Read for Links to Gun-Related Posters, Sample Gun Policy for Your Store and Video Links Related to the New Gun Law and Workplace Violence
A new law governing gun rights in Alabama took effect Thursday, Aug. 1, 2013. Your Alabama Retail Association provides the information that follows in an effort to help you comply with this new law while maintaining workplace/store safety. The signs linked below are provided as examples for your possible use. Other notices may be sufficient as well. If the downloadable posters below do not meet your expectations, contact your county sheriff’s office. Many of the state’s sheriff’s offices have stickers or other gun-related signage available for businesses.
WHAT BUSINESSES ARE IMPACTED
Nearly all businesses are affected by the new law. The exceptions are:
- Businesses that only allow employees in their building and do not provide employee parking; and
- Businesses that allow possession of firearms on their property or do not want to regulate or restrict firearm possession on their property.
IF YOU WANT TO RESTRICT FIREARMS ON YOUR PROPERTY
Alabama Retail has designed signs that could be used to notify those entering your business or facility that you do not permit firearms based on the kind of security you have at your business.
Businesses with full-time security and other security features
If access to your building is limited during normal operating hours by the continuous posting of guards AND the use of other security features, such as metal detectors, key cards, turnstiles or other physical barriers, you can prohibit anyone, including those with a concealed weapons permit, from bringing a firearm inside your building. Such owners who choose to prohibit weapons on your property MUST place a notice that weapons are not permitted at all public entrances to the premises.
If the above description matches your business,
post this sign or something similar.
Businesses without guards or other security features
A business that gives the public access to its building and does not have guards AND other security features:
- may prohibit a person from openly carrying a holstered pistol into the building.
- may not prohibit a person with a concealed weapons permit from carrying his or her concealed pistol into the building.
If your business meets the above description, the new law does not require signage for your business, but if you want to prohibit guns on your property, some argue that failure to post a sign or signs prohibiting firearms implies consent for employees, customers or clients to carry weapons into your facility.
If you want to prohibit openly carried firearms inside your business, consider posting one of the following signs or something similar:
Just be aware that under this new law, you CANNOT ban concealed permit holders from carrying a concealed weapon into your store or business.
IF YOU ALLOW FIREARMS ON YOUR PROPERTY
Alabama Retail also has designed a sign to let your customers/clients know that guns are permitted on your property.
Post this sign or something similar
if you want to allow guns inside your business.
SAMPLE GUN POLICY
Ted Hosp with Maynard Cooper & Gale has developed a sample weapons policy for businesses that wish to prohibit firearms inside their facility and while their employees are conducting company business.
This policy is provided purely as an example. The circumstances at your business may require different conditions and terms and you should consult with an attorney and human resources professionals prior to adopting any firearm policy.
OTHER PROVISIONS OF THE LAW
- An employer can always prohibit an employee from possessing a firearm inside the place of business and/or anywhere when the employee is engaged in the employer’s business.
- An employee with a valid concealed weapons permit may have a pistol or any firearm legal for hunting in Alabama (such as a shotgun or rifle) that is out of sight and in his or her locked car.
- The law includes a strong civil liability immunity provision designed to protect businesses from lawsuits that result from harm caused when an employee brings a weapon onto the employers’ property. That immunity does not extend to the actions of non-employees.
OTHER RESOURCES
“A Business Guide to Alabama’s New Gun Law” provided by Maynard, Cooper & Gale PC
PowerPoint presentation by attorney Ted Hosp concerning the new law available upon request. Contact Nancy Dennis at ndennis@alabamaretail.org
Do’s and Don’ts for Private Employers under Alabama’s Guns in the Parking Lot Law, a 50-minute webinar hosted on the Alabama Cooperative Extension Service’s You Tube channel.
7 Tips for Avoiding Workplace Violence, an 18-minute webinar hosted on the Alabama Cooperative Extension Service’s You Tube channel.
Presenters for both videos: Tommy Eden of Constangy, Brooks & Smith, LLP; Jay Jones, Lee County Sheriff; Rosemary Elebash, Alabama chapter of the National Federal of Independent Business.