NRA power play stomps on safety
By A TIMES EDITORIAL
Published April 2, 2007
Who says the Florida Legislature doesn't look out for the working stiff? A bill (SB 2356) that so far is breezing through the Senate would stop employers from banning guns in their parking lots. Imagine the persuasive power of a worker (particularly if he is disgruntled) mentioning that his AK-47 is only a few steps away when asking for - no, demanding! - a raise.
Actually, there is nothing funny about this bill and a similar one (HB 1417) in the House. It's just another audacious power play by the National Rifle Association to prove it can make the Legislature do almost any stupid thing the bullying gun lobby wants. With hand puppets such as Sen. Durell Peaden, R-Crestview, the bill's sponsor, to do your bidding, it's child's play.
The bill would stop "a public or private entity from prohibiting a customer, employee, or invitee from possessing any personal private property that is a legal product when such product is lawfully possessed and locked inside or locked to a private motor vehicle in a parking lot." Where the bill mentions "personal private property" read "firearms," a bill analysis notes.
A few exceptions are written into the proposed law, including businesses involved in domestic security if a gun in the parking lot "presents an increased danger of explosion." Yet there are more things to fear from guns at the workplace than explosions. Assaults and violent acts cause one in seven workplace fatalities, and the proximity of guns would only increase the risk.
So who would be responsible for damages if someone breaks into a car in a company parking lot and uses the gun inside to injure or kill someone? Not the employer or parking lot owner, who is made immune from civil action by the bill. And not the gun owner, who was just exercising his constitutional right to put a dangerous weapon in an easily accessible place.
This bill tramples on the rights of private-property owners and those seeking workplace safety to further inflate the gun lobby's perceived rights. A vote for this bill is a vote for more violence in the workplace, more stolen guns on the street, more bloodshed in the community. We'll soon see which lawmakers have the courage to stand up to the NRA.