Yep, smalls, they most certainly do and on the few occasions when fired employees attempt lawsuits, they virtually never win. I say "virtually" because I can't think of a single case where an employee has won a suit for wrongful termination, or to regain his/her job, after being fired for a gun in the workplace (not speaking of guns in personal vehicles in the parking lot, but actually in the workplace).
Last year, Jeremy Hoven was fired from Walgreens and summarily filed suit. Yesterday, it was announced that he has lost.
http://www.examiner.com/article/walgreens-employee-that-shot-robbers-loses-lawsuit-to-regain-job
Since a gun is a not a protected class of item or being, employers retain the right to refuse their carriage in the workplace. Employees who go to work for such employers are made aware of the rules of employment and agree to abide by them when they agree to accept payment for coming to work and participating in the workplace. So getting fired upon discovery isn't a surprise to anyone, despite the claims of shock that are sometimes expressed.
Interesting about the notion of boycotting Autozone for their anti-gun policy. As already noted, we would have trouble doing business and getting our needs met without doing business with such companies. How ironic that we so willingly do business with other anti-gun companies that don't allow employees to carry at work which include virtually all of the national, regional, and major local chain stores. Praise is sung about various aspect of the likes of Walmart for selling AR15s and the offerings of many sporting companies that sell guns and ammo, but that don't allow employees to carry and in the case of Bass Pro, don't want you to carry a loaded gun in at least some of their stores. As with other proposed boycotts, the one here for Autozone is fairly typical. It is a mix of people who primarily either don't use the company very much anyway or proclaim that the company or product line is garbage anyway. In short, support for the boycott that is hoped to hurt the bottom line of the company is largely by folks who are either infrequent customers and/or already don't like the company.
If you want a boycott to work, it needs to be by the long standing and primary sustaining customer base, not by the ancillary patrons who pop in for the random bulb or wiper, that is, by gearheads. Autozone may make a lot of money from the pop-ins, but it is from a lot of people, at least half of whom aren't going to be gun folks and of the gun folks that do, most either don't really know about the firing, don't care, or actually understand why it had to occur, and so are not inclined to be participants. On top of that, the outrage will pass because gun owners, like most Americans, tend to have a short operational memory/functionality. When was the last time, other than with S&W, that you actually saw any long term concerted efforts by gun owners on forums such as this to make an organized effort that went beyond the run of the headlines? bikerdoc noted that the Virgnian CDL will be organizing a protest. Great. Where will the protesters be in a month when the policy hasn't changed? 2 months? 3?
Handslap ephemeral boycotts may make us feel good, but without a sustained effort involving the sustained customer base, what is actually being accomplished other than blowing off some steam? Do we really want change or just to complain for a short while and then move on to the next headline?