Texas State Sen. Glenn Heger

Texas State Sen. Glenn Heger is the CCRKBA Gun Rights Defenderof the Month for July.John M. Snyder, CCRKBA PublicAffairs Director, nominated the Republicanlegislator from Katy, Texasfor the Award.Snyder said that Sen. Heger foryears has been promoting gun rightsin the Texas Legislature.“For years, Sen. Heger has beensponsoring much-needed pro-gunlegislation. In particular, he has beenworking for a law in the Lone StarState that would allow employees tostore legal firearms in their places ofemployment during the work day.“This year, Sen. Heger accomplishedthis objective. The StateSenate and the Texas State Houseof Representatives agreed to passhis proposal, and sent it to Gov.Rick Perry, who signed it into law.It takes effect September 1.Snyder said, “Sen. Glenn Hegerhas demonstrated his leadershipability in promoting the rights of gunowners. He most certainly deservesa CCRKBA Gun Rights Defender ofthe Month Award.”When Sen. Heger introduced hismeasure, Senate Bill 321, in January,it was aimed at preventing employersfrom adopting policies thatwould prevent their workers fromstoring legal firearms on companyproperty, even if securely locked intheir vehicles.Sen. Heger said he proposed thebill in response to overly restrictivepolicies adopted by some Texasemployers.“When an employer bars firearmson company property, even thosesafely locked in employees’ personalvehicles, they rob their workersof their Second Amendment rightsand, even more importantly, theirright to safety,” said Sen. Heger. “Noone should have to choose betweenprotecting themselves and their jobs,and with the passage of this bill, noTexan will ever again face that unfairdecision.”He said that, “unfortunately, manyTexans have been forced to make thechoice between adhering to theiremployer’s policy prohibiting storageof their legally owned firearmin their locked vehicle on companyproperty or risking their employmentby exercising their legal right to protectthemselves as they make their dailycommute.”Sen. Heger said that millions of Texansspend hours each week in theircars and trucks as they commute toand from work, with some commutestaking drivers through dangerousneighborhoods.Sen. Heger said that the legislationis a common sense measure that balancesthe rights of both employer andemployee.Under the proposal, employeeswill be able to store a legally ownedfirearm and ammunition in theirvehicles while at work, and with ittheir right to protect themselves asthey travel to and from their place ofemployment.The legislation likewise recognizesemployers, and protects them fromany lawsuit resulting from the useof a firearm stored on their property.They retain the ability to forbid theiremployees from carrying a firearm incompany-owned vehicles.Specifically, the Heger measurewith certain exceptions protects anemployee of a public or private employerprovided the employee holdsa license to carry a concealed firearm,who otherwise lawfully possesses afirearm, or who lawfully possessesammunition.The legislation is similar to lawsnow on the books in Alaska, Arizona,Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana,Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota,Mississippi, Oklahoma andUtah.Glenn Heger was born November25, 1970 in Houston, Texas. He andhis wife, Dara, have three children,Claire, Julia and Joseph.A farmer by profession, Hegerearned an LLM in Agricultural Lawfrom the University of ArkansasSchool of Law in 1998, a JD fromSaint Mary’s University School ofLaw in 1997, an MA in InternationalEconomic Relations from SaintMary’s University in 1997, and a BAin Political Science and History fromTexas Agricultural and MechanicalUniversity in 1993.He served in the Texas House ofRepresentatives 2002-2006 and hasbeen a State Senator since 2007.Sen. Glenn Heger