Posted on 03/13/2007 11:26:20 PM PDT by neverdem
The U.S. Constitution and most state constitutions guarantee the right to keep and bear arms. Transporting a firearm in your vehicle for protection while traveling to and from work, grocery shopping, to the doctor's office, to a shopping center or anywhere else people commonly travel is central to that right.
In Plona v. United Parcel Service, 2007 (U.S. District Court, N.D. Ohio), UPS fired an employee for having a firearm stored in his vehicle in a public-access parking lot used by UPS employees and customers. The court found that "the right to keep and bear arms" is enough to form the basis of a wrongful termination. Further, U.S. District Judge Ann Aldrich found that "allowing an employer to terminate an employee for exercising a clearly established constitutional right jeopardizes that right, even if no state action is involved."
Businesses are prohibited from discriminating because of race, age, sex, religion, nationality, etc. And clearly they are also prohibited from discriminating against those who exercise their right to keep and bear arms for personal protection and other lawful purposes like hunting and target shooting.
Individual constitutional and legal rights do not end when we drive onto a business parking lot. Simply put, business property rights do not trump the Constitution or the law.
State legislatures have a duty to protect the constitutional rights of individuals from abuses. They must act as a shield to protect constitutional rights of the people; they also must act as the point of a sword to punish those who violate our inalienable rights. That is at the heart of this debate.
Businesses cannot substitute their own political philosophies for constitutional rights. And nowhere in the Constitution are businesses given any authority to prohibit rights in their parking lots. Businesses have no more right to ban firearms in private vehicles than they do to ban books. Businesses may impose only restrictions that do not rise to the level of contravening protected rights.
Nor can employers require you to waive your protected rights. They cannot, as a condition of employment, require you to give up your right to vote; neither can they require you to give up your right of self-protection or your right to keep and bear arms.
On the common-sense side, think about a mom who doesn't get off work until midnight. She may drive 30 or 40 miles over dark, desolate roads to get home to her family. She may stop at a convenience store and pick up bread for school lunches the next day.
Her employer has no right to tell her that she'll be fired if she exercises her right to have a firearm in her vehicle for protection.
Think about women who work late hours as cashiers at supermarkets. And what about employees of all-night pharmacies, or nurses or lab technicians who work late shifts and drive to and from work through dangerous areas late at night?
As one female legislator asked, what about lawmakers who travel their districts at night for speaking engagements? Are they not supposed to park anywhere or stop for a cup of coffee or a soda or a bite to eat because they carry a gun in the car for protection?
A woman who is being stalked or who has obtained a domestic violence injunction against an abuser needs protection. Police often advise these women to buy a gun for protection because police can't be there to protect them. An employer violates her rights if the employer attempts to force her to waive her rights and chose between her life and her job.
The keeping of firearms in a vehicle is a preeminent right that is well-grounded in law and public policy. Legislatures must stop the abuse of our most basic and fundamental Second Amendment rights on the part of corporate giants.
Interesting point and I will cogitate on it.
Thanks!
You are dead wrong. Try firing all women, because they are women.
Wrong, -- and this judge explains why:
In Plona v. United Parcel Service, 2007, -- U.S. District Judge Ann Aldrich found that "allowing an employer to terminate an employee for exercising a clearly established constitutional right jeopardizes that right, even if no state action is involved."
Two questions I would have for any prospective employer would be:
1) Do you yourself carry a firearm on your person or close at hand while restricting that same right to your empployees?
2) Are you prepared to incur potential liability if anything should occur as a result of your restrictive policies?
You could make a more asinine comment, right?
Most Some states have laws that your guns must be disassembled during transportation.
I could keep a Hustler magazine in the car if it wasn't lying on the seat open to a "pictorial" page. Not sure what would happen if it were and I don't want to find out.
The point I should have made is not that my employer restricts my rights, it's that I surrender some of my rights by working there. Look at the military contract. It's even more restrictive. They can't publicly criticize the chain of command. They can't refuse a lawful assignment. Why they can't even commit adultery! - CINC excepted of course if (D)
Second amendment rights trump private property rights? I don't think so, but it'd be nice if it were so (for 1st amendment too!).
Gun-free zones are invitation to become crime zones. Any business owner that's okay with that I don't think has their customer's safety in mind. It' their property to do as they see fit so long as they don't initiate force against anyone or their property. In other words, each person is free to say "no" and walk away. Freedom of association is also the freedom to not associate.
I am a woman, and I have been fired. No reason has to be given. You are saying a reason is necessary. It is not.
Employees that drive 30 miles to a their workplace.
A lot can happen.
I can see law suits just waiting to happen because of this policy.
I see your point about property rights, but isn't my car MY property?
Isn't your body your property too?
Actually, very few states have that as a requirement. Mostly the "extreme blue" states in the Northeast.
Massachusetts has become a disgrace to its own history. I'm sure John and Sam Adams are generating high wattage spinning in their graves.
Employees that drive 30 miles to a their workplace. A lot can happen.
Doesn't freedom of association mean that an employee (or prospect employee) can say no and walk away, just as an employer can say no and walk away? And both of them can do that for any reason or no reason? That's with regard to being honest, not according to the massively corrupt politicians and bureaucrats in government. You know that whole personal responsibility thing.
I can see law suits just waiting to happen because of this policy.
Which is as corrupt as the parasitical elites in government. You know that whole personal responsibility thing.
I'm trying to be polite.
Suggest you do the same.
If you want to rely on bad government laws that's you business. When you or your property are damaged by someone then you have a case. Good luck trying to convince an impartial jury that a picture of a naked body harmed you.
Guns don't kill -- people do.
Pornography doesn't rape people -- people do.
Oh I agree that one can be fired for no reason. I also agree that no reason need be given. But, there are reasons for which no one may be fired, even here in Texas. Unlawful firing and discrimination lawsuits get filed and won all the time here. An unlawful reason need not be given for it to be discerned.
I think you misunderstood my original post. My original comment was a serious one.
I was pissed that I would have to point out something so basic (1st Amendment applies to political speech - original intent of the Founders) to an active reader of this forum. That shouldn't have been necessary.
My comment about Flynt was a sneer at Flynt posturing himself as some kind of paragon of virtue for peddling smut.
AFA "bad government laws" the fewer the better. I'm all about freedom.
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