Posted on 03/29/2006 10:04:37 AM PST by kiriath_jearim
You mean if I let people park on my property, it's no longer my property? Or at least, my property rights are "balanced" by someone else's equal-and-opposite right to use my property against my will? Interesting.
I assume the same is true of your driveway? So I can walk up your driveway with an M16, as long as I don't leave the driveway or enter your house? Because my rights and yours "balance" in your driveway? Just curious.
There are competing property rights here.
Property rights never compete. Your property is yours, and mine is mine, period.
You can do both of these things- you can tell visitors to your property that their using your driveway is conditioned on allowing you to search their car. They can refuse a search, but you can deny them the privilege of parking on your driveway.
Many private parking garages here in DC, for example, require you to pop your trunk and submit to a search of your car before letting you in to park. Perfectly legal.
Will the company guarantee my safety on my way home from work?
In a publicly accessible parking lot? No. Not without a warrent they cannot. I'd hold a different opinion if they were gating it and had armed security.
Private citizens have no duty to help you exercise your rights. Your ability to defend yourself going to and from work is not your employer's concern.
Nor can private citizen arbitrarily strip another of their Rights. No help is required.
You have every right to keep your gun in your car. However, you have no right to use your employer's parking lot in violation of his rules.
If they have the parking lot open to the public, then they also have to respect the equal Rights of those individuals that will come along with it. Just because my car is on their property does not give them de facto ownership of said car.
If she owns the parking lot, she can ban anything she wants. If I don't like it, I'll have to figure something out. There are infinitely many options, but a few include: work for someone else more reasonable; comply with the rules; park nearby and walk; take a bus; carpool; some combination of the above.
...And no house is safe from burglary, therefore people should have to leave their guns for safekeeping with the police and leave them there, because somebody might take it from them if they ever have it in their possesion.
See how easy this is?
I had a job once where they made me bring my gun.
That would be weird, but what would prevent an employer from imposing such a (dumb) rule?
Can she ban the bible?
Not on its own, but they could ban all books.
or leather seats?,
Sure, why not? There are employers that ban leather from their premises.
can they ban tire gauges, how about spare tires
Sure.
Or you could organize a boycott against the company and try to put them out of business.
I am boycotting Conoco as of this moment.
Or you could organize a boycott against the company and try to put them out of business.
I am boycotting Conoco as of this moment.
Exactly, it's a 2 way street. If the employer fails to protect you, then he should be just as liable for that.
If you're forced to use it, then there will be far larger issues to deal with, than disobeying a corporate rule.
Better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6.
Your employer does not have any duty to guaranty your safety on your commute to and from work.
Tort reform?
Exactly. Like I said, from the tar down is the business owners. From the tires up, mine. No competition whatsoever.
"The company says it, "supports the second amendment and the rights of law abiding citizens to own guns"."
No it doesnt and I don't support them.
I deal with local mom and pop stores and avoid conoco like the plague.
It is only logical.
All they need is a sign saying "All vehicles subject to search." They probably wouldn't even need to do that- they could just post a security guard at the entrance and forbid entry to anyone who refused to consent to a search. Rules in employee handbooks authorizing searches of vehicles are common and fully enforceable.
Nor can private citizen arbitrarily strip another of their Rights.
You have no "right" to enter another's property in violation of their rules.
If they have the parking lot open to the public, then they also have to respect the equal Rights of those individuals that will come along with it.
So, do you have the right to hold a political rally in your employer's parking lot?
"What I have in my car or truck is no more anyones business than what I have in my home."
Agreed. There is a Glock 22 downstairs in my car right now. I was goofing on the article saying "take a gun to work". I don't work in my car in the parking lot.
What does "publically accessible" mean? It doesn't mean "public", since the lot in question is private property. I guess you mean that it's connected to a road, so anybody driving by might be able to enter. If that cancels the owner's right to say who parks and who doesn't, then the same applies to your "publically accessible" driveway.
If they have the parking lot open to the public...
You use the word "public" as if it's magical. It isn't. And the parking lot isn't "open to the public"; the owner allows his employees to park their, providing they agree to abide by certain rules that he spells out in advance.
To make this clear, consider that he most certainly can fence in the lot and place a guard booth at the entrance. I'm sure you wouldn't deny that.
Now consider. Can the guard turn you away if you don't have an employee sticker on your windshield? Of course he can. Can he demand ID and check an employee list for your name? Yes, if the lot's owner instructs him to. And likewise, he can say, "Please raise your right hand and solemnly swear you have no weapons in your vehicle." You can refuse, of course. And he can refuse to lift the gate. You'll just have to park somewhere else.
The only difference is that your boss probably doesn't have a fence and a guard. He believes that you can be trusted to obey the lot rules without a guard watching you, and he's willing to use the honor system. Little does he realize, but you apparently believe that his parking lot isn't really his, but is rather "public property". Meaning, more or less, that it's really yours.
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