Okla. Law Allows Guns on Company Property
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In Oklahoma, "Take Your Gun to Work Day" could be every day — but some employers are trying to change that.
Whirlpool Corp. (WHR) has sued to block a new law that allows employees to keep guns in their locked vehicles on workplace parking lots. The law was scheduled to take effect Nov. 1, according to the Associated Press, but a federal judge blocked it. Only Kentucky has a similar law.
Whirlpool, which is trying to save its ban on firearms (search) on company property, believes workplace safety should override the rights of gun owners.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"This is a standard company rule that's intended to protect employees ... and to minimize the risk of any incident occurring," Whirlpool said in a statement to FOX News.
Tulsa police are similarly concerned about the prospect of violence in the workplace.
Disgruntled employees who wanted to do violence would be "able to have quick access to that gun ... be able to access that facility with that gun, so there's just a quicker step for them to be able to actually use that gun inside that facility," police Sgt. Kim Presley told FOX News.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}But Oklahoma gun rights activists (search) argue that they should be allowed to keep weapons in their vehicles on employer property because they want to be armed on the ride to and from work. In addition, they believe the state constitution guarantees their right to bear and transport firearms.
State Rep. Jerry Ellis (search), a Democrat, believes that keeping guns off employer property won't prevent workplace violence.
"People that are going to do violence in the workplace ... it doesn't make any difference how many laws that you have on the books. They have no respect for the law and they're going to do it anyway," Ellis told FOX News.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Oklahoma's heavily Republican legislature and Democratic Gov. Brad Henry overwhelmingly support the law, which was drafted after 12 workers who were found to have stored guns in their parked cars on company property were fired. Those 12 are now suing.
Click on the video box near the top of this story to watch a report by FOX News' Phil Keating.