AOL
Fires Gun Owners
by Sarah
Thompson, M.D.
Director, Utah Gun Owners Alliance
http://www.UTGOA.org
America Online, http://www.aol.com,
has been known to gun owners for some time for their support of anti-gun
organizations and policies. They’ve
donated large sums of money to liberal, anti-gun Democrat organizations to
support people like Dianne Feinstein, Hillary Clinton and Ted Kennedy.
More
recently, they’ve canceled accounts for firearms related web sites on the
grounds that such material is no different from “pornography”.
Never mind that guns are entirely legal items owned by tens of millions
of Americans. Never mind that AOL
doesn’t seem to think that disgustingly offensive rock music is a problem.
Now,
in another step towards the final elimination of gun owners from “civilized
society”, AOL has fired three exemplary workers for having firearms in their
cars in order to go shooting at a range on their own time!
The
three employees are Luke Hansen, Jason Melling and Paul Carlson.
All three worked as “partner technical consultants” at AOL’s Ogden,
Utah facility, doing higher level technical support.
The Ogden facility employs about 850 people, according to AOL’s web
site, and “handles a range of technical, billing, third-party and sales
calls”. According to Mr. Hansen, they had worked at AOL for two to four years,
and all had good employee records and good reviews from their supervisors.
Unfortunately (at least from AOL’s point of view), the three young men
also enjoy shooting.
On
September 14, 2000, Luke, Jason and Paul met after work in the AOL parking lot
to go shooting at the gun range near Eden, Utah. In order to carpool to the range, Jason and Paul transferred
their firearms from their own cars to Luke’s truck, a matter of carrying them
a few yards. Jason transferred a
.30-06 hunting rifle and a 9mm Smith & Wesson handgun. Both firearms were unloaded and in cases.
Paul transferred a .45 long Colt “cowboy style” pistol and a 7.63 X
.39 KBI. The Colt was in a holster,
and both firearms were unloaded. The
handguns had trigger locks in place. Luke’s
firearms were in his truck and he never touched Jason or Paul’s firearms. At no time did they brandish or handle the firearms in
a threatening or unsafe manner. Luke
and Paul hold valid Utah concealed weapons permits, and Jason is in the process
of obtaining one, so all three are familiar with safe handling and Utah laws.
Although
all three of them worked during the subsequent three days, nothing about the
firearms was mentioned. However, on
Monday, Sept. 18, all three were fired for “violating AOL’s employee
policy” which states that firearms are forbidden on company property,
including the parking lot. According
to Luke, although no one complained, an overzealous security guard saw the
firearms on a video surveillance tape and reported the alleged violations.
AOL
does have its firearms policy posted inside the front and back doors of the
building, stating that firearms are not permitted in the building or in the
parking lot, and all three employees were aware of this policy.
However, they were also aware that AOL’s policy violates Utah state
law. AOL states that it is a
“secure facility”, although under Utah law secure facilities can be
designated only by the legislature, and include places such as courts, airports,
mental health facilities, and prisons. By
definition, a place open to the public cannot be a “secure facility”, and
AOL’s parking lot is open to the public.
(Actually, it’s a group of marked stalls in a public parking lot.)
In addition, a secure facility is required to provide locked safe storage
for anyone lawfully carrying a firearm, and accept responsibility for stored
firearms, something that AOL clearly was not equipped to do.
On
a previous occasion about two months ago, the three men had also transferred
firearms after work, and had been reported to management.
At that time, Luke Hansen met with AOL’s General Manager, Sarah McElwee.
At that time, he explained to Ms. McElwee that while AOL might be able to
restrict firearms in the building, it could not restrict firearms in a public
parking lot, and that AOL did not meet the criteria for a “secure facility”.
Mr. Hansen says he thought the matter was resolved at the time, although
no written changes were made to AOL’s policy.
Ironically, Ms. McElwee’s husband is known for the very fine firearms
he makes!
As
a result of the firing, Paul is still looking for work.
Jason, who has a wife and just bought a new home, has found a new job.
So has Luke, who is expecting his first child in February.
It appears that AOL
management, and especially Ric Waiters, the AOL manager who fired the three,
want to force the issue of illegal, politically correct, gun bans.
Fortunately for gun owners everywhere, Luke Hansen, Jason Melling and
Paul Carlson are not going to take this lying down! They’re not willing to see their rights, or the rights of
any other Utah gun owners destroyed by America Online. So they’ve decided to take on America Online, the 800 lb
gorilla of anti-gun corporations.
As
Luke wrote in a recent email: “If AOL is allowed to continue with illegal
company policies like this, then ALL companies in Utah can adopt similar
policies. Your employer can whittle away at your gun rights, and get away with
it. The 3 of us have chosen to take a stand, because this is something that we
feel very deeply about. We believe that this is truly an issue that affects ALL
Utah gun owners and ALL Utah CCW carriers. These aren't just our rights that
were violated, they are your rights too.”
The
real issue here is whether gun owners are going to be demonized and excluded
from participation in ordinary life, whether we’re going to become the last
persecuted minority. Remember that most Americans in the “old South” didn’t
assault African-Americans; they simply told them they couldn’t work in
“white” businesses, attend “white” schools and churches, eat in “white
restaurants” or live in “white” neighborhoods.
Likewise, the Nazis first told Jews that they couldn’t work in German
businesses, attend German schools, or otherwise participate in German society. Once
the Jews had been isolated, so that ordinary Germans no longer interacted with
them, it was much easier for the Nazis to convince people that Jews were an
“inferior race” and a “public health menace”… and that they should be
murdered for “the public good”.
If
we allow ourselves to be isolated and demonized in the minds of our fellow
Americans, then we too will one day find ourselves forbidden to interact with
non gun owners. We too will find ourselves unable to find work, to send our
children to school, to attend the religious services of our choice, or to eat in
restaurants, shop in stores, or attend movies and sporting events.
(In addition to this AOL case, there is a ballot initiative circulating
to prohibit gun owners from entering schools and religious facilities in Utah.)
Eventually we will find ourselves rounded up into concentration camps or
stalked by “public servants” seeking to imprison or kill us.
So
it’s critically important that we resist each and every attempt to isolate and
persecute gun owners NOW – before it’s too late!
Last
week, Hansen, Carlson and Melling filed suit against AOL for wrongful
termination. They are being
represented by James “Mitch” Vilos, a local attorney, firearms dealer, and
author of the book Utah Gun Law: Good, Bad and Ugly, available at www.firearmslaw.com.
Mitch is also the founder of the Utah Gun Owners Legal Defense (U-GOLD)
fund.
AOL
has so far refused to comment. Mace
Molen, the Director of Human Resources has a message on his phone saying he’s
“on vacation” until November 3.
Mr.
Vilos believes the three have an excellent chance of winning their lawsuit.
Like many freedom-loving states, Utah is a “right to work” or “at
will” state, meaning that an employee can be fired at any time.
However, Mr. Vilos points out that an employee may NOT be fired if doing
so violates public policy. For
example an employer may not fire an employee for being Catholic or Asian,
because that would violate state and federal anti-discrimination laws.
How
does this apply to the AOL case? According
to Mr. Vilos, public policy is determined by the state constitution and state
statutes.
The
Utah Constitution clearly states, in Article I, Section 6: “The individual
right of the people to keep and bear arms for security and defense of self,
family, others, property, or the state, as well as for other lawful purposes
shall not be infringed; but nothing herein shall prevent the Legislature from
defining the lawful use of arms.” Clearly,
Utahns have an indisputable individual right to keep
and bear arms.
As
noted above, AOL is violating Utah law by declaring its parking lot and building
to be a secure facility, since the parking lot is open to the public and AOL
does not provide the mandated safe storage.
It
is not entirely clear whether or not an employer can restrict firearms in the
workplace if the workplace is not open to the public, because Utah statute does
not specifically address this issue. However,
since a special statute was passed to permit churches to restrict firearms, it
would seem that in the absence of such a statute applying to employers, they may
not do so. And the Office of
Legislative General counsel previously ruled that Governor Leavitt’s ban on
firearms for state employees was illegal (although Leavitt still refuses to stop
the ban, and our ultra-liberal attorney general isn’t interested).
Public
policy in Utah supports the individual possession of firearms, as well as the
right to carry firearms for lawful purposes including self-defense, hunting and
target shooting. It therefore
stands to reason that public policy would support three men who go to a range
for the purpose of maintaining and improving their firearms skills.
And because Utah has problems with traffic congestion and pollution,
public policy supports the use of carpooling.
Thus it seems that public policy supports the right of lawful gun owners
to keep unloaded firearms in their cars and to carpool in order to use a
shooting range on their own time. And
as a matter of public policy, employers generally are not permitted to regulate
their employees’ legal activities outside of work hours.
Therefore,
Luke Hansen, Paul Carlson and Jason Melling are suing AOL for wrongful
termination in violation of public policy and asking for declaratory relief.
They are also asking for a jury trial, so their case can be judged by
ordinary Utahns. And they’re
asking for reimbursement of attorney’s fees since this is a matter of
clarifying public policy.
By
taking such a principled and courageous stand, these three men and their
attorney are fighting for the rights of all gun owners against a virulent and
well-funded anti-gun behemoth. They
deserve the thanks and support of all gun owners.
What
can YOU do?
1.
Lawsuits take money! Although a
formal legal defense fund for this case has not yet been started, Mr. Vilos says
that funds can be sent to U-GOLD. Please
include a note saying that you would like your donation to go to the AOL case.
Donations are NOT tax-deductible. U-GOLD,
8773 S. 450 East, Sandy, UT 84070
2.
Contact the AOL call center in Ogden, Utah: Mace Molen, Director of
Human Resources, 801-622-7977, macemolen@aol.com,
2261 Grant Ave., Ogden, UT 84401
All
parties involved ask that you please BE POLITE when contacting Mr. Molen.
Your goal is to explain why AOL’s actions are wrong, or why you will no
longer do business with AOL, but NOT to personally attack anyone!
3.
Contact AOL member support – especially if you are an AOL subscriber.
1-800-827-6364. See above message about being POLITE! Remember that the AOL employees you talk to are just ordinary
people with a job – not very different from Luke, Jason and Paul.
You want them to understand that three of their fellow employees were
treated illegally and unfairly and that the same thing could happen to them!
4.
Tell your friends and relatives about AOL’s persecution of gun owners and
ask them to complain to AOL. You
might even want to send them the “Amerika Online” e-postcard, available at: http://www.keepandbeararms.com/information/XcIBViewItem.asp?id=1400
Should
you cancel your account with AOL? When
I asked Luke Hansen, he said, “I’ll thank people who cancel their accounts,
but I can’t ask them to do so. It’s
an individual decision.”
This
month AOL announced that they have reached 25 million members.
But there are at least 80 million gun owners in the United States, a
ratio of better than 3:1! AOL is huge and wealthy and powerful, but they’re not
invulnerable! If gun owners take a
stand, we can win!
For
those of you who wish to keep supporting AOL, consider donating an amount equal
to your monthly AOL fee to a pro-gun organization!
For
those of you who do choose to switch internet service providers, remember that
most large telecommunications companies (AT&T, Sprint, etc.) are just as
anti-gun as AOL. Check with local
providers, or check out KeepAndBearArms.com’s new internet service at http://www.keepandbeararms.com/webservices/access/default.asp.
Let’s
teach AOL that persecuting gun owners is illegal, un-American and won’t be
tolerated!
Copyright
2000, Sarah Thompson, M.D. Dr.
Thompson is the Executive Director of Utah Gun Owners Alliance, www.utgoa.org.
She also writes The Righter, http://www.therighter.com.
She can be reached at Director@utgoa.org.
Click
here to read Luke Hansen's own words about this event.
KeepAndBearArms.com Note: I just spoke
with Luke tonight (Sunday, Oct 29, 9:30pm) and verified this event. It's real,
it happened. Luke and his friends filed a lawsuit against AOL last week, and
some assistance is requested from anyone who chooses to support the case. We've
offered Luke free internet access so he can step back from AOL to insure his
privacy and to support him during this transition. We have extended this offer
to one of the other two plaintiffs in the case who is still using AOL for
internet access, as well. Our internet access reaches Ogden just fine, and
who better to offer our internet access to than gun owners who just got shafted
by AOL? ~~ Angel Shamaya, Director, KeepAndBearArms.com
Other AOL-related Links:
Pro
Gun Internet Access
- Shop in a pro-firearm online shopping mall here.
- Join our organization and get a ticket to
possibly win a .50 caliber rifle here.
- Build a banner for your website here.
- Donate to our organization here.
- Head back to our home page here.
