State Appeals Court hands down key ruling in gun law case

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- A state appeals court handed down a key legal ruling Monday in a lawsuit in which national employers are challenging a state gun law in federal court.<br/><br/>The Oklahoma Court

Monday, March 28th 2005, 5:13 pm

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- A state appeals court handed down a key legal ruling Monday in a lawsuit in which national employers are challenging a state gun law in federal court.

The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals returned the decision concerning a statute passed by the Legislature last year that prohibits employers from barring guns on company property in locked vehicles.

The state appeals court ruled the law is criminal in nature, rather than civil, and would subject violators to misdemeanor sanctions rather than civil penalties.

The decision was requested by former U.S. District Judge Sven Erik Holmes in December to help guide him in deciding whether the state law is unconstitutional.

Tulsa-based Williams Cos., Houston-based ConocoPhillips and other businesses filed a lawsuit in federal court in Tulsa last year challenging the statute.

Assistant Attorney General Guy Hurst, who is handling the case, said the appellate court's ruling may make it easier for the federal court to maintain control over the lawsuit.

"It probably makes the constitutional issues harder on our side," Hurst said.

The state had argued the gun law is civil in nature and asked that the lawsuit be thrown out of federal court.

The state claimed it is protected from civil litigation by sovereign immunity and the U.S. Constitution's 11th Amendment, which gives states some protection from the federal judiciary.

But companies who are challenging the law argued it is criminal because it is codified under state laws involving "Crimes of the Peace."

The gun law took effect Nov. 1, but Holmes approved a restraining order requested by the companies that blocked its enforcement.

Holmes resigned from the federal bench earlier this month and the case is being reassigned, authorities said.

The 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.