Starting Monday, July 31st your rights as a concealed carry license holder now include the right to transport or store a legally owned handgun in your private motor vehicle in your private employer’s parking lot as long as the handgun:
- Is lawfully possessed
- Is stored out of sight inside a locked private motor vehicle in the private employer’s parking lot
- Is stored inside a locked personal handgun storage container that is designed for the safe storage of a handgun
Your employer may not prohibit entry to the parking lot if:
- The handgun is kept for lawful purposes
- The handgun is concealed within the employee’s private motor vehicle
- The employee stores the handgun in his or her motor vehicle in accordance with subdivisions (a)(1)(A)-(C) of this section.
The employer does have the right to:
- Prohibit a person who is not an employee from storing a handgun in the employee’s motor vehicle in the private employer’s parking lot
- Prohibit a licensee’s entry onto the private employer’s place of business or in the parking lot because the person’s private motor vehicle contains a handgun in the following circumstances:
- The parking lot is a prohibited place specifically listed in § 5-73-306
- The parking lot is on the grounds of an owner-occupied single-family detached residence or a tenant-occupied single-family detached residence and the single-family detached residence or tenant-occupied single-family detached residence is being used as a residence
- The private employer reasonably believes that the employee is in illegal possession of the handgun
- The employee is operating a private employer-owned motor vehicle during and in the course of the employee’s duties on behalf of the private employer, except when the employee is required to transport or store a firearm as part of the employee’s duties
- The private motor vehicle is not permitted in the parking lot for reasons unrelated to the employee’s transportation, storage, or possession of a handgun
- The employee is the subject of an active or pending employment disciplinary proceeding
- The employee, at any time after being issued a license to carry a concealed handgun, has been adjudicated mentally incompetent or not guilty in a legal proceeding by reason of mental disease or defect.
If while parked in your employer’s parking lot and your handgun is stolen, within twenty-four (24) hours, you must report the handgun as lost or stolen to your employer and local law enforcement.
To read the new law in its entirety, please visit http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/assembly/2017/2017R/Acts/Act1071.pdf
To read about the other new laws taking effect on Monday, July 31st, please visit http://www.4029tv.com/article/new-laws-go-into-effect-monday-in-arkansas/10376509
It is your responsibility as a concealed carry license holder to know and understand the laws as they pertain to you. We are not attorneys and we are providing you this information as we understand the law as it is written. THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVISE. If you have questions concerning the law, seek legal advise from a reputable attorney in your area.