Newsletter Sign-up

Amendments to Oklahoma's 1971 gun law represent a slug to the gut of corporations whose duty it is to provide a safe place to work under occupational safety and health rules. What that feels like, only the victims* of workplace violence know for sure, if they were alive to tell us.

Pascagoula, Miss, 02.21.2005: An angry employee at a Northrop Grumman shipyard opens fire with a Smith & Wesson 9 mm handgun, shooting two supervisors.

Andover, Ohio, 08.19.2003: An angry employee shoots and kills a co-worker then wounds two others before killing himself. The shooter was armed with four handguns.

San Antonio, Texas, 07.23.2003: A man walks into a real estate office where he worked and opens fire. He fatally shoots two co-workers before killing himself during a chase with police.

Meridian, Miss., 07.09.2003: A factory worker at a Lockheed Martin assembly plant retrieves guns from his vehicle and goes on a rampage with a shotgun and semiautomatic rifle, killing five and injuring nine before taking his own life. Afterward, investigators recover three additional guns from the killer's truck, which was parked 50 feet from the factory.

Jefferson City, Mo., 07.01.2003: An industrial radiator factory worker opens fire with a .40 caliber semi-automatic pistol, killing three and wounding five others. The killer leaves the plant in his truck and commits suicide.

New York, 09.16.2006: An insurance executive calls two employees into his office, shoots both of them and then shoots himself. All three die. Police find two semiautomatic handguns--a 9mm and a .45 caliber--as well as another gun in his office.

Goshen, Ind., 12.06.2001: An employee of the Nu-Wood Decorative Millwork plant returns to the plant and opens fire with a shotgun and semi-automatic weapon killing two, including himself. Six others are injured.

Chicago/Melrose Park, Ill., 02.05.2001: Factory worker William Baker arrives at the Navistar International factory with an AK-47, a .38 caliber revolver, a pump shotgun and a hunting rifle.He kills four fellow workers and himself.

Wakefield, Mass., 12.26.2000: Employee Michael McDermott brandishes a 12-gauge shotgun and a semiautomatic rifle and opens fire at the Edgewater Technology firm, killing seven.

Irving, Texas, 03.20.2000: Robert Wayne Harris shoots and kills five and wounds another at a Mi-T-Fine carwash.

Seattle, 11.04.1999: Northlake shipyard worker Kevin Cruz shoots four employees, killing two and wounding two others.

Honolulu, 11.02.1999. A disturbed Xerox repairman walks into a Xerox office and begins shooting a 9mm handgun, killing seven people.

Pelham, Ala., 08.08.1999: A disgruntled worker shoots and kills two co-workers at a heating and air conditioning firm and then goes to another location and kills his former supervisor at another company.

Newington, Conn.; 03.06.1998: An accountant angry over a dispute with his employer, the Connecticut Lottery, shows up at work and opens fire with a semi-automatic handgun, killing four people before shooting himself.

Aikens County, Ga., 09.15.1997: A shooter pulls up in his car, tells the security guard "I've got work to do," and opens fire, injuring the security guard.He continues into the plant and kills four people and injures two others.

Santa Fe Springs, Calif., 06.05.1997: Daniel S. Marsden has an argument with co-workers, walks out to his car in the parking lot at Omni Plastics and returns with a 9mm semi-automatic pistol. He fatally shoots two co-workers, wounds four others, and then kills himself two hours later.

Yet more dead; enough said.

*Appendix A of the friend of the court brief filed in February 2008 on behalf of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence; the American Society of Safety Engineers; and ASIS International in ConocoPhillips Co. vs. C. Brad Henry, governor of the State of Oklahoma and W.A. Drew Edmondson, attorney general of the state of Oklahoma.

CYRIL TUOHY is managing editor of Risk & Insurance®.

May 1, 2008

Copyright 2008© LRP Publications