It seems pretty much what we had with no bill. The employer decides if you can have a gun in your vehicle on company property. Great use of congressional time.
ATLANTA --- Georgia gun owners would be able to leave their firearm in their locked car at work, but only if they had a concealed weapon permit, and only if the owner of the property said it was OK, according to a bill passed by a Senate committee Tuesday.
Bending to opposition from the state's powerful chamber of commerce, the state Senate Rules Committee approved a watered-down version of a contentious gun bill being pushed by the National Rifle Association.
"It's a restrictive bill," Rules Committee Chairman Don Balfour acknowledged after the vote. The measure has pitted the state's business lobby against the NRA, placing the state's ruling Republicans in a bind. They're typically loyal to both interest groups.
"We were trying to figure out with the wisdom of Solomon how to split the baby," said Mr. Balfour, a Snellville Republican.
The compromise came the same day Gov. Sonny Perdue signaled he might veto the sweeping version of the bill initially being sought by the NRA. He said it trampled the private property rights of business owners.
The NRA originally wanted any law-abiding employee to be able to lock their firearm in their car in a workplace parking lot.
The bill voted out of committee Tuesday stipulates that the protection applies only to the roughly 300,000 Georgians who hold concealed weapons permits. If an employer bans guns in its publicly accessible parking lot for customers, it can prohibit them for employers as well, the bill says.
The bill's sponsor in the Senate, Chip Rogers, said the measure still had the NRA's backing.
Comments
It seems pretty much what we had with no bill. The employer decides if you can have a gun in your vehicle on company property. Great use of congressional time.
I have a gun in my vehicle on company property everyday. I didn't ask and they didn't tell!!! They don't ask and I don't tell!!!
pat, notr to shatrpshoot your post but, its not congress it is the Georgia State Senate and the General Assembly of Georgia that passed these bills. I think these are ridiculous. If the employer provides armed security in the public access areas than you should be able to tell law abiding gun owners to leave the weapon at home. If not, why not leave it up to the citizen? I can't see how allowing concealed permit carriers to keep their guns inside their property (vehicle) tramples on the rights of land owners. This is stupid election year pandering. What is the reason for this law?
Your not a postal worker are you Phish?
Whoever owns the parking lot should be able to set the rules about who parks there and what is not allowed in their vehicles. However, that being said, if the gun owners would just keep the guns in their vehicles concealed, then no one would search their cars and find them. Kind of tough on hunting weapons in a window rack, but I'm sure there are creative ways to conceal them.
Brad, you don't refer to the state house and the state senate as the state congress? That's just a term for federal politicians? I was aware this was on a state level. Sorry for the confusion.
Don't Ask, don't tell!!!!!
I can already carry a gun onto my employer's property with permission, And I don't need a gun permit to do it. Spineless SOB's!
Well,If employers can deny my 2nd ammendment rights,can they also ban keeping a bible in your car? Why not? Can they deny service to blacks or hispanic people? why not? I am certainly glad that I am retired and armed. Why would anyone wish to work for a company that requires you to be unarmed during your daily commute? Is a paycheck more valuable then your life? Think about it.
The Augusta Chronicle ©2012. All Rights Reserved.
