Musings on "Gun-free" workplaces

[Coinneach]

The company for which I work has a "no-guns" policy. Of course.

Today, the id-card reader was down, so our contract security firm, Pinkerton, posted a guard to manually verify IDs.

The first guard I saw was about 19 years old, about 300 pounds of jigglin' jello, and a mouth-breather. Literally. I later saw him sucking on a cigarette. Even with my bad knees and heart murmur, I felt fairly confident that I could beat him in a footrace.

The second guard was about eleventy-gazillion years old and moved like he hadn't had his joints greased since he came off the assembly line.

And neither was armed. No gun, no pepper, no taser, not even friggin' pocketknives as far as I could tell.

Gosh, I feel so safe here.

 

[DOCSpanky]

Golly the joys of Florida, where by our state constitution, NO-ONE (except federal govt.) can set a policy that overrides a state law. They can suggest, but legally in this state, have no grounds to stand on!

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I thought I'd seen it all, until a 22WMR spun a bunny 2 1/4 times in the air!

 

[Oleg Volk]

Same situation where I work...guards are unarmed and whimpy. I did spot some NRA stickers inthe parking lot, so just maybe some people are armed. Being armed, btw, is not mentioned or prohibited by the employee handbook but "any object that can be used to harm people" (gee, that's nice and inclusive) is banned by the supervisors' handbook which isn't available to the peons to read

If I were a person with CHL and there was a mass shooting at my job, I'd not try and defend anyone as the only grattitude would be loss of a job. Never mind the dead people, they can always hire more.

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Oleg "peacemonger" Volk

http://dd-b.net/RKBA

 

[Erik]

There is a "no weapons" policy in place where I work. I have had three people question my Leatherman... I am confident that I would be immediately dismissed if I carried.

I did attend a function armed, a while back when my wife worked here and I was still a cop. Someone blabbed, and the enevitable question about my gun came up. I politely answered, "yes," I was armed, and, "no," they could not see my pistol. There are still, a year later, people who make references about me being armed that night.

 

[Blueyedog]

DOC, it's pretty much the same here, no one can override Indiana state law except feds, but ... they can still can your butt if the company has a no firearms policy for its employees.

My husband's company has the same employee rule, no firearms. This is epecially not fair to the members of my husband's crew. They go in at all hours of the day and night, right in the heart of downtown, and have to walk at least 3 blocks to get from their car to the building. If they are working at night there is NO guard, not even a JigglyPuff look-a-like .... For those of you who are confused at that reference, please check the Pokemon program. To top it all off, one of the guys who works with my husband is a certifiable whacko who is presently back in the House for the Perpetually Strange for the third time. This dude has serious mental issues, and if he gets canned, I know he'll be the kind to go off the deep end. Since my husband is the foreman, he'll be the first to get it. However, in situations like this, no guard would be able to do a thing. He'd just be the first shot. However, my husband would be able to defend himself if that right is not taken from him by his employer. Great choices, huh? Possibly lose your job if caught or lose your life if you don't take the chance of being fired. It's not right.

I decided a long time ago that if something ever happens where my husband is hurt or killed because he was denied the right, by his employer, to defend himself, then they will get the biggest honkin' lawsuit brought against them they have ever seen. I'll make so damn much noise the media will have to listen.


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Refuse to be a "helpless" victim.
Knowing Your Rights WAGC in Indiana

 

[Bruce in West Oz]

Well .... every workplace here is "gun-free", unless you're a cop.

The staff in the office all think I'm a little strange 'cause I insisted on my office/cubicle being against the wall furthest away from the entry, facing the doorway, with my back against a wall. (Ex-SAS friend told me once to never, ever sit with your back to the door.) The "other" bosses have cubicles near the entry. I figure they'd be the first to get hit if the S ever did HTF.

Security guards? What are they?

B

[This message has been edited by Bruce in West Oz (edited June 26, 2000).]

 

[Jeff, CA]

I occasionally shoot with a guy who runs his own business and who is very pro-gun. He's one of the few in CA with a CCW, but he has a no-guns policy at his place of business. When asked about it, he immediately goes into "anti" mode - "Guns aren't appropriate in the workplace", etc. I guess what he means is, guns other than his aren't appropriate?

 

[LawDog]

Hmm. I've never worked in a "Gun-free workplace".

I've never really understood the logic behind a company banning arms on it's property. Has that silly little formality ever stopped a murderer at the doorway? I doubt it. *sigh*

LawDog

 

[Cypselus]

Don't ask, and don't tell. If you're not a jackass, no one is ever going to know.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Never mind the dead people, they can always hire more.[/quote]Hahahahah!!!!!

What kind of a loser questions a freakin' Leatherman for crying out loud? What is wrong with people? I too have gotten the looks like I'm some kind of a deviant for having a damn pocketknife. Welcome to the Gelded Age.

 

[houndawg]

I work in a no-gun place. Nobody can have a gun except for the armory, towers, or perimeter patrol driver. Of course, the Wardens, Unit Superintendants, and Directors can do whatever they please. And just try to sneak a gun in. I dare ya.

 

[Oleg Volk]

Hell, I have had people freak out over a 20-round box of 9x19 delivered to work (free sample from Triton). They missed the 1,000-round cartons of .303 earlier
I also had someone tell me that my sebenza (thanks Morgan & co.) was scary and that I better hide it before somebody less understanding sees it. I now carry another, smaller knife besides the sebenza to avoid scaring the grazers.

 

[Glenn E. Meyer]

LawDog - here is the logic. I have a position where I can talk to the risk management VP and not have too much risk (grin).

She says the standard logic is:

It has been estimated by actuaries that the risk and expense of compensating you or your family for not being able to protect yourself is less than the projected risk if they let employees go armed and you go nuts and rampage the joint. Or if you try to defend yourself and shoot an incident accidentally. Or if your gun is stolen on the property or taken by a BG in an incident and used to hurt someone.

It is all the relative financial risk and the RKBA has little to do with it for big companies.

As far as campus police, I have good friends in that business. They are under constant pressure to be unarmed. The only argument that works with them is that risk assignments indicate that unarmed officers have to intervene and may get hurt. THEIR suits of being not being able to do their job have more credibility with the courts than that of Joe Blow in the office needing the gun.

Follow the money to understand the policy.

 

[LawDog]

Ah. The Great Green God strikes again.

LawDog

 

[Meiji_man]

I work for a company who's unoffical policy is that a dozen roses are cheaper than a good Alarm System. I'm also on of 3 CCP owners in the building and we all carry if it's late or working on weekends. The other two are women and there's no way in hell they're going to tell these ladies they can't carry if they're working past dark. And I honestly don't beleave they know I carry. I DO NOT want to open that can of worms. The Odds are they would open a policy that NO ONE could carry and that would leave the ladies open. Is it discriminatory? Hell yes! But Companies are by nature immoral and mine most of all.

 

[Juan Hunt Greer]

I guess I'm one of the luckier members of this forum; The small dairy plant I do plant engineering in has no set policy, but occasionall the CEO will come in with a new acquisition to show me, and/or advise him on what to do for it. As my prime hobby ( besides TFL ) is gunsmithing, almost anyone who works there feels free to ask me to do minor "fixin". My ABSOLUTE rule is that I accept NO fee of any kind! I am NOT in any sort of business involving firearms! This way, however, I get to see, handle, dismantle, and study a WIDE range of things. In the plant, I can walk through with a rifle on my arm without so much as a raised eyebrow ( provided, of course, that that the machines are all functional ). That gentle sort of ambiance goes a long way too offset the fact that none of us are exactly overpaid.
crankshaft
nralife, goa, jpfo, fcsa, smvfm

 

[45King]

My employee's manual states that firearms are prohibited at the workplace, but this is done with a smile and a wink. I know of several mechanics which number a pistol among the tools they keep in their tool chests.
I'm in a kind of unique sitation with that; I drive a delvery truck, and so I'm only at the dealership for a short time every morning, then on the road for the rest of the day. I figure if anyone questions me, I can point out that I'm not at the workplace, and travel to some pretty rough places where a gun might prove to be invaluable.
When I hit the road, my GM is at my hip with one spare mag on my belt and a spare 10 rd in the glovebox, and there's a Winchester Trapper .45 Colt riding with me, with a box of Blazer ammo in the glovebox. One of my customers saw the Trapper the other day. He smiled, and then commented, "Got your equalizer with you, huh?" I just grinned and said, "Yup."

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Shoot straight & make big holes, regards, Richard at The Shottist's Center

 

[Brett Bellmore]

Used to be able to bring firearms in, and work on them in the shop. Then an idiot jarhead we hired started going out back at lunch to do a little target shooting in the parking lot, (Didn't even go back into the woods!) and we became gun-"free". Thanks a lot!

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Sic semper tyrannis!

 

[sumabich]

We had it posted at our place a couple of years ago. After an incident with a temp employee I took it down. If anyone trys to put it up again they have to talk to me and hey I'm the boss! I'd like to print posters that say "no illegal weapons allowed" whatever that is!

 

[Mike in VA]

My boss is pro-gun doesn't care if I carry, but since I work in one of those 'executive suites' that proides office space to a bunch of companies, discretion is a must (which is as it should be anyway). I just got a DeSantis EZ-Rider which looks like the belt case for my Palm Pilot, holds the Tomcat and a spare mag very discretely. Once the weather turns cooler, I'll probalby go back to the 239 in a shoulder rig under the photo vest, but for now, this seems to work OK, and no one's the wiser. M2

[This message has been edited by Mike in VA (edited June 27, 2000).]

 

[Danger Dave]

I work in a state-owned building - it's a felony to carry here, whether they post a "no guns" sign or not (not). Our doors are open during business hours, they lock 'em at night to protect the computers (we're 2 blocks from a "gun-free" housing project). Shows you what's important - employees are replaceable - the salary's already in the budget, but computers are expensive...