Notes: Businesses Up in Arms over Gun Bill

Indiana business owners and executives are appalled by pending legislation allowing employees to bring guns to work and are urging Gov. Mitch Daniels to veto the bill.

The top U.S. executive of steelmaker ArcelorMittal is urging Gov. Mitch Daniels to veto legislation that would outlaw workplace rules preventing employees from keeping firearms and ammunition in their vehicles at work.

“I do not ever want to be put into a situation where I have to call the spouse or family member of one of our employees and tell them their loved one won’t be coming home tonight because a fellow employee went to their car, got a gun, and shot a co-worker,” ArcelorMittal USA CEO Michael Rippey wrote to Daniels one day after the bill was passed by the Indiana General Assembly.

The ArcelorMittal executive also derided provisions in the proposed law that provide exemptions for some industries as “arbitrary and capricious” and lacking any “rational basis.”

ArcelorMittal is just one of “dozens and dozens” of Indiana companies reacting to the passage of House Bill 1065 by the General Assembly, according to Kevin Brinegar, president of the Indiana Chamber of Commerce.

The chamber has received more comments and protests from Indiana companies over the so-called “bring your gun to work law” than any other single item on its legislative agenda, Brinegar said.

Housing starts declined in February.

Lafayette and West Lafayette unveiled the first of a planned 16 kiosks to help people find stores, restaurants and lodging around town.

Unemployment in Muncie and Delaware County rose to 11.7% in January

Indiana Tech has received a $2 million gift, the second-largest in the college’s history, to help fund the renovation of its Administration Center.

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