’re prohibited"
False.
Discounting all law enforcement is necessary to make this statement plausible. Also, "guns allowed" is quite different than 'not disallowed'.
Another case of public funds used to fund a "study" designed for a specific predetermined outcome.
"About 17 employees are murdered every week in American workplaces ...'
They pull these numbers out of thin air, repeat them ad nauseum and nobody ever calls them on it. I once heard a Boston tv nooz anchor repeat an alleged statistic implying that 52 six year olds shot their five year old friends in the head with daddy's unlocked pistol EVERY DAY. Hmmmmm, think it would be nooz if 52 six year olds were killing their little friends EVERY DAY?
Exactly. So convenient, dishonest....and so predictable.
Dear Mr. Reich,
I think this is a terrific idea! As you say, when guns are at a place of business, people who try to make their living there are at risk! We need to be sure that guns are banned from all work places, and places of business! Of course, this would have to include any armed security patrols, as well as police. Please note that the vast majority of policement shot in the line of duty, are shot with their own weapons. And we've all heard about cases where security guards have gone nuts, and either shot themselves (some accidentally, others committing suicide, like the Wackenhut security guard in Independence, MO a few years ago) or their co-workers, or clients.
I think that for our safety, it's imperative for the government to ban all firearms from ALL workplaces and businesses. Especially banks!
Sincerely,
Willie Sutton
3rd Reich ping
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