Let me tell yall a little about CCW's and big companys.
A good story...the kind you never hear...
After the Sept.11 crisis, many things were done to implement security all over the nation. One of the things that recieved little notice was the tightening up of security procedures at power plants, in particular nuclear power plants.
Companys that owned nuclear power plants spent millions of dollars on new equipment,training and many even hired additional security personell.Things that were low priority suddenly became important in the eyes of coporate America when it was realized that perhaps we werent as secure as we once thought.
Personell and security policys were reviewed and brought up to date. Badged personell underwent new background checks and were made aware of changes.
In my particular company,one of the largest nuclear operaters in the nation, the plant manager of the one of the nuclear plants decided to ban personal weapons in the parking lot. I supect that he did it soley because he thought it was the right thing to do.
What he didnt understand,or know, was that a fair number of his employees chose to carry weapons in their vehicle. Being from rural communities from a fairly large (and predominatley conservative)area, he recieved much negative feedback about this. Out of over 1000 employees, over 25 percent had CCW's. Three were CCW insructors and very active in the local shooting club.
So, in a meeting of minds the instructors informed him of the reason that people carried and how the law dealt with it and pretty much enlightend the plant manager in things he had never really thought about.
To their credit, all was done in a very polite and proffesional manner and he was even told about a CCW class that was coming up.
Low and behold, the manager and his wife decided that in light of recent events, they alone would be responsible for their individual security and they both enrolled in the class. Neither had much of a background in guns, but after a bit of special instruction in the fine arts of gunhandling they
took the class and did quite well when the shooting part of it took place.
The manager all of a sudden had a different outlook on personal weapons...to the extent that he amended the rules for carrying concealed weapons in the parking lot. Every day at work, when we enter into the protected area, we are subject to search. I have been searched numerous times. The guncase under the seat with the .40 caliber in it is not a concern. The guards dont even give it a second look. Occasionally a gun savy guard will ask what you've got, just out of interest and curiosity.
In this case, a rule that seemed to be pretty anti-gun was changed through intelligent converstaion and perception, thus making it a success story.
While I dont expect it to ring true everywhere, it certainly cant hurt to talk to the people that make the rules. I think that sometimes when seemingly bad rules are made that we mistakenly think that they cant or wont be changed.
I mean, who would have thought that at a nuclear plant with guards all over the place carrying M-16's that we would have ever had a chance to talk about and change the rule ?
If I was a betting man, Id have lost a Coke over that one...