Will you bring your gun to work today?

By Melanie Brooks, WLCY-TV

When you pull into your workplace Tuesday morning, your colleagues may be testing out a new law in Florida.

Carrying guns to work.

As of midnight, July 1st, Floridians will be able to carry their guns to their jobs, as long as they lock them up inside their vehicles. People who choose to carry a gun must also have a concealed weapons permit.

Emergency room physician Dr. Julio Sanchez is ready to exercise what he calls his constitutional right to protect himself at his job.

“Here, lately, I’m getting in and out of the ER late at night or early in the morning. I want to have something around me to protect me just in case,” Dr. Sanchez told us as he shot his gun at Shooting Sports, Inc. in Tampa.

With his late hours at Ocala Regional Medical Hospital, the E.R. doctor says he felt he needed extra protection. As long as it’s legal, he maintains, he wants to carry his weapon to work.

“Now that we can carry with us, why not? It’s like an extension of your home, your house,” Dr. Sanchez said.

Just a few feet away from the gun range, business owner Tim Lynch runs a fireworks stand. He says too many negative things can happen if employees pack heat at work.

Lynch cited a recent workplace shooting in Kentucky. “Everybody’s got a temper. Everybody’s got a temper, people yell, people scream, where do they stop?”

Right now, businesses like Pizza Hut, Publix and Disney currently have rules in place that prohibit their employees from carrying firearms.

There are places where guns are absolutely not allowed, such as schools, prisons, nuclear power plants and places that store explosives.

The Florida Chamber of Commerce is fighting this new law in federal court. They are asking a judge for an injunction. The judge says he’ll make his decision mid-July.

Until then, people like Dr. Sanchez will carry his gun in his car to work every day.