Caught In A Gunfight

The National Rifle Association may have met an immovable object in Florida: Big Business. The Florida Chamber of Commerce is fighting an N.R.A.-backed bill that guarantees the right to take guns to work (or at least to the office parking lot; guns would have to be kept locked up in a car). The bill would hit uncooperative employers with felony charges. "This time they crossed the line," says the Florida Chamber's Mark Wilson of aggressive N.R.A. lobbyists. With a similar Oklahoma bill stalled in the courts, Florida G.O.P. lawmakers are torn between two of their best friends. Take the bill's sponsor, for instance. Dennis Baxley, who gets highest ratings from both the Chamber and the N.R.A., says, "It's very awkward for me."