Okla. Law Allows Guns on Company Property

T

TheeBadOne

Moderator
TULSA, Okla. — In Oklahoma, "Take Your Gun to Work Day" could be every day — but some employers are trying to change that.

Whirlpool Corp. (WHR) has sued to block a new law that allows employees to keep guns in their locked vehicles on workplace parking lots. The law was scheduled to take effect Nov. 1, according to the Associated Press, but a federal judge blocked it. Only Kentucky has a similar law.

Whirlpool, which is trying to save its ban on firearms on company property, believes workplace safety should override the rights of gun owners.

"This is a standard company rule that's intended to protect employees ... and to minimize the risk of any incident occurring," Whirlpool said in a statement to FOX News.

Tulsa police are similarly concerned about the prospect of violence in the workplace.

Disgruntled employees who wanted to do violence would be "able to have quick access to that gun ... be able to access that facility with that gun, so there's just a quicker step for them to be able to actually use that gun inside that facility," police Sgt. Kim Presley told FOX News.

But Oklahoma gun rights activists argue that they should be allowed to keep weapons in their vehicles on employer property because they want to be armed on the ride to and from work. In addition, they believe the state constitution guarantees their right to bear and transport firearms.

State Rep. Jerry Ellis, a Democrat, believes that keeping guns off employer property won't prevent workplace violence.

"People that are going to do violence in the workplace ... it doesn't make any difference how many laws that you have on the books. They have no respect for the law and they're going to do it anyway," Ellis told FOX News.

Oklahoma's heavily Republican legislature and Democratic Gov. Brad Henry overwhelmingly support the law, which was drafted after 12 workers who were found to have stored guns in their parked cars on company property were fired. Those 12 are now suing.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,138512,00.html
 
PsychoSword asked: "What good are they in a locked vehicle in a parking lot?"

Answer: Probably not much good at all in most circumstances, but a couple of thoughts stand out.

It would be better to be in the car in the parking lot so that I would have it if I needed it on the way home, . . . rather , . . . than on the dresser at my soon to be widow's house, don't you think?

If the devil comes a calling inside the plant, . . . you can only run like a rabbit if you are not armed, . . . but if your 1911 is in your Ford, . . . your direction at least is known.

Letting these folks get away with mandating what you can and cannot do with your own personal property (your Ford and your 1911) and jeapardizing your safety when not on "their" property to satisfy some bean counter's idea of safety, . . . well that is just plain dumb if you don't at least stand up and voice against it.

Anyway, . . . that is the way I see it in my little world.

May God bless,
Dwight
 
What good is a gun in the car? Well, maybe a lot. If you can't leave a gun in your car, then either you have to park off-site or drive to and from work without a gun and that may not be very convenient for many folks. No, a gun in your car won't help you much for an incident inside of work, or at least probably not. However, I recall a shooting at some college a couple of years back where two LEOs taking classes managed to go to their vehicles and recover guns to use against the shooter. No doubt this would be an exception to normal circumstances.

If you can't carry inside work, the next best place for your gun and access is in your vehicle.

Something that must be understood is that a law saying a legal gun carrier (as by license or simply transporting legally) has the right to bring a gun onto private property (assuming the company is not a government entity or the business is not located on government property) owned or leased by the business is to essentially infringe on private property rights. That would mean that private property is no longer private and that the owner/lessee no longer has control over that aspect of their own property. It would be very easy to extend that concept to non-commercial private property (your home) or private property including your home out of which you conduct business. You may not wish to have employees or visitors bringing guns onto your property. I can understand Whirlpool's wish to block the law as it takes away rights, their rights. Having rights is something gun owners take to heart, no doubt. Why should the rights of gun owners supercede the rights of employers? If you work some place that does not allow carry, then change jobs.
 
however, there has been significant case law pertaining to one's vehicle and contents on private property.

there is a middle ground. it is neither the full domain of the car owner, nor of the private property owner. laws and courts have struck a middle line.. in some instances closer to the property owner, in others, to the auto owner.
 
some state laws have outlined that private places that prohibit concealed handguns, provided they have the proper signs, that they cannot prohibit them in their barking lots... while others make no such notion and then the parking lot, which is privately owned, says " not on my property, you cant"


this is where oklahoma is at... and this bill was supposed to alleviate this but now its hitting a road block
 
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