ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, March 13, 1996 TAG: 9603130033
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
ROOTIN', TOOTIN', straight-shootin' Americans now concealing on their persons the means to kill themselves or others - friends and foes, alike, it doesn't matter; all can be dispatched with equal ease - may, perversely, be feeling looser and more confident with that press of steel against their flesh, the means to deal out death so readily at hand.
But as more states, such as Virginia, pass liberal concealed-gun laws, not everyone shares the confidence that packing lead will make our everyday lives ever so much safer. Quite the opposite.
Increasingly, The Wall Street Journal reports, businesses worried about the prospect of employees coming to work secretly armed are issuing formal policies against allowing weapons on company property. Breaking the rule can be a firing offense.
Oops. Make that grounds for dismissal. Best not to mention "firing" in any context in today's sometimes superheated workplace, lest fearful, unarmed colleagues feel compelled to scramble for cover.
Some companies are going so far as to forbid not just employees but customers and visitors to carry concealed weapons on their premises - a rule that seems impossible to enforce, short of installing metal detectors and hiring security guards prepared to frisk anyone whose belt buckle or jewelry sets off the alarm. People facing the possibility of being skyjacked by terrorists tolerate this. People trying to buy a loaf of bread at the corner grocery will not.
Ridiculous? Yes, especially if, as the Journal reports, only 1 to 2 percent of the citizens in states allowing concealed weapons are expected to apply for permits to carry them. But companies do have a legitimate responsibility to provide a safe workplace for their employees - and even 1 percent of the work force packing pistols does not make for a safe environment. Companies have a clear need to be able to forbid employees, anyway, from coming to work armed.
Of course, the National Rifle Association already is fretting publicly about how such rules interfere with a person's right of self-defense, and the acrid smell of lawsuits is hanging in the air.
All of which points to the madness of promoting a domestic arms race in the guise of a personal-safety campaign.
LENGTH: Short : 47 linesby CNB