TX CHL holders--ACT NOW!

JohnKSa

Administrator
SB 534 would prevent employers from penalizing a CHL holder for keeping a handgun in a locked vehicle in the company parking lot while at work. It also provides liability immunity for the employer for incidents relating to CHL holder's actions.

It is currently in this committee.

http://www.house.state.tx.us/committees/050.htm

There isn't much time left to get it moving before the legislative session ends.

Send them an email (just click on a committe member's name and you'll be taken to their website and given the option to send an email) and let them know that it doesn't make sense to disarm a permit holder from the time they leave home in the morning until the time they return from work at night.

An email to House Speaker Tom Craddick would help too.

http://www.house.state.tx.us/members/dist82/craddick.htm

It's easy to say that one could just change jobs, but I had around a decade invested in my career at my company before they changed their policy to forbid CHL holders' handguns in locked cars in the parking lot. And if I changed jobs to a company that allowed it, there's no guarantee that the new company wouldn't change its policy the next day.

My company provides on site security but that doesn't do anything for me during my 90 minute commute nor during the errands I often run after work. Parking offsite is a solution for some but many, like me, can't do it feasibly.

The bill only applies to CHL holders and provides liability immunity for the employers for any incidents relating to CHL holder's handguns. Even so, there are several large businesses and business associations lobbying heavily against it. One provided the results of a poll to support their argument but the questions they asked were pretty skewed--among other things, they failed to inform the polled persons that the bill only applied to permit holders.

It will probably pass if it gets out of committee for a floor vote.
 
The company I work for has a policy against guns in the workplace, but a corporation is private property and as I have a general respect for the prerogatives of property owners, I am not at all inclined to support this type of legislation.

If I have no regard for the rights of other men, how am I justified in my conviction that other men should have respect for my rights?

Best Regards,
Richard
 
Lest we forget, a corporation is a political construct. It is not a natural person. It does not have rights. The State grants certain privileges to corporations. Simply because they look like rights, these privileges can be revoked by legislative act.

As for the single owner business, they are regulated, heavily I might add, for the health and safety of the public. By that simple measure, allowing CHL holders to lock their arms in their private vehicle does not in any manner infringe upon the property rights of the owner or the corporation... At least as far as all the other regulations do not "infringe" on the rights of the businessman. Such arguments are specious at best.
 
Richard Hanson,

Remember, we're not talking about carrying a gun inside the doors (in the workplace), just being able to leave a permit handgun in a locked vehicle in the public parking lot.

It's already LEGAL for me to have my handgun in the parking lot--but my company (and many others) will terminate on the first offense if it is discovered.

In other words, if I (as a CHL holder) were a visitor to my company, they could not legally prevent me from leaving a handgun in my vehicle. But as an employee they can fire me if they find out. The bottom line is that they disarm me from the time I leave the house in the morning until the time I return in the evening--NOT just during the time I spend in the workplace (under their physical roof).

You, as a TX property holder have the legal right to prevent me from bringing a gun into your home or place of business. But the law says you can't force me to leave it at home. The companies are fighting to keep their ability to do the latter via the threat of termination.

BTW, parking offsite is against company policy as well so I'm really stuck.
 
Good post, John.

To Richard: If you open your premises for commerce with the public, what gives you the right to deny the public the right of self-defense on your premises? I assume you expect the police and firemen to come to your private business to save you. They are funded by taxes from the public whose rights you deny. If you deny others rights on your property that you volunteer opened for commerce, why not expect you to defend yourself?

You don't have to be in business with the public or engage in commerce.
 
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