House cravenly caves in to NRA - St. Petersburg Times

The National Rifle Association does not take no for an answer, and the Florida House meekly surrendered Wednesday. Without a word of debate, lawmakers voted to give gun owners an absolute right to take their weapons to work and to the store. By caving in to the NRA after two years of holding firm, legislators trampled on the rights of private property owners. A similar bill has been filed in the Senate, and it probably will be left to Gov. Charlie Crist to restore sanity and veto this affront to public safety.

The House bill bans private or public employers from prohibiting workers or customers from keeping guns locked in their cars. It primarily benefits employees with concealed weapons permits, and the employer would not even know how many workers or customers had guns in cars parked in their lots. The list of concealed weapons permit holders is no longer a public record. And employers could not make prospective employees reveal whether they had a concealed weapons permit or force them to agree not to bring their gun to work. Only four other states have such wide-open gun laws, and there is a reason for that: Rather than increase public safety, such laws enhance the possibilities for violence in the workplace.

If a co-worker or customer is shot by a gun taken from one of these cars, good luck collecting damages in a lawsuit. The business owner would be immune from civil damages.

To their credit, the business lobby has continued to fight this dangerous bill. But in an election year, even those groups are no match for the NRA. As longtime NRA lobbyist Marion Hammer watched from the front row of the House gallery, lawmakers voted 72-42 mostly along party lines to approve the bill (HB 503). Reps. Ed Hooper of Clearwater and Jim Frishe of St. Petersburg were two of just five Republicans who had the courage to join most Democrats in voting no.

Last year, a House committee defeated this bill two days after the massacre at Virginia Tech. This year, there was no national tragedy to shame lawmakers into doing the right thing.

Comments on this article

by lincmercguy	Mar 28, 2008 1:54 PM
Good for Florida. I wish my state realized that the contents of a car are the owner's property, not the proptery of the parking lot owner.

by Frank	Mar 28, 2008 8:46 AM
Concealed carry permit holders are a key part of Florida's well-regulated militia. This is no more of an imposition than requiring employers to let people return to their jobs upon returning from National Guard deployment.

by Jerry	Mar 28, 2008 7:55 AM
The only "affront to public safety" is the one that is currently in place: employers can demand that their employees be defenseless on the way to and from work. No guns in office? Fine. No gun during commute? Not fine at all....

by James	Mar 28, 2008 7:54 AM
This is about protecting yourself to and from work. It’s not about violence at work. I bought my girl fried a gun, we both have weapons permits. She drives 30 miles to work alone in the dark. If her car broke down, even with a cell phone she coul

by Russ	Mar 28, 2008 7:54 AM
I'm actually shocked at the number of people here who don't understand how important this bill is to public safety.Wether you antigunners like it or not less than one tenth of one percent of guns used in crimes are legally owned by legal gu

by Quin	Mar 28, 2008 7:53 AM
whomever wrote the editorial is, in my opinion, an ignorant of the facts idiot. the lawmakers were representing Floridians, not Yakees who should have stayed up north if they neglected to understand our culture, lawmaker or not.

by Russ	Mar 28, 2008 7:50 AM
BTW those wild west stories about how this will happen and that will happen have been touted by anti gunners for years now in nearly every place where authorities have considered concealed carry or lifting gun bans yet none of them have come true yet

by Joe	Mar 27, 2008 5:56 PM
If I knew that this kind of insanity was wide spread in FL. My wife and I would have considered buying a house in another state. We knew that FL, had a problem counting votes, but mayb they will have better luck keeping track of the shootings at work

by jimmy	Mar 27, 2008 5:26 PM
Dear Kitty: I won't trample your Constitutional rights; please have respect for mine.

by Derek	Mar 27, 2008 4:43 PM
I guess you anti-gun zealots believe the police will race to protect you when you call 911 for help. By the time the police show up you will be dead unless of course you have a gun to defend yourself. I would rather be alive than a victim of cri

by denise	Mar 27, 2008 4:39 PM
Perhaps no one posting has had an attempt on their life that would change your perspective.I did-I pulled my gun but did not shoot it. I was trapped in my car.The criminal ran away when he saw it.I never want to be asked to leave it at home.

by James	Mar 27, 2008 3:16 PM
I have a weapons permit and I work nights. I come out of work of 1:00am and I have to drive home. I have a right to protect myself, day or night. It has NO effect on my employer. But it does effect me and my well-being.

by Bernard	Mar 27, 2008 2:54 PM
to jimmy: "law-abiding gun owner"--what a stupid statement. Many people by those that get guns legally. And people wonder why America leads the world in violence with guns--plain dumb.

by Tammy	Mar 27, 2008 2:45 PM
Every shooting is by a law abiding gun owner ...until they break the law by sending a bullet into someone. What are the odds a nut will crack up while you have your gun in your hand? Guns do not kill people gun owners do!

by angie	Mar 27, 2008 2:03 PM
Florida lawmakers should take a stand against this all to powerful group. Stop making this a liberal issue, I have no right to carry a gun. Period.

by kitty	Mar 27, 2008 1:57 PM
A gun in a car isn't going to help a worker whose being chased down by a gun-weilding lunatic, and what are the chances you're going to have the opportunity to run to your car to get it? jimmy, law abiding gun owners do snap on occ

by Harold	Mar 27, 2008 1:56 PM
We have more families killed by their own guns in their homes. Yet, I ask how many guns do you need for protection? I believe people should have the right to own guns, but common sense has gone out the window. Welcome back to the "Wild West.&quo

by Dave	Mar 27, 2008 1:56 PM
Paul: Better give a different cause (or none at all) for firing them, or I'm sure you will end up in court with a former employee looking for an easy cash handout. Besides, how would you know anyway?

by Paul	Mar 27, 2008 9:19 AM
I have a message for Marion Hammer. If one of my employees brings a gun on my company property, I will fire them and there isn't anything the NRA can do to stop me.

by J D	Mar 27, 2008 9:19 AM
I have no problem with a co-worker keeping a gun in their car while at work and I hope this bill passes. Mass shootings always take place where no one but the shooter is armed. If the intended victoms were armed such incidents would be short liv

by chuck	Mar 27, 2008 9:15 AM
Hey SP times, any chance we could get a conservative point of view once in awhile. Im getting tired of reading the same old rehashed liberal arguments for gun control. This letter is just nonsense.

by jimmy	Mar 27, 2008 8:59 AM
Of course, the antigun rights St Pete Times would say this. I have a question: when was the last time you saw a story about a law abiding gun owner wreaking havoc? It's rare! Period. Every day excons raise hell in our lives, by contrast.