A Georgia business owner recently decided all his employees needed to carry a weapon, so he now requires them to get a concealed carry permit and be armed with a handgun.
Lance Toland, who owns the aviation insurance company Lance Toland Associates, gives each of his employees a gun as soon as they show him their newly acquired permit, he told local TV station WSB-TV. He said that everyone at the company had their permit about a month after he announced the requirement.
“Everybody has one of these in their drawer or on their person," Toland said. "I would not want to come into one of my facilities."
The owner decided his employees should be licensed to carry guns after becoming concerned about crime in the areas around his business locations, according to the report. He said he sent out the mandate hoping that it would provide a safer work environment.
Toland -- a pilot and chairman of the Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame, according to his company's website -- gives each of his employees a Taurus Judge. The gun is described on Taurus's website as "ideal for short distances -- where most altercations occur."
“A lot of my clients are... high-fiving me when they hear about this," Toland said. "They think it's one of the best things they've ever heard for a company to mandate gun ownership and be licensed and be responsible."