Texas Employee/Parking Lot Protection Bill Takes Effect September 1!

NRA-backed Senate Bill 321 takes effect this Thursday, September 1.  This measure, authored by state Senator Glenn Hegar (R-Katy) & state Representative Tim Kleinschmidt (R-Lexington), and signed into law by Governor Rick Perry, prohibits most employers from enacting and enforcing bans on employees transporting and storing firearms in their locked, private motor vehicles while parked at work.  This important new law recognizes that hard-working Texans' right to self-defense does not end when they drive onto their employers property, and it honors the strong sporting culture of the Lone Star State where employees often hunt or visit the local gun club before or after work. 

SB 321 applies to both public and private employers, as well as all lawfully-owned firearms - not just firearms in the possession of Concealed Handgun Licensees.  However, SB 321 does not authorize an employee to possess firearms on any property where such possession is prohibited by state or federal law, and the provisions of the bill do not apply to the following:

• Vehicles owned or leased by the employer and used by the employee for work purposes;
• School districts, open enrollment charter schools, and private schools as defined in Section 22.081, Education Code;
• Property owned or controlled by a person, other than an employer, that is subject to a valid, unexpired oil, gas, or other mineral lease that contains a provision prohibiting the possession of firearms on the property; or
• Property owned or leased by a chemical manufacturer or oil and gas refiner permitted by TCEQ and on which the primary business conducted is the manufacture, use, storage or transportation of hazardous, combustible, or explosive materials; however, employees at  these facilities who are CHLs may store firearms (including rifles or shotguns) in their private motor vehicles in parking areas located outside of secured and restricted areas which contain the physical plant, are not open to the public and which are constantly monitored by security personnel.

Please contact NRA-ILA's Grassroots Division at 1-800-392-8683 about alleged violations of this act.  We have already received information about companies who are misinterpreting the law or planning on ignoring it altogether.  NRA-ILA will monitor and investigate those situations to ensure that your rights under the new law are protected!