WA:Clark County May Allow Second Amendment Rights for Employees

Clark County, Washington, is strongly considering joining the group of local governments that have reformed their work rules to allow employees to exercise their second amendment rights.  Many states do not restrict citizens from exercising their rights to bear arms in public buildings, so it makes little sense to restrict employees from being able to carry as well.  From the Columbian:

Commissioners Tom Mielke and David Madore on Wednesday requested that Chris Horne, the county's chief civil deputy prosecutor, investigate what revisions could be made to the county's workplace violence policy to allow employees to carry concealed firearms. Commissioner Steve Stuart was absent from the meeting.

The county's current policy prohibits employees from bringing concealed firearms at work, even if they have a permit to do so. Other people, including elected officials and the public, are exempt from the policy and may bring weapons into some county buildings.

One of the issues being addressed is that of insurance rates.

 Upfront insurance costs could go either way -- up or down -- if the county implements a looser weapons policy for employees, an insurance professional said.

 When schools in Kansas decided to allow teachers to carry concealed weapons, their insurance company, EMC, threatened to drop their policies.   The schools shopped for other alternatives and ended up with a new insurer.  They expect to save $2 million over the next decade in insurance costs.

An opponent of the right to bear arms made this statement:

"A gun is not a defensive tool, it's an offensive tool," said Heidi Yewman, a Vancouver-based gun control advocate. "A gun won't do you any good unless you are holding it out and ready to fire."

In the last two decades, the number of people with concealed carry permits has sky-rocketed from an estimated 1 million in 1993 to over 10 million today.  During the same period, criminal homicides have dropped by 50 percent.

Experts say that such correlation does not prove causation, but it does make it harder to argue that an armed population causes crime.

©2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
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