Posted on Mon, Apr. 21, 2008

The Florida Retail Federation and the Florida Chamber of Commerce filed a lawsuit in federal court on Monday challenging the constitutionality of a new Florida law allowing employees and other citizens to conceal firearms in their parked vehicles on private property.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida in Tallahassee, comes a week after Gov. Charlie Crist signed the NRA-backed measure. It challenges the law, which takes effect July 1, on grounds it violates private property rights and conflicts with the federal Occupational Safety and Hazard Act.

A federal court recently enjoined a similar gun law in Oklahoma because it ran afoul ofOSHA regulations, which require employers to provide a safe work environment. The ruling is currently on appeal.

-- MONICA HATCHER