Disney and NRA face off over Florida gun law

by julianw | July 7, 2008 at 02:18 pm | 348 views | 3 comments

NYC - Metropolitan Museum of Art - Yatagan

Disney is up in arms about a new state gun law giving Floridians a constitutional right to keep loaded guns in their cars during office hours.

On July 1 another gun law, the Preservation and Protection of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms in Motor Vehicles Act of 2008 came into force after being passed by the Florida legislature following intense pressure from the influential National Rifle Association (NRA).

The new law does contain a number of exemptions though. One is for companies whose primary business is to manufacture, use, store or transport explosives regulated under federal law. The exemption also includes "property owned or leased by an employer who has obtained a permit" under federal law for such explosives.

Disney has such a permit, for its firework displays held in its theme parks, and its use of fireworks as the basis for an exemption has lit a fuse under the law's authors and the NRA.

But the corporation's attempt to exempt itself from the law is being sharply criticized. Pro-gun senators reacted to the Disney rebellion in stunned disbelief.

"You've got to be kidding me," said state Sen. Durell Peaden, a Panhandle Republican and one of the authors of the bill.

Disney cites language within Florida's newly enacted "Preservation and Protection of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms in Motor Vehicles Act of 2008" that creates an exception for companies whose primary business is to manufacture, use, store or transport explosives regulated under federal law.

"I intended it to exempt places like defense plants, Air Force bases, things like that," said Peaden, who sponsored the bill in the Senate. "But not Disney. Not at all."

The National Rifle Association condemned Disney as a rouge law-breaker.

The NRA reacted quickly.

The organization issued an alert Wednesday to members under the heading, "Disney Thumbing Nose at the New Florida Gun Law," accusing Disney of being a "prime offender when it comes to firing employees for exercising Second Amendment rights."

One Disney employee just wants to be armed during his drive to work.

I'm 100% behind the NRA and their legal efforts against Disney. I was suspended on July 4th and I will possibly will lose my job because I wanted to excersise my 2nd Amendment and wanted to feel safe during my commute.

Why can't Disney obey the law like SeaWorld?, critics wondered.

SeaWorld takes an entirely different approach: That company supports the rights of its employees or visitors to transport legal firearms in their cars, "and we have for some time," spokeswoman Becca Bides said.

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jayp

at 18:40 on July 8th, 2008

good stuff:

julianw, I like this story. It's good stuff.

mchawk

at 05:04 on July 9th, 2008

good stuff:

julianw, I like this story. It's good stuff.

At the risk of being called a Limey Commie, this really takes the biscuit. I've read the Second Amendment - Disney doesn't get a mention.

Does the NRA not know (or care) that it's the laughing-stock of Europe? Senator Peaden's bill sounds like it makes sense, if it's meant to cover defense and military bases, but the idea that anyone would defend Disney's right to keep guns in vehicles is just laughable.

Does common-sense not suggest that a gun in a car is easier to steal than a gun on your person? A gun in the glove-box is protecting no-one.

Just because you have a constitutional right to something, doesn't mean you need to exercise it every working day.

John S. (not verified)

at 08:44 on August 21st, 2008

McHawk is a liberal commie idiot. He said, "a gun in the glove box is protecting no-one."

That is the point!! In order to protect oneself, one has to put the gun somewhere between their stops...should they leave it on top of their car?

In order for one to be able to defend himself, one has to have easy access to a weapon, if one cannot carry it on property (parking lot), then one cannot carry it at all. That is the whole point of this law. Kudos to Senator Peaden!