At work, my manager left a gun on the table in plain sight. Is that illegal?

Think before you act. A person with a very good job that I know of was showing a workmate an antique pistol and a receptionist reported it and he got fired. If your manager has a concealed weapon permit it’s probably not illegal but stupid.

If anyone could have access to it then yes. you might want to casually mention that you hope he has all the proper permits for it.

I’m not sure about legality, but if he left it lying around where anyone could access it then it’s very stupid and very reckless on his part.

This doesn’t sound like the most healthy work place to say the very least. Sheesh.

“You might want to casually mention that you hope he has all the proper permits for it.”

Oh Jesus Christ…

I would probably tell HR anonomously. I don’t give a shit if he has all the permits, anyone could have picked up that gun. Most companies have a rule no weapons on the premises, but some companies don’t care.

Discreetly move it to a secure location. But do not tell anybody.

@trailsillustrated “and a receptionist reported it and he got fired”

I’m trying to find the “bad” in this story. Surely this is support for the OP to report it.

It depends on the applicable state law. This is a good example of my disgust with the U.S.

@trailsillustrated Is the receptionist male? Is he the one who got fired for reporting it?

I can’t imagine an employer of any size, say larger than ten employees, that would not have a statement in the employee manual that prohibits the possession of firearms on company premises, This would include the entire campus, buildings, parking areas, lawns and other common areas.

So there is a good chance that your boss is probably in violation of company policy. Check your employee handbook. An anonymous note to HR would be the right thing to do. Having a loaded weapon laying in an open space is an invitation to a horrendous accident.

As to legality, there are states with relaxed laws about where and when a gun may be possessed. But to the best of my knowledge, no state law would prevent an employer from enforcing an on-premises restriction against firearms.

On the other hand the parking lot might be a wholly different situation: I should add that I have read a case a while back that questioned the termination of an employee for having firearms locked in a vehicle in a company parking lot. I don’t know the outcome of this, 2nd amendment rights are a really touchy subject in this country (USA).

I do know that at the hospital where I work possession of firearms in the facility itself is grounds for discipline which might include termination

SRM

How about the message that the staff might get from it? Could this be intimidation?
As in Just do what I say, don’t quesation me at all… How could he not think that it could be pereived that way?

If I may ask, what is so god-awful frightening about a gun, whether or not it’s loaded? I may agree that it’s inappropriate to leave one laying around in a work place, especially a kitchen. But what makes a gun inherently more dangerous than, say, all the knives in the kitchen, the open fires on gas ranges, the boiling water and hot grease that cooks encounter (and use) all the time, the possibilities for slipping on wet floors, and the danger of mishandled food, to name a few?

Most of these responses are, frankly, nonsensical and border on hysteria.

First, in many states it is completely legal to carry a gun anywhere. So the mere fact of having a gun is probably not illegal at all.

If it’s a chain restaurant, there may be internal policies that don’t allow firearms on premises, but that would not be illegal, just a breach of policy. If the guy owns his own restaurant, then his rules go.

The only potential illegality would be if he left it in a place where children would have unsupervised access to it, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Bottom line, with the facts you have given us, there is a very good chance that it is (a) legal and (b) permitted.

Get a grip.

You have not given us any information for us to use to rule out any possible personal bias you have against firearms.

Good grief, @CWOTUS.

@CWOTUS

As is so often the case others feel they have the moral high ground and what’s good for them is good for everyone else.

Bye, ‘Muricans. I’m leaving this thread.

Very well.

We prefer people that spell “Americans” correctly anyway.

Funny, because 300 million Colonials can not speak proper English.

^So you didn’t listen to my profile page voice sample either.

Several states have laws that allow gun owners to bring their guns to work and leave them secured in the car. The gun must be concealed from plain view to prevent theft. A gun owner who fails to reasonably secure his gun in the car could be liable for negligence if it’s stolen and used to commit a crime.
I too agree with @JLeslie suggestion to report it to the HR anonymously, so that you can be safe.

@CWOTUS Last I knew gas-burning stoves and wet floors weren’t specifically designed with lethal purposes in mind, but I would also call leaving a stove on unsupervised stupid and reckless as well.

“Let’s get the evil gun loving man fired.”

/thread.

@SecondHandStoke If the “evil gun loving man” (your words, no one else’s) is violating his company’s policy by bringing the gun into the workplace yes, perhaps he should be fired.

@glacial @flo – it was told to me by the vice president of a large company in a far western state in the us. It was a steel oriented company and therefore awash with testosterone. The person concerned was a vice president of sales. They had offices with a venetian blind arrangement, the receptionist, a female, viewed this man showing another man an antique pistol in a mohagany box. It concerned me not at all, I am just saying that if I saw that I don’t know what I would do- the scenario I just related I would act like I didn’t see it.

I don’t know the state laws where you are, but given that he left it out in plain view I would suspect it’s not illegal. I would have just discreetly said to him something like “You might want to put that out of sight in case somene wants to steal it” – that way you’re acknowledging that you know it was there, and recommending that it shouldn’t be, without making any judgement call that could get you sacked.

Most companies have corporate policy about weapons on the company premises or on company business. Personally I don’t think anyone should carry a weapon and leave it laying down around other employees, he deserves to get called out on it.

What kind of items shouldn’t be left around? A gun is one the top on the list, with permit or not, loaded or not.