Sysop

<DIV class=textTimestamp><SPAN id=udtD>updated 40 minutes ago </DIV></DIV><P class=textBodyBlack><SPAN id=byLine>TALLAHASSEE, Florida - Most Florida residents would be allowed to take guns to work under a measure passed by Florida lawmakers on Wednesday.<P class=textBodyBlack><SPAN id=byLine>The bill, allowing workers to keep guns in their cars for self-protection, was approved by the Florida Senate by a vote of 26-13. It now goes to Republican Gov. Charlie Crist to sign into law.<P class=textBodyBlack><SPAN id=byLine>Backed by the National Rifle Association and some labor unions, the so-called "take-your-guns-to-work" measure would prohibit business owners from banning guns kept locked in motor vehicles on their private property <P class=textBodyBlack><SPAN id=byLine>The measure applies to employees, customers and those invited to the business establishment as long as they have a permit to carry the weapon. <P class=textBodyBlack><SPAN id=byLine>Backers say the measure upholds the vision of the authors of the U.S. Constitution, who made the right to bear arms part of the Bill of Rights.<P class=textBodyBlack><SPAN id=byLine>"The second thing they wrote about in that constitution was the right to bear arms," said Sen. Durell Peaden, a Republican from Crestview, Florida. "It was what was dear in their hearts."<P class=textBodyBlack><SPAN id=byLine>Nuclear plants exempted
The measure exempts a number of workplaces including nuclear power plants, prisons, schools and companies whose business involves homeland security.<P class=textBodyBlack><SPAN id=byLine>Critics say the measure usurps business owners' rights to determine what happens on their property and puts workers and managers at risk from disgruntled employees.<P class=textBodyBlack><SPAN id=byLine>Dozens of workplace shootings occur every year in the United States, and studies have shown that job sites where guns are permitted are more likely to suffer workplace homicides than those where guns are prohibited.<P class=textBodyBlack><SPAN id=byLine>"This is an attempt to trample upon the property rights of property owners and attempt to make it more difficult to protect the workers in a workplace and those who visit our retail establishments," said Sen. Ted Deutch, a Boca Raton Democrat. <P class=textBodyBlack><SPAN id=byLine>Oklahoma, Alaska, Kentucky, and Mississippi have similar laws, although in Oklahoma, an appellate court barred the state from enforcing the legislation on grounds that it was unconstitutional.<P class=textBodyBlack><SPAN id=byLine>Florida business groups are urging the governor to veto the measure, saying owners should be allowed to determine what happens on their property.<P class=textBodyBlack><SPAN id=byLine>"We are disappointed that politics clearly won over good policy," Mark Wilson, president and chief executive of the Florida Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement.

SCUBA Junkie

I am all for the right to bear arms, but I am also against legislation limiting the rights of property owners. If the owner of a private business chooses to not allow firearms on their property, that should be respected.

mpmorr

The law in Arkansas is simple, you can bring the gun to work and leave it in your car but if you get caught which would never happen then they have grounds for termination. I will take my chances.

FishingMedic

I understand the businesses not wanting employees to have guns in their cars at work BUT what about the safety of folks while coming and going from work? How do you justify not allowing the person who gets off at dark:thirty the protection of getting home safely in todays world? Yes...VERY controversial and just MY opinion. I feel that if my employer does not want me to have access to a gun thatI want to have available while commuting to and from work, Provide me a place to secure it while AT work:usaflag

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sniper

If I had my gun on some of my jobs I would be in prison right now.

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Telum Pisces

This is something that I have yet to decide for myself. For one, it does not apply to me since I work on a Federal Military Base. Second, I believe the government (State, Federal, County, City etc...) should have no say in what a property owner can and can not allow on their property. They already tell us what we can and can not do enough.

But I also believe in the self preservation of our second amendment right to protect ourself and bear arms.

Here is what I believe.

If a business has parking lots where they allow the general public to use. i.e. Walmart. I feel that they give up the right to tell their employees what they can do when they can not tell the general public that they can not carry etc... If a parking lot for employees is entirely private and closed to everyone except employees, that business owner can operate the business on that property as they see fit.

Many business that deal with the general public either can not or do not stop the general public from carrying a concealed weapon on their property. So why should they stop their employees from doing the same.

Many people are concerned about workplace violence etc... I hate to enform the unenformed, but if a disgruntled employee wants to bring a gun to work to do harm, they are going to do so with our without this law.

And another thing I do not understand about the verbage of this law is the fact that it says that a person will have to have the neccessary permit to carry said weapon in their car at the workplace. In Florida, a person does not need a permit to carry a loaded weapon in the glove box of a vehicle. So why now would this person need a CCP to have this weapon in their car???? I have not read the law, just what the media has reported on it. And everyone says that a person will need a permit to do so. Can someone explain this to me??????

So, I am still trying to figure out where I am on this thing. I think I am leaning toward the persons right to keep the weapon in their car. Just for the shear fact that the employer, 99.9999999999999999999% of the time is not going to guarrantee my safety to and from his/her place of business.

daddytime

The government doesn't need to be telling any of us where and where not and concealed or not concealed.Politicians do nothing but hoard and grow thier power. None of themcan run their governmental body by the same rules you and I have to run our businesses or personalaffairs by. They don't have tocause they got the power. Not a leader amongst none of them. Not the county, not the state, not the feds. If there was any leadership on thier part, they would spend the next couple of years fixing thier own budgets. Not gonna happen though, they are too busy telling everyone else what they can and can not do.

Back to guns, I think bazookas and missile launchers and maybe 50 cal machine guns should be controlled. Small arms should be de-regulated. More law abiding folks would defend themselves and criminals, who are going to get guns whether they are outlawed or not, would be at much more risk when attacking someone. Talk about a deterent, try not having ANY gun free zones.

Never gonna happen because the givernment says the police (the government) are here to protect us. Its called job security. Same as trying to get anything de-regulated, not gonna happen-job security. Snapper regs, redfish regs, etc., never gonna de-reg no matter what the science says, Its the nature of government. Rant over-flame on:baby

matthewy8

i believe as long as you have a permit no property owner should be able to keep you from carrying a gun onto his or her property. unless of course its a school or gov property etc.. (stuff thats already been stated in the concealed handbook). I also believe you should be able to carry one while at work if you have a permit( not likely that will ever change either)

PensacolaEd

Last I heard, your car was your Property. If you choose to keep a gun in your car, it shouldn't matter whose property you drive it on, it's still within your property. Remember, 180 million gun owners did NOT commit any crime today.

Ed

matthewy8

thats onlylegal in some states not all.