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Crist Signs Guns-At-Work Bill

Tribune photo by JULIE BUSCH

Juan Delgado, a supervisor at Shooting Sports in Tampa, won’t shop at Publix because of its ban on guns in vehicles.

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By NICOLA M. WHITE

The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 16, 2008

Updated: 04/16/2008 12:12 am

TALLAHASSEE - During hunting season in Oklahoma, workers at a rural paper mill often stashed guns in the backs of their pickups.

But in October 2002, their employer sent gun- and drug-sniffing dogs out to the parking lot, and 12 hunters were fired for violating the mill's no-firearms policy.

Oklahoma state Rep. Jerry Ellis, a retired mill employee and regular gun carrier, was outraged. He pushed for a law that would prohibit employers from banning guns in workers' cars, and it passed the Oklahoma Legislature the next year.

Ellis didn't know it at the time, but the effects of his legislation would snowball, prompting the gun lobby to press for pro-gun workplace laws nationwide.

Tuesday, after trying for three years straight, the lobbyists finally succeeded in Florida, with Gov. Charlie Crist signing a law that allows employees with concealed weapons permits to keep firearms locked in vehicles parked on company property.

"This piece of legislation goes a long way to restoring rights that had been usurped by anti-guns businesses," said Marion Hammer, a lobbyist for the National Rifle Association and former national president.

In what is a sign of things to come in Florida, however, Oklahoma's gun law immediately came under fire from business leaders, who attacked the law as an affront to private property rights as well as a threat to workplace safety. They filed lawsuits to prevent the law from going into effect; the matter is still being worked out in the courts.

Here, Florida's business community plans to do everything it can to stymie the law Crist signed.

"We don't see this as a gun bill. We see this as a question of private property rights," said Adam Babington, lobbyist for the Florida Chamber of Commerce, who said his organization and the Florida Retail Federation have enlisted high-profile lawyer Barry Richard to file a lawsuit.

They Made Bill Easier To Swallow

Florida lawmakers have struggled with the guns-at-work bill every year since 2005. Each year, the bill has faced strong opposition from gun safety advocates and business leaders. Efforts to push the bill forward eventually fizzled.

This year, Sen. Durrell Peaden of Crestview and Rep. Greg Evers of Baker, both Republicans, presented the bill anew. They tacked on a number of provisions that made it more palatable for lawmakers eager not to rock the boat in an election year.

For example, only concealed weapons permit holders, almost 500,000 Floridians, are protected under the law. Concealed weapons carriers employed by schools, prisons, public hospitals and nuclear power plants, however, will not be allowed to keep their guns in their cars at work.

The law also allows people at shopping malls and restaurants to have firearms in their cars while parked outside, regardless of whether they have concealed weapons permits.

The bill still faced heavy criticism, with Sen. Ted Deutch, a Boca Raton Democrat, trying to add amendments to further restrict it. He tried to include nursing homes and day care centers in the list of businesses where employees may not leave guns in their cars, but his effort failed. At the time, Deutch criticized the bill as not able "to protect the most vulnerable members of our society."

Four states besides Oklahoma and Florida have so-called guns-at-work laws: Alaska, Kentucky, Kansas and Minnesota, although Alaska's law has a number of exceptions. The Georgia Legislature recently passed its version of the law, but the governor has not signed it.

"I rather have a gun in my vehicle than not have anything at all," said Juan Delgado, an employee at Shooting Sports, a gun range on North Dale Mabry Highway in Tampa. He said he stopped shopping at Publix when he heard the supermarket giant didn't allow employees to leave guns in their cars; this law prohibits companies such as Publix from enacting such bans.

A Catalyst For Pro-Gun Laws?

To Pasco County GOP leader Bill Bunting, a well-known Second Amendment rights advocate, the bill signals a victory for those who want to defend themselves.

"If you were a nurse or a waitress and you didn't get out of work until 1 in the morning, it's always nice to know if you break down with your car and someone has rape on their mind, you have your gun," Bunting said.

He also sees the law as an opening for other pro-gun laws to be enacted. Some University of Central Florida students, for example, plan to push for laws to allow them to carry concealed weapons on campus.

These scenarios are exactly what anti-gun violence activists fear, especially after the Virginia Tech murders in 2007 -- one year ago today.

The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence consistently has decried guns-at-work laws, saying they open the door for lax firearms laws.

But Ellis, the Oklahoma lawmaker who started the debate six years ago, thinks the law will do more good than harm -- if it ever goes into effect in his state.

"Well, you don't ever know when someone's going to come along," said Ellis, a Democrat who carries a .38-caliber handgun in his car. "It doesn't take but one person to end your life."

Reporter Angela Delgado contributed to this report. Reporter Nicola M. White can be reached at (850) 222-8382 or nwhite1@tampatrib.com.

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