Respect employers’ rights

Last week, both houses of the Indiana General Assembly voted overwhelmingly in favor of a bill which would not only allow Hoosiers to bring guns to work, provided they are locked out of sight in their car, but would also forbid employers to stop them from doing so.

We agree with the Indiana Chamber of Commerce and the Indiana Manufacturers Association, both of which opposed the bill on the grounds that it infringes on employers’ property rights.

By making it illegal for businesses to prevent employees from keeping firearms in their vehicles at work, this bill goes too far. Property owners should have the right to specify in what conditions a person can enter their premises. Business owners should be able to specify contractual conditions of employment, including forbidding firearms in the workplace or anywhere on company property.

While the law includes common-sense exceptions such as schools, prisons, universities and domestic violence shelters, it cannot anticipate every situation in which the well-being of the workplace could be threatened by the presence of guns. Hospitals and oil refineries were conspicuously left off the list, even though both lobbied for exceptional status.

The law was backed by the National Rifle Association, which cited the need of citizens to defend themselves during the commute to and from work and the ability to hunt before or after work.

We feel the inconvenience of having to return home to retrieve a hunting rifle does not trump the right of a private company to determine its own rules.

Employees who park off of company property should be allowed to leave their guns in their cars, provided all other gun regulations are followed. Moreover, businesses should be allowed to set a policy which allows guns in cars at work. However, they should not be forced to adopt this policy by coercive government action.

The fundamental right of private property is the basis for much of the philosophy which undergirds our free society. It was one of the natural rights outlined by John Locke, and it is protected by the U.S. Constitution.

While gun owners might claim that guns are private property as well, the difference is in scope. The broad precedent set by this law is that the government can dictate to businesses how to operate, even if by their own estimation, it is against good practices of safety.

This case is different from government safety regulations that prevent injuries.

Gun property rights are one specific case of property rights, for which a precedent of limitation in certain situations has been established.

This law is a case of a very powerful lobby, the NRA, which has many members in Indiana, using its influence to affect legislation which is detrimental to the well-being of the state and furthermore infringes on the rights of business owners.

While the Second Amendment forbids Congress from infringing on the right of citizens to bear arms, it does not require states to actively shelter that right against the more fundamental right to control one’s own property.