Guns in the Workplace: Recent SCOTUS Decisions Curtailing State Regulation, Drafting Compliant Weapons Policies

This CLE webinar will examine how to create and implement compliant gun policies for the workplace. The panel will examine recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions that have curtailed how states may regulate firearms and the challenges that these decisions and evolving state regulation create for employers. The panel will also address key considerations when drafting policies and how these may vary by state as well as offer best practices for drafting compliant gun policies.

In a political environment where the focus on gun control regulation seems to ebb and flow with the change in administration, employment counsel should be aware of key judicial decisions and evolving legislation surrounding the regulation of firearms to best guide their employer clients in drafting and implementing compliant gun policies for the workplace. 

Since there are no federal laws addressing firearms in the workplace, state law governs. In recent years, the U.S. Supreme Court has issued two key rulings curtailing state regulation of firearms that will, even indirectly, affect employer weapons policies. 

In New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen (2022), the Court's opinion resulted in a New York law being overturned when it held that the law violated the Fourteenth Amendment by "preventing law-abiding citizens with ordinary self-defense needs from exercising their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms in public for self-defense." Although Bruen does not directly address the workplace, it reflects the Court's gun control stance, impacts state regulation, and the effect will expand the right for individuals to carry concealed firearms, requiring employers to reconsider their weapons policies to ensure compliance.

More recently, in Wolford v. Lopez (2026), the Court held that a Hawaii blanket gun ban barring licensed concealed-carry holders from carrying handguns onto private property open to the public without the property owner's express authorization was unconstitutional. The decision will impact other states that have similar laws such as California, New York, Maryland, and the District of Columbia and will prohibit other states from passing similar laws. Additionally, where employers relied on state bans to control weapons in their facilities, they will now need to either implement or reexamine their policies if they want to bar firearms from the workplace.

When creating or revising workplace weapons policies, counsel and their clients must be aware of evolving state laws with varying requirements that create compliance challenges for multistate employers who will likely be unable to draft a "one-size-fits-all" policy.

Listen as our authoritative panel examines key judicial decisions and evolving state regulation impacting the creation and implementation of gun policies in the workplace. The panel will address key considerations when drafting policies and how these may vary by state as well as offer best practices for creating and implementing compliant weapons policies.