Tuesday, June 06, 2017

GUN FREE WORK PLACES DO WORK

by Bob Walsh

This headline, on its face, appears to be absolutely insane. You must parse it a bit however. It depends on what the definition of "work" is.

If you mean that gun free work places keep workers safe then you are an idiot. Clearly that assertion is false on it's face. If you mean that it protects the employer, then you are getting somewhere.

Lets say, for the sake of argument, you are working your job at Ralph's Storm Door Company and a disgruntled former employee comes in and shoots and kills half the staff. What is the employer out? Very little actually. Workmans Comp and health insurance will cover his loss for the employees. There will be some incremental loss in productivity for a while, but that is manageable.

However, what if one of his employees whips out his own gat and shoots the nutter. The employer will certainly be sued by the nutter if he survives, or by the nutter's family if he does not. There will be legal costs which may, or may not, be covered by insurance. His exposure, even if the self-defense shooting is later ruled to be justifiable, is substantial.

Bottom line is the employer is better off financially if the disgruntled former employer kills a bunch of you than if one of you so much as scratches him with a weapon. Life in the real world.

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