Guns are allowed in parking lots now

Published 6:25 pm Monday, April 21, 2008

jeff.waters@gaflnews.com



Gun owners will now be able to take their guns to work, regardless of their employer’s policy, courtesy of a bill signed into law Tuesday by Gov. Charlie Crist.

Under the new law, you can take your gun to work as long as you have a permit to carry a concealed weapon and the weapon is kept in a locked vehicle — regardless of the business owner’s policy. The law applies not just to employees, but to customers and other business visitors as well.

There are exceptions, however. Guns are still banned at schools, defense and military facilities, prisons and nuclear power plants as well as law enforcement agencies.

Local reaction is mixed.

Keith Leibfried, president and CEO of First Federal Bank, said the bank’s policy on guns is simple: They aren’t allowed.

“As of now, weapons are not allowed anywhere,” Leibfried said.

Bank officials will have to study the law before determining how to modify bank policy.

Brown Lantern owner and operator Raleigh Brown said his establishment has no policy on gun control.

“We have never had a situation that caused us to have a policy in place,” he said.

Brown said he has no problem with the new law.

“In a place like Suwannee County, you are going to have people carrying their guns in their vehicles anyway,” he said.

Pilgrim’s Pride said company policy prohibits weapons of any kind on the property, according to Director of Corporate Communications Ray Atkinson. Atkinson did not comment on how the new law would impact the plant.

The law, set to go into effect July 1, has been attacked by the Florida Chamber of Commerce, which has threatened legal action.