Posted on 02/19/2009 10:11:28 AM PST by cashion
ATTORNEY GENERAL USED AN NRA LAWYER TO ARGUE THE STATE’S POSITION
DENVER - An appeals court said Wednesday that Oklahoma’s law allowing employees to have guns at work in their locked vehicles is valid.
The Denver-based court’s decision overturns a ruling by U.S. District Judge Terence Kern in Tulsa, who barred enforcement of the law.
Gov. Brad Henry and Attorney General Drew Edmondson appealed Kern’s 2007 ruling.
"It was our opinion that the law is constitutional and the court agreed with us today,” Edmondson spokesman Charlie Price said. "We are thankful for the assistance of the National Rifle Association and its counsel — they provided great help.”
Starting with a 2004 lawsuit, several companies challenged the law, including Weyerhauser Corp.; Whirlpool Corp., which later dropped out; and more recently, ConocoPhillips.
"The safety of our employees is a top priority of ConocoPhillips and we are disappointed with today’s decision,” said company spokesman Rich Johnson, adding that the company has not determined whether to appeal.
THE RULING
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided 3-0 that Kern erred in concluding the law is pre-empted by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Act.
Kern said gun-related workplace violence was a "recognized hazard” under the act and the state law interfered with employers’ ability to comply with the act.
"We disagree,” the appellate judges in Denver wrote. "OSHA is aware of the controversy surrounding firearms in the workplace and has consciously decided not to adopt a standard (banning firearms from the workplace).”
The appellate judges said Kern’s ruling "interferes with Oklahoma’s police powers and essentially promulgates a court-made safety standard. ... Such action is beyond the province of federal courts.”
Edmondson, in an unusual step, had an attorney for the rifle association instead one of his own lawyers argue the case at the appeals court. The court had allowed the NRA to submit arguments as a "friend of the court.”
The court allowed the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence and several safety and business groups to submit arguments as friends of the court in support of Kern’s ruling.
THE LAW
The law, which allows nonfelons to lock legal guns in their vehicles while parked at work, was passed in two stages in 2004 and 2005.
The law was proposed by legislators after Weyerhauser reportedly fired eight workers who violated policy by having guns in their vehicles at a mill in southeastern Oklahoma.
It's sad that the anti-gun lobby has been so successful in pushing the false idea that disarmed people are somehow "safer".
Would more Virginia Tech massacres help them to better understand the truth?
I Disagree with this entirely
A workplace is private property and if the owner doesn’t want guns on their private property then they have every right to ban them. Don’t like it, leave the gun home or find a new job.
Ah, property rights vs. gun rights. Now that’s a topic.
The ability to use logic was never one of their strong points.
My vehicle is not your private property.
I agree wholeheartedly.
/sarc
In New Mexico one’s vehicle is considered “extended domain” or the same as your house. As long as the firearm is in the vehicle, a company can’t say boo about it.
The parking lot is one of those gray areas that is not quite public, but not quite private either. By exercising control over an individual's vehicle, the employer is infringing on that individual's privacy. While an employer is not the government, the employment contract does not give the employer the right to interfere in the employee's private affairs, absent a valid interest.
The OK legislature decided that the employee's privacy interest outweighs the employer's theoretical contractual interest in whether or not the employee has a firearm in the car. That's their job.
Not only that, but the interior of my vehicle is a little bubble of my private property that I can move around with me.
Background: Drew Edmonson is running for OK Governor in 2010. This is the same RAT that went in with the lawsuit in CT against the Boy Scouts as AG of OK. But then the lowlife went in with the Gore campaign against Bush to the SCOTUS. Oklahoma, a state that went overwhelmingly to Bush in 2000 was represented by this RAT Edmonson on the side of Gore.
NRA got involved in our Senate election in 2004 with the liberal RAT Carson convinced them he was really a conservative and in favor of guns so Dr. Tom had to fight the NRA endorsement of Carson.
No way would Henry and Edmonson appealed this with a NRA attorney if it wasn’t for the fact the liberal Edmonson wants to be our next Governor.
There’s no allow involved in this. Just shut up and do it anyway
that’s why there’s debate. does the company’s private property rights trump your personal property rights?
if so, how does that square with searches of vehicles for any or no reason, and where does it end?
for example, can they tell you what bumper stickers are allowed on your car in their lot?
personally, i say park on the street or a public lot and demand a security escort to and from your car- as that would square with the part of their justification that they are responsible for anything that happens to you on their property.
SCORE ONE FOR THE GOOD GUYS!!!!
This is good news.
Kern said gun-related workplace violence was a "recognized hazard” under the act and the state law interfered with employers’ ability to comply with the act.So the U.S. Marine Corps is in violation of OSHA.
Good news for me, now I can carry to work legally since I live in OK.
What idiot argued that an OSHA law would supersede a constitutional amendment when the interesting question is about a tension between pre-existing rights: the landowner's property rights versus the right to armed self-defense?
Thanks to the 14th Amendment, the question is now the same for a corporate parking lot versus my house: Do I have a right to preclude a person from bearing a weapon on my land or in my home?
I would agree, but only if the business is totaly responsible for the workers safety from home to work and back. This would inclide all officers, board members and share holders, both as the business and individually.
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