Saturday, February 11, 2017
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GUNS: 2012 policy allows Milton-Freewater employees to have guns at work
Page 14A
East Oregonian
Continued from 1A
a San Bernardino County
Department of Public Health
employee and his wife shot
and killed 14 people and
wounded 22 others at an
office Christmas party.
He said the federation
heard from people concerned
how the policy affects them.
The spouse of one state
employee, Starrett said,
is worried about his wife
having to walk three blocks
to work in the dark without
a weapon to protect herself.
Still, Starrett said he
believes the governor has
the authority to make lack
of weapons a condition of
employment, based on court
rulings from two cases the
federation brought: the 2007
lawsuit to support a Medford
teacher’s ability to bring a
gun to work to protect herself
from an abusive ex-husband;
and a 2009 lawsuit chal-
lenging the Oregon Univer-
sity System’s rules banning
guns on campus.
The federation lost the
Medford case but prevailed
against the state universities.
Starrett said the two deci-
sions “form a fairly bright
line” governing guns in
Oregon, but the new policy
raises questions.
State legislators, for
example, determine the rules
for the Capitol in Salem, not
the governor or Department
of Administrative Services.
The department, however,
oversees the parking garage
under the Capitol. Can a
legislative staffer with a gun
and concealed carry permit
have a weapon in the garage
or another state building?
“Frankly, I don’t know
what happens,” Starrett
said. “I don’t think anybody
does.”
James Leuenberger was
the attorney in the Medford
case, representing Shirley
Katz, the high school teacher
who wanted to carry a gun to
campus for self defense.
Leuenberger said he
hasn’t handled any cases
related to gun rights recently,
but takes issue with the
state’s ban.
“I think it’s silly, of
course,” he said. “I don’t
think there’s any gray area
whatsoever. The Second
Amendment doesn’t allow
for deviation — ‘the right of
people to keep and bear arms
shall not be infringed,’” he
said. “There’s a fundamental
problem with the U.S.
Supreme Court’s interpreta-
tion (of the amendment).”
“I would call the ban
unconstitutional,”
Leuen-
berger said. “But that’s just
one man’s opinion. In order
to have the right to do some-
thing, you have to convince a
panel of judges you have the
right.”
Rep. Greg Barreto of
Cove, the deputy leader for
the Oregon House Republi-
cans, said the ban was a topic
of discussion at the party
caucus last week. He said
he is doubtful the gun ban is
constitutional.
“Right now, I don’t think
they can do that,” Barreto
said.
Legislative counsel is
looking at the policy and has
yet to offer an opinion, but
Barreto said his constituents
have already weighed in.
“I’ve heard from a lot of
them, and none of them see it
as a good idea,” Barreto said.
Barreto owns a manu-
facturing business in Union
County and said he has
employees who pack. He
said he’s OK with that
because businesses have the
right to set policies as long as
they don’t break the law.
“But that’s different in the
public arena,” he said.
Rule support
Some citizens think the
ban has merit. Paul Kemp,
of the group Gun Owners
for Responsible Gun Owner-
ship, said his organization
sees the ban as an update of a
current rule.
“My understanding is
that this is an attempt by the
governor’s office to clarify
an already-existing human
resource policy that was
implemented almost 20 years
ago,” Kemp said. “They
haven’t taken anyone’s
gun away. They’ve asked
them not to bring it into the
workplace. It’s within the
privilege of the governor to
make that order.”
He added that Governor
Kate Brown has been very
supportive of gun violence
prevention measures.
“Do we have to wait until
there’s a shooting in a state
office building to say, ‘the
governor was right?’” Kemp
said.
Kemp said one goal of his
group is to advocate for safe
storage laws for guns — of
which Oregon has none. He
said Oregon’s requirements
for getting a concealed
handgun license are also
fairly loose and require no
training, which members of
his organization find risky.
The group was formed
in 2012 after a shooting at
Clackamas Town Center.
The two victims were related
to Kemp and another group
member.
The shooter, who did not
know either victim, got the
gun from a friend who had
purchased it legally but left
it fully loaded and unlocked.
Kemp said one of the
biggest problems with
Oregon’s lack of safe storage
laws is that it allows access
to people who shouldn’t
have it.
“Us in the group — our
guns are secured,” he said,
adding that when their guns
“I would call the ban unconstitutional.
But that’s just one man’s opinion. In
order to have the right to do some-
thing, you have to convince a panel
of judges you have the right.”
— James Leuenberger, Lake Oswego attorney
are not with them, they’re
secured and unloaded.
Kemp said his group
hopes advocating for safe
storage and responsible
handling of guns will cut
down on suicides and
accidents — especially with
young kids.
“There are too many
kids getting injured or
killed senselessly,” he said.
“Suicides, too. If you put a
temporary road bump, make
them more difficult to access
— you reduce the ability for
someone to act on impulse
— you can make a change.”
DAS perspective
Matt Shelby is the spokes-
person for the Department of
Administrative Services. He
said the policy applies only
to state employees in state
buildings, not the general
public in state buildings.
While some policy revi-
sions come down from on
high, he said this was not one
of them.
“This was a response
to requests the (human
resources) shop was getting
from state employees,”
Shelby said.
Administrative Services
policy has banned weapons
in state facilities since 1998,
but Shelby said it was a
“blanket, no-weapons DAS
buildings policy,” and “silent
on concealed carry.”
However, the Legislature
is the only body that can set
a law governing firearms,
and the overly-broad policy
could read like a law.
“It was not really enforce-
able,” he said. “It didn’t
align with state law or the
Constitution.”
Several state agencies
also had specific weapon
restrictions as conditions
of employment, such as
the Department of Human
Services, the Oregon Youth
Authority
and
Oregon
Department of Corrections.
The change for correc-
tions came in the wake of
the 2011 murder of Buddy
Ray Herron of Helix. The
husband and father was
on his way to his job as a
corrections officer at Eastern
Oregon Correctional Insti-
tution, Pendleton, when he
stopped on Highway 11 to
help a motorist. That man
stabbed and killed Herron
and is serving a life sentence
for the murder.
“As a result of that,”
Shelby said, “the DOC got
a statutory change to allow
their corrections officers to
carry on their way to and
from work.”
Uncertainty about guns in
state workplaces remained,
however, so Administrative
Services’ human resources
staff started looking into
the issue and found the old
facilities policy. That began
the process of developing a
more formal and legal policy.
The work took about a year,
he said, and included input
from human resources across
the state, as well as Oregon
State Police and the Oregon
Department of Justice.
The new policy narrows
the weapons restrictions to
just state employees. DAS
does not have the authority
to regulate or restrict fire-
arms for the general public,
he said, “but as an employer,
just like any other employer,
we have the ability to restrict
weapons as a condition of
employment.”
Some cities, including
Portland, have banned guns
in public spaces. Shelby said
this state policy does not go
that far.
“We are certainly not
restricting visitors, people
who are not employees of
the state of Oregon,” he said.
“We are not restricting their
ability to conceal to carry —
if they have a permit — from
carrying in our buildings.”
Administrative Services
has received a lot of posi-
tive feedback from state
employees, he said, thanking
the agency for the clarifica-
tion. He also acknowledged
restrictions on guns raise red
flags for plenty of people.
“And we get that,” Shelby
said. “The reason this policy
was created: We were
receiving request for clarifi-
cation and we provided it.”
They also said the policy
aligns with the kinds of
weapons restrictions Oregon
cities and counties use as
conditions for employment.
Local level
Umatilla and Union coun-
ties lack weapons policies,
though their courthouses fall
under state and local bans.
Pendleton’s employee hand-
book lists rules violations
that could result in termina-
tion of employment. The first
entry on that list: “Bringing
firearms or weapons of any
kind, intoxicating beverages,
drugs or chemicals not
medically required onto the
premises.”
Pendleton
human
resources manager Andrea
Denton said there are excep-
tions for police officers, and
victims of domestic violence
might be able to carry mace
or other protections.
In
Hermiston,
city
manager
Byron
Smith
said there is a policy in the
employee handbook prohib-
iting possession of a weapon
on city property or in a
vehicle, unless the person
has prior permission.
“I’ve had a number of
employees come to me
and ask what I think about
changing that policy and
we’ve consulted our insur-
ance agency about it,” he
said, “but so far we’ve found
no reason to change it.”
Stanfield city manager
Blair Larsen said there is a
city law on the books against
discharging a weapon within
city limits, but there’s no
restriction on carrying a
weapon for employees or
anyone else.
“If someone comes in to
pay a bill and they visibly
have a weapon on them,
there’s actually no rule
against that,” he said. He
added that Stanfield’s court-
room does not allow guns.
Larsen said the issue
hasn’t really come up since
he has been city manager.
“I’d hope employees
would come talk to me if
they felt it was a cause for
concern,” he said.
Milton-Freewater since
August 2012 has a policy
allowing its employees to
have guns at work. City
manager Linda Hall said
those
employees
must
meet state criteria to have a
concealed to carry permit.
No policy cops
“At the end of the day,
this is like any other HR-type
policy,” Shelby said. “From
proper use of email to
offensive language at work.
And we don’t have policy
cops that go around and try
to regulate that kind of stuff.
It’s more of a complaint-
driven process.”
Employees who spot a
violation can reach out to a
supervisor or their human
resources office. And like
any other policy violations,
discipline would be progres-
sive.
Lawmakers can address
the policy, but Starrett with
the Oregon Firearms Federa-
tion said he does not see that
happening, and the federa-
tion is not pushing for it. The
chance for any success is
minimal given the Democrat
majority in the Legislature
and the Democrat governor.
And there’s another reason
the federation is not going to
fight this.
“To be honest with you,
I think this is an issue that
public employees should be
addressing,” Starrett said. “I
think at this point, it is going
to be up to them to do it.”
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