Friday, November 19, 2004

New law allowing employee guns in parking lot blocked

The Whirlpool Corporation in Tulsa, Oklahoma sued to block a new law that would have allowed employees to keep a firearm in their cars in the company parking lot. The law would have taken effect November 1st but a federal judge blocked it.
Whirlpool believes that its workplace violence policy on banning firearms even in the parking lot overrides the rights of gun owners. Along with local law enforcement, they believe that this measure is crucial to help ensure worker safety. It is argued that having a firearm would so accessible would increase the chances for a workplace violence incident to occur.
The gun rights advocates state that the employee have the right to protect themselves on the way to and back from their jobs. The law gained its impetus after 12 employees in Oklahoma (not known if they were Whirlpool employees) were fired for keeping a firearm in their car at work. Only Kentucky has a similar law in the US.

No comments: