Have Gun, Will Travel to Work

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The second amendment, an incredibly grey and confusing area. Firearm related matters are often dictated by state and sometimes even local law but, these things can be a really hazy topic depending on your own moral high ground and opinions. Often those opposed to guns have had personal ties with incidents that have occurred to either family or friends. My opinion of the second amendment; I’m all for it.

1. Do you have not only a legal but a moral right to own a gun? Do you believe that you have either a moral or legal right to park a car with a loaded gun in a privately-owned parking lot, regardless of what the owner wants?

I believe that you absolutely have the right to own a gun. I also in the same respect understand the hesitation on having employees or customers having loaded guns on your property BUT, if that employee or customer or whomever is able to brandish a legal permit to have that weapon and prove that it is in fact registered to them then it should be allowed on the premises. Telling someone what they can or cannot have within their personal property, in this case, their car, is wrong. Regardless of the car being on personal property, the car itself is personal property in my eyes. Most business owners are, I’m sure, afraid of the liability more than any other implications. However, several states have laws limiting liability. “No business entity, or owner, manager, or legal possessor of real property, or public or private employer shall be held liable in any civil action for damages, injuries, or death resulting from or arising out of another person’s actions involving a firearm or ammunition transported or stored pursuant to subsection.” (Government, 2017). This should be considered when attempting to ban or control what is brought into private lots. I feel as if there could be some balance provided and maybe a few tradeoffs made to satisfy everyone involved. Though in reality there is no satisfying everyone involved.

1. In your view, do employees have either a moral or a legal right to park cars with guns in them in company parking lots? What do you believe should be the property rights and safety concerns of employers?

I feel as the same applies here as it does in private lots. Where do your constitutional rights begin and end? Obviously, workplace homicide isn’t non-existent, violence occurs every day. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Census of fatal occupational injuries of the 4,679 fatal workplace injuries that occurred in the United States, in 2014, 403 of those were workplace homicides.

The odds seem to be in your favor regarding those numbers. Just as I said about private lots, I believe there should be stipulations put into place. If you have a firearm on the property, a copy of your permit and proof of gun registration should be kept on file with the company.

1. Do you think state legislatures are right to get involved, or should the matter be left to companies and employees to settle?

This is a fine line. State legislature could step in but would that not violate the business owner’s rights to run their company the way they want to? Would it not be just the same as what the owners are trying to do? Like I previously stated, this topic is such a grey area of conversation and a lot of “solutions” just step on others toes and take their rights away as well. There is no reasonable end goal that would satisfy both sides.

1. Because the workplace is the company’s private property, the company could choose to allow employees to bring guns not only into the parking lot, but also into the workplace itself. Are there ever circumstances in which doing so might be reasonable? Or would the presence of guns automatically violate the rights of other employees to be guaranteed a safe working environment?

Of course, being an ever-present optimist, I do believe there is always a chance circumstances could make room for the chance of employees openly carrying. In fact, there are certain lines of work where that is already the case. Drivers for armored car companies, federal fight deck officers, private security guards, gun store employees, even some teachers can openly carry (though there are a limited number), these are just a few occupations that you can carry openly with. I, personally, don’t believe that this violates anyone’s right to be safe work environment. It would be one thing for whomever is carrying to be threatening or waving a loaded gun around like a crazy person but other than that there should be no reason to feel endangered or threatened.