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New job... new carry troubles...
Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 10:41 am
by Snake Doctor
I'm interviewing for an internship on Monday afternoon, and I've been told this office doesn't hire interns to joke around; this is essentially a probationary hiring that will most likely lead to a job. Sorry for ranting, it's exciting for an about-to-be college grad. Anyway, I've got a problem. When I dropped off my résumé and application, there were two State Troopers guarding the door and I had to go through a big metal detector, show my ID, etc. First, would I be an idiot to assume there may be a caveat that would allow me to carry on site? It seems like if there are armed officers at the door, they don't want ol' Snake Doc carrying anything bu a smile past the front door. Second, what do you folks--the one's who cannot carry at work--do about getting to and from your car. I guess if you're at some huge office complex with a lit parking lot, that's one thing, but I'm in the heart of downtown, and I have to wrestle for metered parking far from work.
Re: New job... new carry troubles...
Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 11:06 am
by seamusTX
Congratulations on getting a job (hopefully).
If the building was guarded by state troopers, I'm guessing it is a state-owned building and the employer is a state agency? If so, you can forget about carrying on premises. Or were these officers working a second job?
At every company big enough to have an HR department where I have worked, they have presented the employee policies orally and in writing, and made us sign a form saying that we understood them. They always ban weapons, which they define so vaguely that you could be fired for having a golf club.
I carry pepper spray all the time, but I believe that my primary tool of self-defense is situational awareness.
- Jim
Re: New job... new carry troubles...
Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 1:48 pm
by TDDude
Armed DPS Troopers with metal detectors? I'd feel safe enough to leave it in the car. The only thing would be having your car broken into.
You might try simply asking one of the troopers if there is any way you can store your pistol somewhere with them.
they will probably at the least be sympathetic since you are trying to follow the rules.
I probably would wait until I'd been past my probationary period before asking.
Good luck and congrats on the job.
Re: New job... new carry troubles...
Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 2:30 pm
by seamusTX
TDDude wrote:Armed DPS Troopers with metal detectors? I'd feel safe enough to leave it in the car.
As the OP said, he has to park on the street downtown. That potentially exposes him to muggers while he's walking between the car and his office.
Metal detectors can be deceptive. Sometimes they don't work. Most buildings have unsecured entrances.
When I lived in Chicago, they had metal detectors in the high schools. Gangsters would go in and then have a fellow gang member toss a weapon or other contraband to them through a window.
- Jim
Re: New job... new carry troubles...
Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 2:34 pm
by boomerang
It is an exception to the application of this section that the property on which the license holder carries a handgun is owned or leased by a governmental entity and is not a premises or other place on which the license holder is prohibited from carrying the handgun under Section 46.03 or 46.035.
Re: New job... new carry troubles...
Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 2:59 pm
by longhorn_92
TDDude wrote:Armed DPS Troopers with metal detectors? I'd feel safe enough to leave it in the car. The only thing would be having your car broken into.
You might try simply asking one of the troopers if there is any way you can store your pistol somewhere with them.
they will probably at the least be sympathetic since you are trying to follow the rules.
I probably would wait until I'd been past my probationary period before asking.
Good luck and congrats on the job.
I would show them my official CHL Badge, wink at them and say - "I'm one of the Good Guys"....and try to walk on by!.....
Re: New job... new carry troubles...
Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 3:02 pm
by WarHawk-AVG
Lets face it..if they have guards and metal detectors, chance is you WILL NOT be able to carry!
If they have gone to that much trouble..chances are they did it for a reason
Re: New job... new carry troubles...
Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 4:05 pm
by TDDude
seamusTX wrote:As the OP said, he has to park on the street downtown. That potentially exposes him to muggers while he's walking between the car and his office.
- Jim
That's why I suggested he ask the troopers if there was any way to store his firearm with them.
Having metal detectors and armed state troopers there on the clock has got to be expensive for the owner of the building. He didn't mention what building or job that it was so I'm thinking it's some state agency.
Perhaps it was a one day deal where a VIP was visiting. Or it could have been some sort of state level court house. I don't know of state troopers working "In Uniform" overtime gigs doing guard duty like local LEO's do. I'm not saying it doesn't happen. I've just not seen it and as little as those state troopers get paid, I would think they would be working overtime gigs if they were allowed.
http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/trainingac ... /HR-22.pdf
Regardless, as long as his job isn't in the state supreme court building or the state capital, I would think that the troopers would be sympathetic and help him out if the neighborhood is as bas as it seems. Isn't there something in the law that allows for a CHL holder to carry if they have written permission from the owner of the building?
I'm not really a lawyer but my ex-wife did marry one.
Re: New job... new carry troubles...
Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 4:15 pm
by seamusTX
Boomerang, it's true that state-owned property that is not otherwise off limits (like courthouses) cannot be posted. However, state agencies can have a weapons prohibition as a condition of employment. A far as I know, they all do.
- Jim
Re: New job... new carry troubles...
Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 4:25 pm
by kw5kw
Snake Doctor wrote:I'm interviewing for an internship on Monday afternoon, and I've been told this office doesn't hire interns to joke around; this is essentially a probationary hiring that will most likely lead to a job. Sorry for ranting, it's exciting for an about-to-be college grad. Anyway, I've got a problem. When I dropped off my résumé and application, there were two State Troopers guarding the door and I had to go through a big metal detector, show my ID, etc. First, would I be an idiot to assume there may be a caveat that would allow me to carry on site? It seems like if there are armed officers at the door, they don't want ol' Snake Doc carrying anything bu a smile past the front door. Second, what do you folks--the one's who cannot carry at work--do about getting to and from your car. I guess if you're at some huge office complex with a lit parking lot, that's one thing, but I'm in the heart of downtown, and I have to wrestle for metered parking far from work.
Where are you applying that there are State Troopers guarding the door?