ORLANDO, FLORIDA — Florida law states that an employee of any company (with the exception of schools and prisons) with a valid concealed carry permit is authorized to keep their firearm stored in their car while in a company parking lot.
According to the law, a parking lot is “any property that is used for parking motor vehicles and is available to customers, employees, or invitees for temporary or long-term parking or storage of motor vehicles.”
Unfortunately, it seems Universal Orlando never got the memo… or doesn’t know what a parking lot is.
Either way, Dean Kumanchik, a “licensed concealed weapons holder” and ride technician with Universal for 23 years, is jobless and has filed a lawsuit.
Returning to his car after work on December 16, Kumanchik noticed his car door (which he claims was locked) was ajar and his Diamondback .380, which he kept in his vehicle every day while he was working, was missing.
A quick digression: Storing a firearm in an unattended vehicle is always an uncomfortable scenario. And though many states try to protect concealed carry licensees from unfair treatment by employers, criminals will be criminals. And it is a gun-owner’s responsibility to make sure that firearms are stored out of sight and that every precaution has been taken to keep them secure. Lock ’em up.
Universal became aware of the situation in the process of Kumanchik filing the police report and took action. Claiming that their property began at the garage and that Kumanchik was in violation of workplace policy by leaving his firearm in his vehicle in one of the company garages, Universal immediately terminated him.
“I was very upset. And I thought after giving them my dedication as a valued employee, as they tell you in my reviews, they just dump you … and when I showed them the Florida Statute, it didn’t even phase them.” Kumanchik said.
When asked for a copy of their workplace policies by a local news station, a Universal representative provided the following curt statement: “We do not allow people to carry weapons into our theme parks or work areas.”
Kumanchik’s attorney, Richard Celler, is having none of it. “This is a fight that we are willing to take up as a fundamental issue for people who legally possess firearms.”
