GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — A metro Atlanta woman is asking a judge to strike down a Gwinnett County company's gun policy.
Jamie Lunsford said the company violated her rights by firing her after they discovered she had a gun in her car while on business. Lunsford said the company violated her right to carry a permitted, concealed weapon in her car.
"I know that I didn't do anything wrong. I'm a licensed carrier and I'm covered under the law," said Lunsford, who showed Channel 2 Action News reporter Manuel Bojorquez her permit to carry a gun.
But Lundsford said even that wasn't enough to keep her Norcross employer -- a subsidiary of information management company Iron Mountain Inc. -- from firing her.
Lunsford said it was during a trip to the Federal Reserve Bank on business that she disclosed to security guards she had the weapon in her car. She said they had no problem with it, but when she returned to work, she was suspended, then fired, she said. Her attorney said that should have never happened under Georgia law, which allows employees to securely keep permitted weapons in their cars.
"They have a policy which prohibits employees from doing so, which is clearly a violation of the rights given to her and every other employee under Georgia law," said Steven Leibel.
"Shocking to lose a job after six years … at no fault of your own, knowing that I did nothing wrong," said Lundsford.
But Lundsford's former employer said she was not within the law.
A spokesman for the company sent Bojorquez a statement that read in part, "Georgia law allows workers to leave a firearm in their vehicle in a company parking lot. The law does not, however, permit an employee to carry a firearm while conducting company business."