Florida's guns-to-work law begins today.

[ThomasJ]

Gun law takes effect Tuesday
Last Edited: Monday, 30 Jun 2008, 10:36 PM EDT
Created: Monday, 30 Jun 2008, 10:36 PM EDT

TAMPA - Thanks to the Governor, July 1 is starting with a bang. On Tuesday,
Florida workers can legally take their guns to work.

Employees with concealed weapons licenses can keep firearms in their locked
cars - regardless of whether business owners prohibit weapons on the property.

Roan Nagata just moved here from Miami and says it makes sense to keep a gun
in your car just in case - especially if you work at night.

"Lets say they're going to work or they're going to pick up their kid from work or
wherever they're going after work they should feel like they have some sort of
protection," said Nagata.

But at Shooting Sports gun range, not everyone likes this new guns-at-work law.

"All gun laws are going to actually make it easier for criminals to get guns and not
for the legal person," said Juan Delagado.

Delagado is a gun supporter, but hates the idea of adding more red tape by forcing
a gun owner to get a weapons permit.

He says the second amendment already gives us that right.

"It makes it more of an inconvenience both mentally and financially," said Delagado.

In Florida, a concealed weapons license is fairly easy to get as long as you are not
a convicted felon, have a fairly clean criminal record, and are not mentally ill.

But Ivory Handwick is against guns at work. She believes nothing good can come from
it and can actually trigger a dangerous type of work rage.

"You could be angry with someone and go to your car and get your gun and go back in
and hurt somebody," said Handwick.

The law has some exceptions. You can't take a gun to schools, government buildings,
prisons, and airports

It also prohibits employers from searching employee's vehicles for a gun or even asking
them if they have a gun.

Gun law takes effect today (July 1)

Federal judge says the law was written so badly, it's "stupid":

Federal judge calls new Florida 'guns-at-work' law 'stupid'

BY BILL KACZOR The Associated Press
Thursday, June 26, 2008

A new Florida law intended to prohibit public and private employers alike from banning
guns locked inside cars in their parking lots is so badly written it's "stupid," a federal judge
declared Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle declined, however, to rule on a request for a preliminary
injunction before the law takes effect next Tuesday.

Hinkle said he needed more time to study the issue and doubted two business groups
challenging the law would suffer irreparable harm before he makes a decision, probably in mid-July.

The law bars employers from prohibiting workers, customers and other visitors from keeping
a legally possessed firearm locked in their cars parked on the employers' property.

It says an employer is a business or public-sector entity that has "employees," who are defined
as people with valid licenses to carry concealed weapons.

The law, thus, doesn't apply to a business that doesn't have any workers with a concealed weapon
permit, Hinkle said. He said that means one business may have to comply, while another next door is exempt.

"Stupid isn't it?" he asked while questioning an attorney for the state.

A lawyer for the National Rifle Association, Christopher Kise, later told Hinkle the Legislature made
a rational distinction to protect the gun-carrying rights of workers who have such permits.

The argument came hours after a man killed five people and himself at a Kentucky plastics plant
with a pistol he apparently kept in his car.

The NRA made passage of the Florida law a priority, contending it's needed to protect the
constitutional right to bear arms.

Lawmakers also were heavily lobbied by business interests that opposed it, including the Florida
Chamber of Commerce and the Florida Retail Federation. They argued the measure puts employees
and customers in danger, infringes on the property rights of businesses and violates a federal
occupational safety law.

The two organizations teamed up again to file the lawsuit.

Their lawyer, Barry Richard, told Hinkle the law is "irrational."

He noted that it includes exceptions for such high-security entities as prisons, nuclear power plants
and explosives plants, yet allows people to keep guns in cars parked at day care centers and nursing homes.

"The Legislature itself recognized the prospect of the possibility of an injury" by making exceptions and
giving employers immunity from liability that may result from obeying the law, said Richard.

[ChamberedRound]

Now this is where our efforts can wind up coming back to haunt us. If we blindly push legislation that's poorly written, then we once again give the anti-gun crowd ammunition to claim that such legislation should not be passed. And that argument wouldn't necessarily be wrong.

[Elmar]

This is a bad bad law. It violates the rights of the property owners. We must learn to respect every right even if we don't like how someone is using it at the time (disarming us as a condition of employment). We can always choose to not work there but thats why it is a negotiated contract.

Bad bad bad law.

[ThomasJ]

This is a bad bad law. It violates the rights of the property owners. We must learn to respect every right even if we don't like how someone is using it at the time (disarming us as a condition of employment). We can always choose to not work there but thats why it is a negotiated contract.

Bad bad bad law.

I'm on the fence on this one (the spirit, that is, not the poor wording of the law). As for choosing not to work there, keep in mind that many places don't own the property, they lease. Not that it changes the basic property rights vs. second amendment rights. So in that regard, businesses can say whatever the hell they want, and I'd ignore it if there is no stated policy by the property owner.

[Elmar]

Exactly. No stated policy reads that it isn't prohibited. However we can't continue to expect others to respect our rights (or hope that they will) while we ignore and trample on the rights of others. As Jefferson put it:"It behooves every man who values liberty of conscience to resist invasions of it for others, for the case may, by change of circumstance become his own."

[ChamberedRound]

This is a bad bad law. It violates the rights of the property owners. We must learn to respect every right even if we don't like how someone is using it at the time (disarming us as a condition of employment). We can always choose to not work there but thats why it is a negotiated contract.

Bad bad bad law.

I still believe that allowing citizens to carry to work doesn't violate property rights if they're locked in one's car, as IMHO one's car is an extension of their own property. A business owner isn't allowed to search one's car without PC, because it's a person's private property. By extension, I believe those who lock a gun up in their car at their company's lot should not be prosecuted or subject to firing.

However, I still believe this to be a poorly written bill, and one that should've been given more thought before bringing it to the floor for a vote. It seems that due to wording of the bill, a number of companies can claim exemption. The lack of uniformity will result in lots of confusion and legal proceedings because of people's lack of understanding of the exemptions, companies which aren't exempt which will attempt to claim exemption, etc. See here (emphasis added by me):

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/busin...0,197883.story

Walt Disney World fires back on guns at work

Scott Powers and Jason Garcia | Sentinel Staff Writers
July 3, 2008

Walt Disney World employees won't be packing any heat in the company parking lots anytime soon.

The giant resort has declared that much of its sprawling property is exempt from a new state law that allows Floridians with concealed-weapons permits to keep firearms locked in their cars at work.

Disney, which has 60,000 employees and a long-standing policy against allowing guns on its land, cites an arcane -- and late-added -- loophole in the new law, which took effect Tuesday.

The company's position stunned backers of the new law, who said Wednesday that they never intended to exempt Florida's largest single-site employer.

"You've got to be kidding me," said state Sen. Durell Peaden, a Panhandle Republican and one of the authors of the bill.

For three years, much of the big-business community in Florida -- including Disney, the Florida Chamber of Commerce and the Florida Retail Federation -- had vigorously opposed legislation intended to ensure that employees could store guns in their vehicles while at work. That opposition was offset by strong support from the National Rifle Association, however, and such a bill finally was approved this spring by the state Legislature.

But Disney now contends it is largely unaffected by the measure.

In a memo circulated last week and obtained by the Orlando Sentinel, Disney World Vice President of Public Affairs Shannon McAleavey advised other company executives that, with a few exceptions, "this law does not apply to Walt Disney World Co. owned and leased properties." Consequently, Disney "continues to maintain a zero tolerance policy" for guns. If an employee brings one onto Disney World property without authorization, it could be grounds for termination, the memo states.

In an interview Wednesday, McAleavey said it is a matter of "protecting the safety of our cast and our guests."

Move outrages NRA

The NRA reacted quickly.

The organization issued an alert Wednesday to members under the heading, "Disney Thumbing Nose at the New Florida Gun Law," accusing Disney of being a "prime offender when it comes to firing employees for exercising Second Amendment rights."

Disney cites language within Florida's newly enacted "Preservation and Protection of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms in Motor Vehicles Act of 2008" that creates an exception for companies whose primary business is to manufacture, use, store or transport explosives regulated under federal law.

"I intended it to exempt places like defense plants, Air Force bases, things like that," said Peaden, who sponsored the bill in the Senate. "But not Disney. Not at all."

But on the same day that the House took its final vote on the gun bill, the exemption for explosives companies was revised so that it also includes "property owned or leased by an employer who has obtained a permit" under federal law for such explosives.

Disney has such a permit, for the extensive fireworks used in its theme parks.

State Rep. Stan Mayfield, a Vero Beach Republican also involved in crafting the final legislation, said lawmakers had agreed to insert that exception at the request of a small group of lawyers representing several businesses and business groups -- including Disney.

But Mayfield said nobody ever intended for the language to spare so much of the Disney resort, which covers about 30,000 acres.

"I don't think anybody that voted for that bill expected Disney to be exempt," Mayfield said.

Disney officials said they have carefully reviewed the language and determined that the law excludes most Disney World property. McAleavey's memo concluded that it exempts "all theme parks, resorts, theme-park and resort parking lots, Cast Member parking lots, administrative offices across the Walt Disney World Resort, Downtown Disney, Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex, hotels on Hotel Plaza Boulevard, Celebration and the Disney Reservation Centers" in Orlando and Tampa.

The language does not exempt Disney Vacation Club's Vero Beach Resort, Disney Cruise Line's crew-member parking lots and a couple of other Disney properties in Florida, according to the memo.


Law challenged in court

But McAleavey also noted that the Florida Chamber of Commerce and the Florida Retail Federation are challenging the law in court, and Disney would continue to support that effort. A Tampa judge could rule this month, "and we are hopeful it will be overturned," she wrote.

Other theme parks also might hold appropriate explosives permits because of their fireworks programs.

But Universal Orlando is claiming a different exemption: The resort houses a work-study program, the Universal Education Center, that is staffed by Orange County Public Schools.

"We are required to follow school-district policies," spokesman Tom Schroder said. "The Orange County Public School System is exempt from this law. We have so informed our team members."

SeaWorld takes an entirely different approach: That company supports the rights of its employees or visitors to transport legal firearms in their cars, "and we have for some time," spokeswoman Becca Bides said.

Scott Powers can be reached at spowers@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5441. Jason Garcia can be reached at jrgarcia@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5664.

[ThomasJ]

Stupid legislators. Pretty typical of a lot of Florida legislation.

[Elmar]

It doesn't matter what you meant to do legislators, it matters what you did.

[whoshisface]

Sea world gets my business

[LittleRedToyota]

A business owner isn't allowed to search one's car without PC, because it's a person's private property. By extension, I believe those who lock a gun up in their car at their company's lot should not be prosecuted or subject to firing.

just fyi, if it is in your employment contract that you must allow your employer to search your car as a conditition of employment, you can be fired for not allowing them to search it...regardless of why they want to search it.