Wheels of Justice

A driver sounds off

Read these excerpts from an actual letter I received from a driver recently:

“Your article on the company security guard searching a truck on company property really struck a chord with me.

“We live in a dangerous world. It was dangerous well before 9/11 and will re-main so long after the sheeple have re-turned to the plethora of distractions that keep them from dealing in reality.

“Meanwhile, people like me who have never pretended that this is a safe world, are left to constantly put our lives and property up against laws and company policies created from unfounded fear, ignorance and greed.

“More than one state has passed laws disallowing companies from forbidding their employees from having weapons in their personal vehicles.

“How would a law have to be worded in or-der to forbid these idiots and cowards from endangering drivers’ lives because of their fear, ignorance and greed that allow truckers to be able to tell their employers and shippers/consignees ‘I have a right to be armed for my own self-defense, and you can’t stop me?’”

Dear “Anonymous Jim” (his name was on the email he sent):

You are asking a question I do not think Congress will consider; even the National Rifle Association (NRA) has been unable to get a law like that before Congress.

Without applying a U.S. constitutional right, the state laws will prevail. Many states and cities currently prohibit their citizens from carrying a firearm, but those laws would be overridden by the federal law that preempts all state laws on the subject.

The (NRA) has been instrumental in getting pro-gun legislation passed in the past. They have backed and recently helped pass the “Disaster Recovery Personal Protection Act of 2006.” The act, following Hurricane Katrina hitting the Gulf Coast, amended federal emergency laws to prohibit authorities at the federal, state, and local levels from confiscating lawfully-owned firearms during emergencies or natural disasters. This act was de-signed specifically to allow an individual to protect their family and property in times of emergencies or disasters.

I’m working on getting Kayne Robinson, the past president of the NRA and former chief of police, to appear with me on Sirius Radio Channel 147 (Tuesdays at 7 a.m. Cen-tral Time). He’ll have the best answer for questions about firearm possession. You can find the NRA online at www.nra.org.

Jim C. Klepper is president of Interstate Trucker Ltd., an organization that provides legal defense protection to commercial drivers. Jim is a lawyer who focuses on transportation law and the trucking industry in particular. He works to answer your legal questions about trucking, and he holds his Commercial Drivers License.