Well, if there are bears in the work place, I want a firearm with me.
Surely this tiny genius meant "grisly."
Posted on 08/24/2005 3:15:02 PM PDT by Dan from Michigan
Guns At Work
Big business and the gun lobby are going at it over workplace firearms. Will the Bush administration pick sides?
By Robert B. Reich
Web Exclusive: 08.18.05
Listen to the evening news and you’re likely to hear a grizzly story about a disaffected worker or estranged spouse or dissatisfied customer arriving at a workplace and going ballistic. It’s all too common.
About 17 employees are murdered every week in American workplaces by someone with a gun, making gun-related killings the third-biggest safety hazard facing American workers -- right after vehicles and machines. In fact, gun-related homicide is the leading cause of death at the workplace for women.
Researchers at the University of North Carolina have shown that killings are five times more likely to occur at workplaces where guns are allowed as where they’re prohibited. It’s just common sense.
So what are we doing about this? Some well-known American companies are taking action. It’s government that’s the problem.
A while back, the Weyerhauser Corporation banned weapons in cars parked in its employee parking lots. Workers who thereafter arrived with shotguns, handguns, rifles, and automatic weapons were fired.
But legislators in Oklahoma didn’t like this at all. Apparently Oklahoma’s lawmakers are more concerned about protecting gun owners than protecting average working people. So they enacted a state law preventing companies from instituting no-guns-in-company-parking-lot policies. Unless something’s done, the law goes into effect this November.
Thankfully, something is being done. A group of companies is going to court to block that Oklahoma law. They say they have a right to take action to protect their employees on company property. These companies -- including the energy giant Halliburton; aircraft-part maker Nordam; and ConocoPhillips, the largest oil refiner in America -- deserve the thanks of workers in Oklahoma and in any other states where gun-fawning lawmakers are intent on endangering them.
True to form, the National Rifle Association is taking a stand against these companies, and in favor of people who want to bring guns to work. It’s even organizing a boycott of ConocoPhillips gas stations.
Now, you may ask, where is the federal government in all this? The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is supposed to set national policy for workplace safety. Since it was established more than 30 years ago, OSHA has often been corporate America’s worst nightmare, focusing its enforcement on picayune rules and regulations.
Now here’s OSHA’s chance to side with corporate America and protect workers’ lives. OSHA ought to ban guns in every workplace across America -- thereby preempting the Oklahoma legislation and sending the National Rifle Association packing.
If OSHA fails to take action on this one, you might suspect that the National Rifle Association has trained its sights on the Bush administration.
Back door is right.
As with all laws, only the people who obey laws will follow them. It is against the law to take out a gun and shoot somebody. Hey, if a person is going to break that one, what's one or two more?
Murdered by co workers or, like in the Chicago factory, by an estranged hubby who killed his wife& 6 others?
Carry.....ALWAYS
What a scumbag.
Guns in locked in a car aren't on your employers property - they are in YOUR property.
...unless they pay for and hold the title to your car.
Will this include courtrooms, police stations and military bases?
Guess policeman can't bring their guns to work anymore... /s
How about a ban on shooting people in the work place? Unless you're a cop, then I guess shooting people in the workplace is unavoidable. But we could make it a rule that you're not supposed to shoot people in the workplace without at least first notifying the safety department and getting a waiver.
Anybody know about this study? Has John Lott addressed it?
If he really means every workplace, it would have to include police departments and military bases.
Also will this include all those government body guards and government officials with carry permits?
Gee, wouldn't police stations be considered workplaces? :=)
"Back door is right."...Vertically impaired Mr. Reich has spent all his life looking at them--back doors.....
"About 17 employees are murdered every week in American workplaces by someone with a gun, making gun-related killings the third-biggest safety hazard facing American workers -- right after vehicles and machines."
884 a year. Is this an OSHA statistic? Seems one would see a daily national story by the gun-grabbing liberal MSM if this were the case. Does this include officers killed in the line of duty? I bethcha it does.
Well, if there are bears in the work place, I want a firearm with me.
Surely this tiny genius meant "grisly."
Reich. Lousy little fascist. With a name to match.
Hmmmmmm........banning guns in all work places. The Upland PD near me is not going to like that. What will they do without guns?
OSHA should require guns in every workplace. That's the only mechanism that might enable the workers to defend themselves in a timely manner when confronted by a gun-wielding criminal. By the time the Police arrive, it will certainly be too late.
I guess that this means that the police will be disarmed as well / sarcasm
Truer word than the above have seldom been spoken. That said, a ban on guns in the workplace will prevent spousal shootings???? Dream on.
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