Look at it this way. What restrictions do you think you'd accept about ordering people off your front lawn? Perhaps you'd be willing to let them be there with pro-Kerry signs?
Perhaps you'd be willing to let them be there with pro-Kerry signs and shotguns?
It's their stinkin' property just like any property you or I own, and why don't they get to make the rules?
If they held pro-Kerry signs and shotguns but did so in a peaceful non-threatening manner (doubtful given that they are mean-spirited liberals), I don't believe I have a right to order them off my driveway if they just happen to be standing there and not obstructing anything. Maybe they are unhappy with my pro-Bush sign.
If they stand there too long, I will have them arrested for loitering.
But you are making an apples and oranges argument. An employer's rights are not the same as a homeowner's. As a business, you are subject to certain laws covering businesses that do not apply to homeowners.
True, employers can generally have the right to hire and fire as they please. My problem is with the specific policy they are trying to implement and the invasion of privacy they necessarily take to determine whether someone has a weapon in the locked trunk of their car.
Again, let's say they had marijuana (something that's illegal as opposed to guns) locked in their glove compartment. Does AOL have the right to break into your car and search the glove compartment in order to prove whether you have brought an illegal substance onto their property?
I bet that if people would look at many of the larger corporations you'd find they have rules against employees having fire arms, alcohol, drugs, etc in their possession on the company property.... Thus in your car, locked up is in your possession and if it's on the company property [parking lot] then it's a violation.