Posted on 10/07/2007 7:54:27 AM PDT by 2Am4Sure
A Tulsa federal judge has ruled against the state in its attempt to make sure employees can take guns onto their employers' property.
U.S. District Judge Terence Kern issued a permanent injunction against an Oklahoma law that would have kept employers from banning firearms at the workplace under certain conditions.
Kern decided in a 93-page written order issued Thursday that the amendments to the Oklahoma Firearms Act and the Oklahoma Self-Defense Act, which were to go into effect in 2004, conflict with a federal law meant to protect employees at their jobs.
Kern said the amendments "criminally prohibit an effective method of reducing gun-related workplace injuries and cannot co-exist with federal obligations and objectives."
(Excerpt) Read more at tulsaworld.com ...
Please,no facts.They're dealing with feeeeelings here.
Wanna bet? Where I work, and it's right in the middle of Texas, we are subject to just such searches, we have to open everything that can be opened. on our vehicles. Hood, trunk, glove box, console (and my console has two compartments, stacked so only one can easily be opened at a time. (should have taken my pistol to the dealers when I bought it, the pistol doesn't fit in the console, as it did in my old car's).
Yes and no.
18 U.S.C. § 241 makes it a crime to conspire to deprive someone of their constitutional rights:
If two or more persons conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any citizen in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States..., [t]hey shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and if death results, they shall be subject to imprisonment for any term of years or for life.
The real question is, where do your constitutional rights end? The answer is simple: They end at your employer's doorstep (or gate, or whatever).
I think any employer attempting to deprive a worker of his/her constitutional rights outside of the workplace would have a long row to hoe.
Of course the problem with the law above is that it’s a criminal statute. You’d have to find a U.S. Attorney willing to bring the case. AFAIK it doesn’t create a private cause of action that would form the basis of a civil lawsuit.
I’ll bet that that judge has a gun at his workplace.
Oh,I see so the First Amendment is so the gov't can freely talk about itself? The Bill of Rights has EVERYTHING to do with We The People and zip about the rights of the govt.
That would be fine, if they provided secure storage facilities at the gate. That would satisfy the desire of the employer to not have accessible guns on it's property, while also protecting the rights of the employee to protect themselves when in transit to and from work.
A lot of bother though, just allowing employees to lock firearms in their vehicles is a lot simpler. If the *state* law required employers to provide such secure storage if they prohibited firearms in employee's vehicles, I suspect most would choose to allow guns in the vehicles, as my employer does on it's property. They prohibit guns because it's easy and cheap, neglecting the cost of being sued if someone comes onto the property and shoots a bunch of employees. If there was a more direct cost to banning guns, that is requiring "safe storage" facilities at the gate, employers might make different choices.
“....If it is important to either the employer or employee, each may base employment decisions on that issue...”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So if I start my own business I can put a sign in the window that says “no muslims allowed”? or “no spanish language allowed”? or “no hiphop culture allowed”?
“....If it is important to either the employer or employee, each may base employment decisions on that issue...”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So if I start my own business I can put a sign in the window that says “no muslims allowed”? or “no spanish language allowed”? or “no hiphop culture allowed”?
No kidding... I used to do a lot of contract work at the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant, and IIRC, the last fatality at the plant was a Wackenhut guard who committed suicide.
Mark
No the First Amendment, and the second, third etc, tell the government what they may *not* do. They do not tell private entities what they may not do.
This is obvious in the first amendment. "Congress shall make no law", and in the second "shall not be infringed". The Second Amendment doesn't require you to keep and bear arms, nor does the first require that you speak or write on political questions.
No the First Amendment, and the second, third etc, tell the government what they may *not* do. They do not tell private entities what they may not do.
This is obvious in the first amendment. "Congress shall make no law", and in the second "shall not be infringed". The Second Amendment doesn't require you to keep and bear arms, nor does the first require that you speak or write on political questions.
So you're saying that I can be denied employment based on my age, race, sex or religion. I don't think so.
Where do you work? Or if you would rather not say where, what kinda place is it?
I’ll give you another example of a work place where it makes sense to ban guns.
A natural gas pumping station.
No firearms, no smoking, no open flames of any kind allowed. They don’t even want you to make sparks.
No, that's not what I said. I said your constitutional rights end at your employer's doorstep. You have no right to free speech, bear arms, etc... at work.
Furthermore, employment isn't a constitutional right. The protections you allude to are statutory.
One day, at another brokerage, my boss called me in the office and showed me HIS gun and asked me to reassemble it for him, contrary to the corporate policy! When the PETA protesters showed up the next day, I KNOW that half the office was packing heat since they PETA people had stalked people at their homes the day before.
My first boss had that policy. I had our family attorney draft a letter asking him what his probable cause was that a crime had been committed in my car, why random searches of private property is not in my contract or the business standard operating procedures (SOP)? etc. It was a cease and desist letter.
Next month half the employees heard of my letter and was telling the boss...."Gotta warrant?"
In OKC, they used explosives-trained dogs to sniff out the ammo stored with the guns.
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