Forest Park City Council votes on city employee gun policy

FOREST PARK, Ga. - The City Council of Forest Park voted Monday to make it illegal for city employees to carry firearms while on the job. The resolution does allow city employees to keep their weapons inside their cars in city parking lots.

It was a near-unanimous vote to approve the resolution, with Councilman Charles Mears from Ward Five dissenting.

To Mears, he said he believes this resolution is not specific enough. He said he does not believe most city employees need to bring weapons into city buildings, but he believes city employees, life firefighters, should have special allowances.

"The firemen do not carry them on call in the ambulances, but they do need some kind of protection from the city to protect their property while they're out protecting the city," said Mears. He said that firefighters are incredibly easy targets for thieves because the crews will leave their parked cars in city lots for days at a time. When the firetrucks leave the station, he said it's a perfect time for thieves to strike.

This vote comes after an incident that happened last July between several Public Works employees. 

"An employee brought a gun to work, and we didn't have anything that didn't permit him to do so, so I voted on a policy that I thought was fair and would prevent situations like that," said Ward Three Councilman Hector Guitierrez.

Many community members supported the council's majority decision, saying they didn't believe city employees needed guns at work. However, many did agree that the council could go further to make special allowances for specific departments.

"I feel comfortable with that level of protection, but I don't believe city employees need to be packing heat while they're at the job site," said Clifford Pellegrine, a community member who spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting.

Councilman Mears said, in the future, he might consider bringing up a resolution to make this city ruling more specific to allow firefighters to bring unloaded weapons to store inside the firehouse.