Ga. Bill That Would Have Allowed Guns in Employees' Cars Now Dead

April 19, 2006
Outcry from Georgia businesses allows companies to retain security control in parking lots

A bill in the state of Georgia that would have superseded companies' prohibition of guns in their parking lots was defeated recently.

The original bill (see earlier story with full text of the bill), GA House bill 998, would have allowed licensed gun owners to legally bring weapons into the parking lot as long as the weapons stay locked in the vehicle. The bill also would have given the person or business owner of the parking lot civil immunity from the presence and/or use of the gun (as long as they weren't involved in the use of the weapon). The bill had specifically written to supersede and repeal any previous legislation or company policies that would have prohibited bringing a weapon in a car onto a business' campus.

The issue raised issues of personal freedoms and the right to bear arms, but also at issue was the level of security a business could impose in their employee parking lots. The bill generated a variety of discussion among ASIS members in Georgia, but was deemed dead after it was passed from committee back to the Georgia House of Representatives, which decided to take no action on the bill.

There was a strong reaction from Georgia businesses, and the outcry was considered influential in the House taking no action on this proposed legislation.

The Georgia bill followed legislation in Oklahoma, where the legislature decided that companies can't block licensed gun owners from securely storing their guns in their cars while parked on company lots.

When the Oklahoma law was proposed and made effective, a number of Oklahoma companies, including Whirlpool, ConocoPhillips and Williams Cos. sought an injunction against the law, citing OSHA "hazard-free workplace" concerns. That lawsuit, however, has not been resolved.

The Oklahoma legislation followed an earlier instance in 2002 when workers from Weyerhaeuser were fired for violating a company prohibition of employees keeping guns in their parked cars. The 2004 Oklahoma law responded to the Weyerhaeuser firings and was written in such a way that it would prevent workers from being fired if they were to legally carry a gun (secured, registered, licensed) in their vehicle.