Judge Derails Railroad's Gun Law Challenge

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Parking-lot gun laws don't get a lot of attention, but they matter — especially if your range trip is sandwiched between shifts or your only carry option lives in your truck while you're at work.

"This is a gun-rights case. But it is not a usual one. It does not implicate the Second Amendment, at least not directly. Instead, this case asks whether federal laws concerning the operations of railroads prevent this Court from enforcing against a railroad a generally applicable gun-rights law adopted by the State of Arkansas. To cut to the chase, the answer is no."

The judge saw exactly what Union Pacific was doing — using federal railroad statutes as a side door around a state law that has nothing to do with railroads specifically. It applies to every employer in Arkansas. The "we're a railroad so the rules are different" argument didn't hold, and it shouldn't have.

"The RLA argument essentially asked the court to let a collective bargaining agreement function as a waiver of a state-conferred individual right."

This is the part worth sitting with. A union contract bargaining away your statutory gun rights — rights the state handed you directly — is a different animal than negotiating wages or shift schedules. If that argument had landed, it would've opened a door no one in this community wants open.

Idaho has its own version of this — § 18-3302I covers employee parking-lot storage rights. If your employer has ever given you grief about a locked gun in a locked vehicle, this Arkansas case is useful reading. It won't bind Idaho courts, but it shows how these challenges tend to play out when a company overreaches.

What's your current situation at work — does your employer know you carry or keep a gun in your vehicle, and have you ever had that conversation go sideways?

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Read the full article in The Handbook → | By Steve Duskett