PA Bill Number: HB2311
Title: Establishing the School Mental Health Screening Grant and Development Program.
Description: Establishing the School Mental Health Screening Grant and Development Program. ...
Last Action: Laid on the table
Last Action Date: Sep 23, 2024
Making gun carriers a protected class draws fire from business groups :: 12/08/2016
Two top Statehouse heavyweights — gun-rights supporters and business advocates — are battling over a bill that would make concealed-carry permit holders a protected class under employment discrimination.
Gun-rights advocates are backing the proposal, added Tuesday to a military concealed-carry bill, that would essentially elevate concealed-carry permit holders who keep guns locked in their vehicles to the same level as race, gender, age or religious protections under the Ohio Civil Rights Act.
“Cars are private property, and if you want to take your sidearm and you have the appropriate (permit), you should be able to leave that in your vehicle no matter where that is,” said House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger, R-Clarksville.
Business groups including the Ohio Chamber of Commerce and the Ohio Manufacturers’ Associaiton oppose the bill, arguing it creates new liabilities and increased uncertainty for business owners who should be able to regulate their private property as they see fit.
Meanwhile, the Ohio Senate voted 23-9 late Wednesday to again expand areas where concealed-carry permit holders can carry their handguns — including, potentially, on public and private college and university campuses.
In the employment discrimination bill, Senate Bill 199, which should get final approval today, members of the LGBT community also expressed frustration, after unsuccessfully advocating for years that they be granted employment discrimination protections.
Rep. Nickie Antonio, D-Lakewood, an openly gay lawmaker, has repeatedly introduced anti-discrimination LGBT bills. She said there is usually pushback from Republicans who argue it is not necessary, or doesn’t rise to a high enough standard to create a new, protected class.
“So someone with a license to carry a gun would have more protections in employment than anybody in the LGBT community,” she said. “Does that just mean we need to arm the LGBT community? How pathetic is that?”
Alex Boehnke of the Ohio Council of Retail Merchants, also questioned whether concealed-carry licensees are worthy of anti-discrimination safeguards.
As with other protected classes, the bill would make it illegal for an employer to fire, refuse to hire or discriminate against someone who has a concealed-carry permit and keeps a gun within a vehicle parked on the employer’s property.
The National Rifle Association and the Buckeye Firearms Association argue that employers have no right to restrict what employees keep in their personal cars while working.
Jim Irvine, president of the Buckeye Firearms Association, said more than 20 states that have passed similar laws have not seen the type of problems that business groups are raising.
“I think their concerns are really overblown. What gives the employer the right to get inside private automobiles?” Irvine said. “The chamber’s position is that their rights are more important than the personal individual’s.”
Don Boyd, director of labor and legal affairs for the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, said there is the underlying issue of employers controlling what comes on their property. The bill, he said, makes the problem even worse, because it creates conflicting laws by tying it to employment discrimination.
On one hand, Boyd said, the concealed-carry law says employers can ban guns from their property. But under the bill, “if someone brings a firearm on your property and you discipline them for it, you are subject to the same civil penalties you would be for discriminating for race, religion and age. It doesn’t make a lot of sense.”
By prohibiting an employee from keeping a gun in a vehicle in a company’s parking lot, Irvine said, the employer also is essentially preventing the worker from carrying the gun to and from home.
“You are dictating that I cannot defend myself to and from work,” he said. “What about the 25-year-old mother? Are they willing to take financial responsibility and liability for her protection since they are ordering her not to have a gun? You cannot disarm your employees.”
Before amendments, Senate Bill 199 originally focused on allowing active military with firearms training to carry without a concealed-carry permit.
The House is set to vote on the bill today, part of a wave of legislation moving through both chambers this week, the likely final voting sessions of this General Assembly.
The Republican-ruled Senate voted late Wednesday for a bill that would would allow gun permit holders to carry their weapons on college campuses if school boards of trustees authorize the practice. It also reduces the penalty for a permit holder who illegally carries a gun on campus.
House Bill 48 also would allow guns to be carried into day-care centers with the permission of center operators and in unsecured government and public buildings — excluding the Statehouse, courthouses and other secure buildings. It could allow guns in buildings including libraries, city halls, and boards of election. An amendment yesterday allows county commissioners to block guns in child support enforcement agencies out of concern that situations there can become emotional.
“Until I can be persuaded that more concealed-carry in more public places creates more safety, I’m going to be a no on the bill,” said Senate Minority Leader Joe Schiavoni, D-Boardman. Republicans countered that there’s no evidence it is less safe, either.
The National Rifle Association and Ohio gun groups lobbied for the changes, saying that current law declaring guns as off limits in some areas creates “victim zones” with no armed citizens to challenge would-be assailants before police arrive.
Several Ohio State University faculty members and students and others protested the potential expansion of concealed carry to campuses, saying guns increase the chances of “good guys” being mistaken as bad by police, plus increased risk of violence and suicide.
Red-shirted Moms Demand Action members also testified against the measure, saying more areas with more guns likely will result in more gun violence.
Police claimed a victory when a provision that would have allowed concealed-carry in public areas of police stations was removed.
