Disney, Universal Studios, and Georgia-Pacific Claim Exemptions from Florida Gun Law

By Aaron Poehler

Published on July 18, 2008

A new Florida law allowing employees to bring guns to work as long as they are left in locked vehicles has come under fire from Walt Disney World, Universal Studios, and paper manufacturer Georgia-Pacific.

The new state law, which went into effect July 1, entitles workers to keep firearms in their vehicles for self-defense while driving to and from work or for hunting purposes, but contains several exceptions, including schools, nuclear plants, correctional facilities, national defense and aerospace contractors, homeland security installations, and locations where combustible materials or explosives are manufactured, used, stored, or transported.

Within the first week of July, Orlando's Walt Disney World claimed exemption from the law because explosives are routinely used in the park's fireworks show, and first suspended and then fired an employee who brought a gun to work in protest of the company's decision. Spokesmen for Universal Studios, also in Orlando, cited the fact that there is a public school on the park's property as their reason for disallowing firearms, while Georgia-Pacific's Palatka mill claimed exemption due to homeland security issues relating to the plant's consumption of large amounts of barge-delivered oil which make the plant subject to the Maritime Security Act.

Gun rights activist groups including the NRA have vigorously protested the companies' claimed exemptions, saying workers' rights are being violated. However, an injunction to temporarily suspend the new law has already been filed in Federal court.