Utility employees left out

[Indiana Jon]

The Indiana legislature recently passed a law that prevents employers from prohibiting having firearms in locked cars on company property. I was happy to see this law passed, but unhappy when they excluded invester owned utility employees from this right. (They also excluded schools, daycare, etc.)
As a utility employee, I still have not figured out why we were excluded. And why the NRA, who was behind this, allowed so many exclusions. There are some who question the constitutionality of the law because of the "arbitrary and capricious" nature of the exclusions. Anyone have any idea why utilities were excluded from having this right? Opinions in agreement or opposed?

 

[52grain]

Not that I'm in favor of this, but I the only justification that I can think of is concern about the security of critical infrastructure.

Do you have a complete list of exemptions?

 

[wishin]

I'd guess there's a very influential anti-gun, utility company investor responsible for that!

 

[Indiana Jon]

I did some digging on this, the exceptions include schools, child care, emergency shelters, group homes, penal facilities… Utilities are not mentioned specifically but we may fall under “property owned by an entity that is required to conduct a vulnerability asessment and develop and implement a site security plan under the US Department of Homeland Security’s Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards”. Electric utilities do not produce chemicals but we may use enough that we fall under some part of the standards. That would be unfortunate, because there are thousands of utility employees in the state and they should be afforded the same rights as anyone else.

 

[Captain Bligh]

I think the OP will find the answer to his question in the list below from Indiana Code. See 9 (a) & (b).


Sec. 2. (a) Notwithstanding any other law and except as provided in subsection (b), a person may not adopt or enforce an ordinance, a resolution, a policy, or a rule that:
(1) prohibits; or
(2) has the effect of prohibiting;
an employee of the person, including a contract employee, from possessing a firearm or ammunition that is locked in the trunk of the employee's vehicle, kept in the glove compartment of the employee's locked vehicle, or stored out of plain sight in the employee's locked vehicle.
(b) Subsection (a) does not prohibit the adoption or enforcement of an ordinance, a resolution, a policy, or a rule that prohibits or has the effect of prohibiting an employee of the person, including a contract employee, from possessing a firearm or ammunition:
(1) in or on school property, in or on property that is being used by a school for a school function, or on a school bus in violation of IC 20-33-8-16 or IC 35-47-9-2;
(2) on the property of:
(A) a child caring institution;
(B) an emergency shelter care child caring institution;
(C) a private secure facility;
(D) a group home;
(E) an emergency shelter care group home; or
(F) a child care center;
in violation of 465 IAC 2-9-80, 465 IAC 2-10-79, 465 IAC 2-11-80, 465 IAC 2-12-78, 465 IAC 2-13-77, or 470 IAC 3-4.7-19;
(3) on the property of a penal facility (as defined in IC 35-41-1-21);
(4) in violation of federal law;
(5) in or on property belonging to an approved postsecondary educational institution (as defined in IC 21-7-13-6(b));
(6) on the property of a domestic violence shelter;
(7) at a person's residence;
(8) on the property of a person that is:
(A) subject to the United States Department of Homeland Security's Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards issued April 9, 2007; and
(B) licensed by the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission under Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations;
(9) on property owned by:
(A) a public utility (as defined in IC 8-1-2-1) that generates and transmits electric power; or
(B) a department of public utilities created under IC 8-1-11.1; or
(10) in the employee's personal vehicle if the employee, including a contract employee, is a direct support professional who:
(A) works directly with individuals with developmental disabilities to assist the individuals to become integrated into the individuals' community or least restrictive environment; and
(B) uses the employee's personal vehicle while transporting an individual with developmental disabilities.

 

[Indiana Jon]

Thanks for the info.
You would think that the same logic would apply at utilities -- that law abiding gun owners should have the means for self defense. If there is the possibilty of a threat, why take the firearms out of the hands of law abiding citizens? I guess the only thing we could do, legally, is A) call 911, providing the phones work. B) throw lumps of coal at them. C) run like the wind. Hopefully we can trip the units safely before we abandon ship.

 

[oneounceload]

Here in FL, workers who work at power plants, and ESPECIALLY nuclear ones, are forbidden from having guns on company property. The justification used was Homeland Security concerns. If you saw some of the security measures they have had to implement, you could see why

 

[Art Eatman]

Offhand, I'd imagine the NRA wouldn't fight with Homeland Security. It's a no-win fight.