The
Right to Bear Guns at Work
Wesley
Higdon, the Atlantis Plastics employee who shot and killed five fellow
workers before turning the gun on himself, was permitted by Kentucky law
to keep his weapon in his vehicle. Employers in Kentucky and five other
states must abide by a law that allows workers and customers to keep guns
in vehicles parked on business property as long as they are locked.
In most of these states, the laws only extend to concealed-weapon permit
holders, but a concealed-weapons permit is not needed in Kentucky if the
gun is kept in the glove compartment, where Higdon stored his. The guns-at-work
debate, however, brings into question a business owner's property rights.
‘If I want to tell somebody that he is not allowed to bring a gun
onto my property, then that should be my right,’ said Tim Rice, owner
of Ward's Heating & Air Conditioning in Lakeland, Florida. In Florida,
however, a law similar to the one in Kentucky is set to go into effect
on July 1st.
In 2005, Oklahoma's legislature also approved legislation to forbid employers
from banning firearms in their parking lots. Similar laws exist in Alaska,
Kansas, Minnesota, and Mississippi. According to the measures, employers
will not be held liable if a shooting were to occur.
