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DEL.ICIO.USBusiness gets uptight about new gun legislation
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
For the first time, the Georgia Chamber of Commerce has called out its troops to oppose the NRA-backed legislation to permit employees to keep firearms in the vehicles they park on company property.
The legislation looks to be headed for a Senate floor vote. In an “urgent employer alert” e-mailed to 4,000 or so members, the chamber urged a flood of calls to lawmakers.
Here’s a snippet:
S.B.43 takes away the right of employers and property owners to adopt preventive policies for their own business and property to prevent the introduction of weapons in the workplace but at the same time, holds employers subject to massive and costly litigation if an attorney can prove the company “should have known” weapons in the workplace might be used in the commission of a crime. “It just defies common-sense,” George M. Israel III, president of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, says.
Many gun enthusiasts disagree, of course.
Comments
Commenting is now closed for this entry.
By nramember
February 14, 2007 11:29 AM | Link to this
I’m a member of the NRA. BUt this bill forgets that gun rights are a form of property rights. The right of an owner to set the terms upon which another individual may enter his/her property is a fundamental freedom from which the right to own a gun and protect one’s life and property stems from. This bill undermines our freedom to carry by undermining basic property rights.
Instead, we should be repealing GA’s overly restrictive public gathering laws, ensuring that superior courts follow the procedure set forth in law regarding the granting of licenses, and we should have a right to carry guns in our motor vehicles (I think this might happen).
While I would encourage employers to allow employees to carry guns to and from work, I do not think the government should use its guns against employers that do not choose to do so.
By buck
February 14, 2007 11:39 AM | Link to this
It’s absurd that property/business owners will lose the right to dictate whether guns are brought onto their property. How is this pro-business? Too many nuts out there willing to resolve a dispute with a gun.
By Bruce
February 14, 2007 2:03 PM | Link to this
Why should a business, that is not responsible for my life, be able to dictate my ability to protect it?
If they do not want a gun on their property, FINE! But my car is not their property and I should be allowed to carry on there.
I should not have to be disarmed from my house to a destination and then back to my house just because the business is controlled by a bunch of hoplophobes!
By Bruce
February 14, 2007 2:07 PM | Link to this
Buck - the same ones who you refer to will use a gun no matter what the law so why are you willing to give up the ability to defend yourself? You and I will follow the law, the nut will not. The criminal will not. The rapists and murders will not.
Yes, this law would affect gun nuts, but will have no impact on a nut with a gun!
By buck
February 14, 2007 2:24 PM | Link to this
If I say I don’t want someone bringing a gun on to my property, they can choose not to use my business or work for me. They can also choose to keep their car (their property) off my property.
There really are too many nuts out there itching to use a gun to resolve a dispute.
By Jim J
February 14, 2007 2:24 PM | Link to this
Bruce —
That’s a non-sequitur. Saying “criminals will do it anyway” applies to any law, anywhere. We have laws not only to prevent crime, but to provide a basis for sentencing and incarceration. A criminal may indeed break the law with impunity, but each law they break carries additional punishment. As a law-abiding citizen you should be more interested in your justice system’s ability to put criminals away for longer.
By dear Bruce
February 14, 2007 9:10 PM | Link to this
Dear Bruce, The communist are ready when you are! To bad you hate freedom and property rights. Your car—-if parked on someone else’s property is still on their property. Let me ask you, if I parked my car on your lawn would you tow me? Or let me keep it there because I owned the car? Park your car elsewhere. I find a lot to park in that allows me to keep my gun in it. Not a big deal. But I respect private property rights. Because I’m not a commie.