08-11-2005, 07:00 PM
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#1 (permalink)
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Crazy
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Do you have the right to have a gun at work?
Looks like this is going to be the latest fight over the 2nd amendment. The NRA is contending that private companies do not have the right to prohibit workers from keeping guns in their cars on company property. They've gotten into a fight with ConocoPhillips corporation over it and if it goes to court it looks like we would be faced with an interesting question. Where do property rights end and gun rights begin? If you own a piece of property do you have the right to tell people they can't bring guns onto your property or does the 2nd amendment protect their right to have it there against your will?
Quote:
Jason Smith is in a tough spot. He works for a company he has been asked to boycott. In an effort to keep weapons out of the workplace, his employer, ConocoPhillips, is challenging state law and has forbidden workers to leave guns in their cars in company parking lots. Now, the National Rifle Association (NRA) is encouraging gun owners to stop buying ConocoPhillips gasoline.
The boycott is the latest skirmish in an expanding battle over gun control. Now that many states allow citizens to carry concealed weapons, the NRA is pushing to eliminate remaining restrictions on where those guns can be taken. Gun-control groups - and some employers - are fighting back. The outcome could decide whether more states expand the rights of licensed owners to carry their guns where they want, despite recent evidence that workplace gun bans do lower risk.
This issue is simmering in states across the country, says Stephen Halbrook, a Virginia lawyer who handles many Second Amendment cases. "But it is in brightest relief in Oklahoma."
That's because Oklahoma is one of only two states with statutes that specifically prohibit employers from banning weapons on their own property. (Kentucky is the other state.) ConocoPhillips and several other employers are challenging the 2003 Oklahoma law in federal court.
"ConocoPhillips supports the Second Amendment and respects the rights of law abiding citizens to own guns," the Houston-based oil company says in a written statement. "Our primary concern is the safety of all our employees. We are simply trying to provide a safe and secure working environment for our employees by keeping guns out of our facilities, including our company parking lots."
But gun-control opponents see the issue in constitutional terms.
"This case clearly goes to the very core of the freedom of Americans to own and travel with firearms in this country," says Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the NRA. If companies successfully block the Oklahoma law, "it could be a blueprint for thousands of corporations across this country to declare their parking lots anti-Second Amendment zones, which could in effect gut 'carry' laws in 38 states and restrict hunters on every hunting trip." Conceivably, gun owners would have nowhere to get a sandwich or fill up with gas, he adds.
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http://csmonitor.com/2005/0812/p01s02-ussc.htm |
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