http://www.nraila.org/Legislation/Read.aspx?ID=4060
FLORIDA SPECIAL NOTICE: Guns in Parking Lots Law Takes Effect Today,
July 1st!
Tuesday, July 01, 2008
DATE: July 1, 2008
TO: USF & NRA Member and Friends
FROM: Marion P. Hammer
USF Executive Director
NRA Past President
Today, House Bill 503 by Representative Greg Evers and Senator Durell
Peaden takes effect.
Officially, HB 503 is known as the "Preservation & Protection of the
Right to Keep & Bear Arms in Motor Vehicles Act of 2008," even though
elements of the business community continue to call it the “Guns at
Work Law.”
This new law protects existing constitutional and statutory rights.
Law-abiding gun owners can continue to have firearms in their private
vehicles, for self-defense and other lawful purposes without fear of
punitive actions against them by anti-gun businesses and employers.
Under the new law, any business or employer who violates the
constitutional and statutory right of customers or employees to have
firearms locked in their private vehicles can now be punished.
ALSO, under this new law, business owners will benefit from immunity
from liability if guns stored in vehicles in the businesses parking
lot are used to cause harm on the business property.
THE LAW APPLIES TO ALL BUSINESSES, ALL CUSTOMERS & EMPLOYEES.
The law covers ALL employers and businesses. The Legislature passed
and Governor Crist signed it into law to protect the right of ALL
law-abiding citizens to protect themselves.
The law requires employees who park in their employer's parking lot to
have a concealed weapons license in order to be exempt from a policy
that prohibits employees from having guns -- IF THEIR EMPLOYER HAS
SUCH A POLICY.
Customers and invitees are not required to have concealed weapons
licenses in order to have firearms in their vehicles when they park
their vehicles in business parking lots.
The legislation does not prohibit any employer from having a policy
that bars employees from having guns on the employer's property. It
merely exempts employees, who have a concealed weapons license, from
the policy as it relates to having a gun locked in their private
vehicle in the parking lot. Employees who do not have concealed
weapons licenses are subject to an employer’s anti-gun, gun ban
policy.
Nothing in the law allows an employer/business owner/business manager
to prohibit customers or invitees from having firearms locked in their
private vehicles in a publicly accessible parking lot. In fact, the
law specifically stops any such action against customers and invitees.
The ONLY people who can be prohibited from having legal firearms
lawfully stored in a car in a publicly accessible parking lot are
employees who do not have concealed weapons licenses and who work for
an employer that has a gun ban POLICY.
The U.S. Supreme Court has just ruled that the Second Amendment
guarantees an individual right that belongs to all Americans and is
not connected to militia service.
Further, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that self-defense is central to
the Second Amendment.
That is exactly what this law is all about: preserving and protecting
your individual right to have and carry (keep and bear) firearms in
your vehicle for self-defense against attackers and for other lawful
purposes, AND to provide penalties to stop anti-gun businesses from
violating those rights.
While the law does not provide new rights for gun owners, IT DOES
PROVIDE NEW BENEFITS FOR BUSINESSES. Yesterday, business owners had
no immunity from liability if a firearm stored in a vehicle in its
parking lot was used to cause harm on its property. TODAY, they do
have immunity.
To view or download a copy of new law please click here:
http://www.flsenate.gov/data/session/2008/House/bills/billtext/pdf/h050303er.pdf
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