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Bringing your gun to work is OK in 13 states

By Nick Mutschler

On April 15, 2011

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In a growing number of states, an employer cannot bar its employees from bringing guns to work and leaving them in their cars.

Starting last month, Indiana became the 13th state that allows employees the right to carry a gun on business premises, according to their legislature. Other states are following in turn with these laws. The Tennessee Legislature in March adopted a bill in march which is which is awaiting Governor Bill Haslam's signature, declaring that it is not dangerous to have handguns on company property, this could include carrying a firearm in company offices.

"I don't mind the idea of being able to protect myself and my property. If we didn't have this law, what would stop someone from bringing a gun (to work) anyway. It's not like there's metal detectors in every business. At least now crooks have to think twice before hassling honest citizens since their prey could be armed," says 45-year-old Arlington resident Charles Butler.

Workplaces that allowed guns were about five times more likely to experience a homicide as those where all weapons were banned, according to a May 2005 report in the American Journal of Public Health. The Bureau of Labor Statistics records that workplace shootings caused 420 deaths in 2009 and 421 in 2008.

"It's a law enforcement disaster. Police officers are trained to see a gun as a threat, these laws will put them as well as the gun holders in danger," said Joshua Horwitz, Esq., Executive Director of the Washington based Coalition to Stop Gun Violence.

Measures proposed this year in Gun rights advocates in Indiana and North Dakota are also would allow workers to sue their employers for even asking about firearms in vehicles, according to their legislatures. The bills are necessary to penalize businesses that don't comply with the law, according to the National Rifle Association.

"This is spelled out in our Constitution. People have the right to defend themselves," said Indiana State Senator and NRA supporter Johnny Nugent in an April 4 Bloomberg interview.

Virginia is one of the 13 states that holds a similar law. A bill was passed last year by their House of Delegates allowing employees, customers, tenants and other Virginians the right to keep firearms in a locked vehicle on a public parking lot.

Maryland, which has stricter handgun laws is not likely to pass a bill like this, though there are still advocates fighting for such a law, explained Horwitz.