M8 (Wehrer)

2) I believe employees have both a moral, and legal right to park cars in a company parking lot with guns in them. The property rights and safety concerns of employees matter, but I don’t believe having a gun in your car is a safety issue. If someone wanted to do harm with a gun, they would simply do it. Just because a gun is in a car doesn’t mean the owner would be more enticed to use it for anything other than protection. What if there is a shooting, and someone who originally had a gun in their car, wasn’t able to have it? More people could potentially die because no one would be able to eliminate the threat. Also shootings would be less prevalent if people knew others around them were armed as well. I think it would be a good policy for companies to allow employees to have guns in their cars. People forget that something as simple as a fork can kill someone. If someone really wanted to do harm, they wouldn’t need a gun to do so. That being said companies don’t have the best of grounds for being concerned about guns in cars, only their political agendas in mind. People should be able to protect themselves but without scaring others around them. If a “Don’t ask, Don’t tell,” policy was implemented like in the navy regarding homosexual recruits, I think the problem would be solved. Simply don’t tell people whether or not you have a gun in your vehicle. No one will know so therefore people wont be frightened to go to work.

3) I do agree to an extent with the NRA that if companies ban guns from their parking lots it would create a wrecking ball effect to the Second Amendment. If companies were to succeed at this, they will think it should be done else where too. Companies will use it as a foundation against guns and use it to further their personal agenda relating to gun laws. Gun advocates are guilty of politicizing the issue, but so is everyone else involved with the issue. Its hard to say if state legislators should get involved. I believe it should mostly be up to the companies to decide, just as you are responsible for the rules of your own household. As I stated previously Companies should implement a “Don’t ask, Don’t tell” rule, because even if companies don’t allow guns, how would they really know who is and isn’t following that rule. Its not like they can search their employees cars without a valid reason.

4) When it comes to schools there are plenty of circumstances in which bringing a gun to school could be reasonable. Schools are where a lot of shootings occur so Its safe to say that at least one person should be armed just in case. There is a phrase that goes, “I would rather have a gun and not need it, than need it and not have it,” is a good saying regarding schools and guns. As far as elementary to high schools goes, the teachers and faculty should be armed. For Colleges, teachers and students with concealed carry permits should be able to be armed in order to defend themselves in the case of an attack. Unfortunately even so bringing guns to school is reasonable to a degree, I do think it violates the rights of employees and students to be guaranteed a safe working environment. Seeing a gun on an individual is always scary. If schools allow guns to be brought, it should be regulated to mainly faculty being the ones having them, as well as students with concealed carry permits. With concealed carry permits people are less likely to be frightened because they would be unaware of the situation.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/f-firearm-more-teachers-authorized-carry-weapons-classroom-n208946

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2014/02/08/employee-rights-to-store-guns-in-cars-parked-in-private-employer-parking-lots/?utm_term=.6cfe14ee3aff

www.southernlawjournal.com/2015_1/SLJ_Spring%202015_Sanders_etal.pdf