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Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2013 - 2014
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | June 12, 2014 09:37 AM |
|---|---|
| From: | Senator Richard L. Alloway, II |
| To: | All Senate members |
| Subject: | Employer Firearm Parking Lot Protection Legislation |
| In the near future, I will be introducing legislation that will amend Title 75 (Vehicles) of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes to protect an individual’s right to keep and bear arms by ensuring that no business entity, owner or legal possessor of property or public or private employer may establish, maintain or enforce a policy or rule that prohibits or has the effect of prohibiting a person with a valid Pennsylvania license to carry firearms from transporting or storing a firearm in a vehicle when the vehicle is in a location where it is otherwise permitted to be and the firearm remains inside the person’s attended privately owned vehicle or the firearm is locked out of sight within the trunk, glove box, or other enclosed compartment or container within or on the person’s privately owned vehicle. This legislation is modeled after Florida’s Parking Lot legislation and is substantially similar to the laws in Georgia, Alaska, Kentucky, Mississippi, Kansas and Minnesota; and pending legislation in Alabama, Louisiana, Montana, Tennessee, Utah and Virginia. My legislation would prohibit public and private entities from taking any action against a person who legally keeps a firearm locked in their vehicle and prohibits them from violating the privacy rights of such a person. Further, the bill would prohibit employers from conditioning employment on a person possessing a license to carry a concealed firearm. An employer would not be permitted to prohibit an employee, customer or invitee from entering a parking area because the person’s vehicle contained a firearm. Finally, an employer may not discriminate against an employee or expel a customer or invited from the premises when the person is legally keeping a firearm locked in their vehicle. This legislation is inapplicable on the grounds of an owner-occupied single-family detached residence or a tenant-occupied single-family detached residence, in areas where the possession of firearms is expressly prohibited by Federal or State law, and the business entity, owner or legal possessor of property or public or private employer reasonably believes that the person is in illegal possession of the firearm, provided that a belief based on a mistake of law shall not be considered reasonable, and the person is an employee operating an employer-owned vehicle during and in the course of the employee’s duties on behalf of the employer. Finally, the legislation would grant employers immunity from liability under certain conditions. It is the intent of my legislation to reinforce and protect the right of each citizen to lawfully transport and store firearm’s within the person’s private vehicle for lawful purposes in any place where the vehicle permitted. Please join me in co-sponsoring this important piece of legislation. |
Introduced as SB1449