Since 2006, the National Rifle Association's has grown increasingly desperate in its attempt to pass "take-your-guns-to-work" laws that seek to turn companies into criminals if they bar guns on their private property. Its efforts have met stiff opposition from the business community and Brady activists. The overall result has been a stinging rebuke to the NRA.

The NRA does not give up easily, however. Instead, they become more extreme, even to the point of alienating lifetime NRA members. In 2008, the NRA is pushing a new round of legislative bills, despite having had their original legislation declared unconstitutional by a federal court in Oklahoma. It will take just as much work this year to defeat the NRA's extreme agenda.

The Brady Center's report: Forced Entry: The National Rifle Association's Campaign To Force Businesses To Accept Guns At Work blows the whistle on the NRA's strategy and explains how it tramples property rights and conflicts with companies' federal obligation to provide a safe workplace. If passed, the NRA's extreme bills will also expose employers to lawsuits because they establish the right of employees to sue employers to overturn no-weapons policies.

Gun violence in the workplace is a serious national problem:

• 77% of workplace homicides are committed with firearms.
• Murder is the leading cause of injury-related death for women in the workplace.
Prevention is the Best Policy

"Establish a policy applicable to everyone employed by the company or on company property, including the company parking lot, prohibiting the possession of weapons which have not been authorized by your organization."

— International Association of Chiefs of Police
• 60% of major employers said in a 2005 survey that disgruntled employees had threatened to assault or kill senior managers in the last year.
• A May 2005 study published in the American Journal of Public Health found that workplaces where guns were permitted were 5 to 7 times more likely to be the site of a workplace homicide compared to workplaces where guns are prohibited.
• Dozens of workplace shootings occur every year.
• In addition, car burglaries are a common source of guns on the black market. 28% of guns reported stolen were taken from parked cars, according to one study.

ConocoPhillips has won its federal lawsuit and permanently blocked the NRA's Guns-at-Work Law from taking effect in Oklahoma

On October 4, 2007, a federal court in Oklahoma permanently enjoined the Oklahoma gun-at-work law from taking effect. The court, citing our Forced Entry report, held that the federal obligation to provide a safe workplace for employees under the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's general duty clause must trump a state law that threatens workplace safety. "In fact, the Court can imagine no other 'condition' on company property that more significantly increases the risk of death or serious bodily harm to employees in a situation involving workplace violence [than the presence of firearms.]" Courts in Utah and Oklahoma have also found there is no right to bring guns to work. See Oklahoma decision here (PDF).

On February 28, 2008, the Brady Center, joined by the American Society of Safety Engineers and ASIS International, filed an amicus brief in the Tenth Circuit urging affirmance of the lower court ruling that found the Oklahoma forced entry law unconstitutional. See the Brady Center's press release here. Read the brief here.

A growing number of organizations and associations have supported ConocoPhillips' lawsuit or expressed opposition to NRA-backed guns-at-work bills, including:

• American Bar Association (PDF)
• American Society of Safety Engineers
  • Letter to Georgia Senate (PDF)
  • Letter to Georgia House (PDF)
  • Letter to Florida House (PDF)
  • 2004 Workplace Violence Survey & White Paper May 2004 (PDF)
• The Society for Human Resource Management
• HR Policy Association (PDF)
• Equal Employment Advisory Council
• ASIS International
• Securitas Security Services USA
• Florida Chamber of Commerce
• Florida Retail Federation
• Georgia Chamber of Commerce
• Floridians Against Workplace Violence

Newspaper editors and commentators oppose these bills

• Editorial: Check logic at the door with guns-to-work law (Palm Beach Post)
• Weapons at work (Courier-Journal)
• Editorial: Bill makes workplace a high-risk zone (Miami Herald)
• Editorial: Gun laws already too lax, House bill would let concealed-carry owners take arms to restaurants, churches, rec centers (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
• Doctor fired for taking gun into hospital (Associated Press)
• NRA chief lobbies for workers' right — to keep guns in cars (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Read more news and editorials on Guns in the Workplace.

The business press is also raising the alarm

Articles have appeared in Workforce Management, CFO Magazine, Business Week, Occupational Hazards and Inc.com.

Even NRA members and state affiliates have come out in opposition to guns-at-work bills

• The Georgia Sport Shooting Association's VP's letter opposing SB 43

States with "Guns in the Workplace" Bills
Click here for detailed list of current bills.

States where gun lobby bills are pending

States where gun lobby bills failed

Dealing With New Guns-at-Work Laws (Workforce Management) (Workforce Management) (ABA Journal) Laws Allowing Guns Onto Company Parking Lots Spread, Catch Employers in Legal Crossfire (National Law Journal) Laws Allowing Guns in Office Parking Lots Place Company Execs in the Crossfire (LeClairRyan)

The latest from the States: In Florida From Forced Entry: The National Rifle Association's Campaign To Force Businesses To Accept Guns At Work Guns and Business Don't Mix: A Guide for Keeping Your Business Gun Free