Indiana businesses fighting gun bill affecting employees
By KEVIN ALLEN
Tribune Staff Writer
Story Created: Jan 17, 2010 at 7:00 PM EST
Story Updated: Jan 17, 2010 at 7:00 PM EST
INDIANAPOLIS — Gun owners in Indiana will be able to keep their firearms locked in their vehicles at work without fear of reprisal from employers if a bill progressing in the General Assembly becomes law.
Opponents of the bill, mostly businesses and business groups, say it violates the rights of property owners to make policies that keep their workplaces safe.
“We feel a property owner or employer ought to have the right to say what can or cannot come on their property,” said George Raymond, vice president of human resources and labor relations for the Indiana Chamber of Commerce.
Sen. Johnny Nugent, R-Lawrenceburg, emphasized that his bill does not prevent employers from prohibiting guns in the workplace. It simply allows people to keep legally permitted firearms outside in their vehicles while they are working.
Nugent said he wrote the legislation in reaction to instances in Indiana and other states where workers have been fired for keeping a handgun or hunting rifle locked in their cars in a company parking lot.
“This allows an employee to have their gun locked in a car so they can go hunting before work or after work, and it allows means for them to defend themselves should there be an encounter before or after work,” Nugent said.
“I am one of the strongest individual property rights supporters you could ever meet,” he said. “On this one, I come down on the side of self-defense.”
Workplace shootings, though rare, stick in people’s minds.
Many Michiana residents likely remember when William Lockey opened fire on his co-workers in March 2002 at Bertrand Products in South Bend, killing four people and wounding two more before fleeing and taking his own life. That incident came less than four months after Robert Wissman fatally shot two people and injured several others at Nu-Wood Decorative Millwork in Goshen.
Nugent acknowledged the horror of workplace shootings, but he doesn’t think his legislation will make them more frequent.
“Those that would have criminal intent on their mind, they don’t obey any laws,” Nugent said. “It won’t matter if the employer has a policy that bans guns from parking lots.”
The Senate committee on corrections, criminal and civil matters voted 8-3 on Tuesday to make Nugent’s bill eligible for a vote in the full Senate. A House of Representatives committee heard testimony on the bill Thursday but decided to wait until this week to vote on it.
Sen. Karen Tallian, D-Portage, is one of the three lawmakers on the Senate committee who voted against Nugent’s bill.
Besides the property rights and safety issues, she said the bill allows a worker who is fired for having a gun in his or her vehicle on the employer’s property to sue that employer for damages, costs, attorney fees and injunctive relief to remedy a violation.
Tallian, a lawyer who has worked on labor issues, said those are privileges not even provided for people fired because of age, race or gender discrimination.
“My take on this is it’s fundamentally unfair to give those remedies to one class of employees and not to a constitutionally protected group that’s fired for those (age, race or gender) reasons,” she said.
Nugent’s bill would not apply to schools, certain child-care and shelter facilities, jails and prisons, and private residences, and it would not supersede any federal laws that prohibit firearms in certain areas.
This is the third straight year this legislation has been proposed in the General Assembly, according to the Chamber of Commerce. The Senate approved a similar bill last year by a vote of 42-8, but the House never voted on it.
By KEVIN ALLEN
Tribune Staff Writer
Story Created: Jan 17, 2010 at 7:00 PM EST
Story Updated: Jan 17, 2010 at 7:00 PM EST
INDIANAPOLIS — Gun owners in Indiana will be able to keep their firearms locked in their vehicles at work without fear of reprisal from employers if a bill progressing in the General Assembly becomes law.
Opponents of the bill, mostly businesses and business groups, say it violates the rights of property owners to make policies that keep their workplaces safe.
“We feel a property owner or employer ought to have the right to say what can or cannot come on their property,” said George Raymond, vice president of human resources and labor relations for the Indiana Chamber of Commerce.
Sen. Johnny Nugent, R-Lawrenceburg, emphasized that his bill does not prevent employers from prohibiting guns in the workplace. It simply allows people to keep legally permitted firearms outside in their vehicles while they are working.
Nugent said he wrote the legislation in reaction to instances in Indiana and other states where workers have been fired for keeping a handgun or hunting rifle locked in their cars in a company parking lot.
“This allows an employee to have their gun locked in a car so they can go hunting before work or after work, and it allows means for them to defend themselves should there be an encounter before or after work,” Nugent said.
“I am one of the strongest individual property rights supporters you could ever meet,” he said. “On this one, I come down on the side of self-defense.”
Workplace shootings, though rare, stick in people’s minds.
Many Michiana residents likely remember when William Lockey opened fire on his co-workers in March 2002 at Bertrand Products in South Bend, killing four people and wounding two more before fleeing and taking his own life. That incident came less than four months after Robert Wissman fatally shot two people and injured several others at Nu-Wood Decorative Millwork in Goshen.
Nugent acknowledged the horror of workplace shootings, but he doesn’t think his legislation will make them more frequent.
“Those that would have criminal intent on their mind, they don’t obey any laws,” Nugent said. “It won’t matter if the employer has a policy that bans guns from parking lots.”
The Senate committee on corrections, criminal and civil matters voted 8-3 on Tuesday to make Nugent’s bill eligible for a vote in the full Senate. A House of Representatives committee heard testimony on the bill Thursday but decided to wait until this week to vote on it.
Sen. Karen Tallian, D-Portage, is one of the three lawmakers on the Senate committee who voted against Nugent’s bill.
Besides the property rights and safety issues, she said the bill allows a worker who is fired for having a gun in his or her vehicle on the employer’s property to sue that employer for damages, costs, attorney fees and injunctive relief to remedy a violation.
Tallian, a lawyer who has worked on labor issues, said those are privileges not even provided for people fired because of age, race or gender discrimination.
“My take on this is it’s fundamentally unfair to give those remedies to one class of employees and not to a constitutionally protected group that’s fired for those (age, race or gender) reasons,” she said.
Nugent’s bill would not apply to schools, certain child-care and shelter facilities, jails and prisons, and private residences, and it would not supersede any federal laws that prohibit firearms in certain areas.
This is the third straight year this legislation has been proposed in the General Assembly, according to the Chamber of Commerce. The Senate approved a similar bill last year by a vote of 42-8, but the House never voted on it.
