Nun with a gun. You’re right. I have not lived. Glad I can laugh about it.

That would be tough in our area… many many people have gun racks in their trucks. Teens and adults have multiple guns. It used to drive me crazy. What scares me more now though is people with concealed weapon licenses. ANYONE can have a gun on them and you don’t have to know it. That just seems wrong in a civilized society.

Yeah, New Mexico (where I taught) can be like your neck of the woods, Jacqueline. I don’t think you need a permit, license, or anything to buy a shot gun. And you can certainly own one if you are under 18. It looks to me that all of the states considering these sorts of laws are all southern-ish too. But I think currently in most states your employer can ban you from bringing a gun and leaving it in your car if you park in an employer-owned lot with a gate….

Speaking as one who has been saved from certain injury and possible death by a citizen with a concealed carry permit, I conclude that you folks have spent your lives in classier neighborhoods than I’ve spent half of mine in.

Oh, I don’t know, Joel. All of our neighbors have guns and this neighborhood is pretty lower-middle class, and we used to live in a veritable slum with gunshots and fights most nights.

So you think your life was saved by carrying a gun? Or someone with a gun saved you? Was it in the workplace?

As a kid we lived in some slums, but I didn’t know any people with guns, nor anyone whose life was saved by one. But years ago, when I was working in Oregon, one of my coworkers took me to his truck in the employee parking lot and showed me his handgun; it was a 9mm and he had a concealed weapons permit. Why did he take it with him to work? Because he liked to go shooting after work, and the range was between the job and his house. I think he also felt like if it was going to be used as protection, he’d actually need to have it on his person (which makes sense).

I am not afraid of people walking around with concealed weapons (with permits). Typically these people are well trained in gun safety, and what not.

But teenagers selling shotguns to other teenagers - is that even legal? That really disturbs me.

I think the best protection a person can have for their personal safety is to learn martial arts. In my view, too many people rely upon guns for their “personal safety” instead of being proficient in some basics, such as being able to run like hell, or throw off a person who has mounted you.

It was another person who saved me; I did not have a permit. I still don’t, for that matter- but I do have weapons other than guns now. H Sofia is right, guns aren’t always the best defense. The attempted mugging wasn’t in the workplace proper, but it wasn’t that far away, either.

When the gun is in the car and the person is off somewhere else, there is always the possibility that the gun will be stolen from the car. There have been lots of things stolen from cars in my area lately, and I live in the suburbs. The people stealing them are probably kids. I would hate to think that a gun I had in my car that was stolen by a kid caused someone injury or even worse death.
There is some interesting information about criminals and guns at this web site.
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/guic.pdf
Including one study that found that 50% of incarcerated juveniles in a four state study had admitted to stealing a gun.

Ms. T- they actually told you you overreacted? Sounds to me like you handled that situation more calmly & rationally than many people would have.

h sofia- you bring up an excellent point about learning self defense skills. I have nothing against guns per se, but when I felt that I needed some kind of protection as I am frequently responsible for the welfare of the family (myself, small child, and a large but quite harmless dog), I went the martial arts route, including some weapons & disarmament training. I think one of the benefits of this was the mental training required- a more defensive way of thinking than what I think gun certification would have provided.

My dad is an NRA member, I grew up with guns in the house (locked up, unloaded) and have a healthy respect for them.

My friend Casey, who lives in the desert and must defend against snakes, predators, and strangers, has every right and reason to have a gun in his truck at all times. My father likes his guns because they are a legacy from his father, and he enjoys the technical aspects of shooting. In New Mexico where you were, guns are a lot more commonplace. You would probably have gotten the same kind of reaction from anyone in a rural area.

The problem with the gun controversy is that it’s become an emotional issue, and thus unresolveable.

I realize I am in the minority among liberals, though.

But I’m not saying y’all don’t have the right to own guns. God knows, there are tons of laws that allow them, I live in Gun Central, and I used the NRA’s sites to research the issue. I’m reporting on a legal phenomenon about legislation specifically about people taking guns with them to work and leaving them in their parked cars on private property (as with my story about a gun and a workplace parking lot). Not in the desert. Not at home. Not on the street. But in your employer’s parking lot, where as Cee Jay suggested things can happen to it.

I have a couple reasons so far that people bring guns to work and leave them in the car:

a. for post-work recreation

b. for some sort of post-work protection e.g., the classic NRA example is of an abused woman stalked by a dangerous ex-boyfriend

c. for work (e.g., you’re a police officer or a park ranger in Alaska or some job with a gun) though you’d probably wear it, and not leave it in your car

I don’t like guns, but it is interesting that, thinking about it, lots of people I went to school with had shot guns in the windows of their trucks. The day deer hunting season started, half the school took off and I remember it being totally normal. I guess in the country where everyone is farmers it is just a little different. Not that I like it. But it wasn’t a big deal.

Just to elaborate on this topic…I was 100% anti-guns and would have supported no guns in cars ever, before visiting Casey at his house and learning why he needed guns.

Here was his comment–imagine driving off to work in the morning and leaving your gun at home. When you come home, there is a rattle snake or coyote on your porch. The local police take a minimum of one hour to reach your house. He has determined that it is much safer to have a gun so he can take care of the problem, rather than waiting an hour for police. If he can’t keep the gun in his car when he is at work (and he was a school teacher at that point in life), then he has an issue–where should he keep his gun so when he comes home, he can handle a problem?

I think the real issue is that we have two very different societies–a rural society and a urban / sub-urban society. In an urban / sub-urban area, you don’t need a gun due to wildlife / nature…most people have guns because they are scared of other people. But in rural areas, most people have guns to protect themselves from natural problems–animals.

The issue with gun laws is we are looking for a one size fits all solution in a country that is anything but similar. There needs to be a way to let a rural person have a gun in the car, but the city worker not have a gun in the car. Their scenarios, problems, and reasons for wanting / needing a gun are so different, that no single law can solve the issue.

As for guns in workplace parking lots - they own the property. Do I have the right to say “no guns on my property”? If a business can say “No Loitering” then why not “No guns?” If it’s that crucial for a person to have a gun in their car, maybe they’ll need to park elsewhere (on the street, or public lot).

An honest question: Is the employer going to search every car as it comes into the parking lot?

I’m really not on either side here. It’s a complicated question. I just don’t think there’s any way to enforce it that still protects privacy, so long as the gun is legally owned.

I don’t think the employer has the legal right to search every car, but many employers are concerned about employees having guns in their cars in the employee lot, and have rules banning them. Employers see this as a liability issue in case the gun is used in an act of workplace violence.

I think the key difference between no loitering and no guns in cars is that loitering is a form of trespass, and there are many laws against trespass. It is a message that our company will enforce the laws that exist. While there are laws against guns in cars, they are almost all about the “legal way” to transport guns. These laws vary state by state. But right now, I do not know of any law that prevents have a gun in your car. As such, while a company can forbid it, they can not enforce their forbidding (is that a word?).

Similar to companies asking to see your receipt and bags when you exit the store. They have the right to ask, as a stranger has the right to ask you. However, they can not force you to show your receipt and contents of your bag, unless they accuse you of shoplifting (except for places like CostCo, where you become a member and must abide by the membership rules).