Interesting Gun Law Legal Battle

The [Oklahoma State] Legislature passed the law in response to the firings of 12 workers at a Weyerhaeuser Co. paper mill in southeast Oklahoma in 2002. The timber company had extended its longtime ban on guns in the workplace to the parking lot, and dogs found guns in the 12 employees' vehicles. The law, part of the Oklahoma Firearms Act and the Oklahoma Self-Defense Act, prohibits businesses and employers from establishing policies that prohibit anyone other than a convicted felon from transporting and storing firearms in a locked vehicle in company parking lots. In February, the state House passed legislation to exempt businesses from legal liability if a gun stored in a worker's car results in injury or death at a work site. Business groups said the measure still does not address safety issues.

It should be ok for employees to possess any legal items, including guns, in their cars providing they are stored in a lawful manner. A car should be viewed as an extension of the domicile, and should be subject to the same rights to privacy.

Should a conservative employer be able to search my vehicle for sex toys if they feel they are amoral? What if I have a six pack of beer in the trunk for a party after work and my employer objects to alcohol? Should that employer be able to search my car to make sure I don't have any alcohol? Can a liberal employer pass a rule forbidding employees from having conservative political publications in their vehicles while at work? Should a paranoid employer be able to forbid the carrying of tools in vehicles because wrenches can be used as dangerous bludgeoning weapons? What about a Christian employer who wants to forbid Muslim prayer rugs from being stored in employee vehicles while they are parked on company property?

I hope this legal battle ends up supporting the laws that protect employees from having their rights violated by employers.