Gun Showdown at Work

Gun legislation in some Southern states is forcing Republican lawmakers to choose between two core values of their party: the right of business owners to control what happens on their property and people's Second Amendment right to bear arms. Their dilemma is the result of bills pushed by the National Rifle Association that would let employees bring firearms—ranging from handguns, rifles and shotguns—to work and store them in their vehicles, even against an employer's wishes.

About 20 states have passed so-called parking-lot bills since 2004, including an expansion this year of a gun-rights law in Maine. But a split has started to materialize in GOP-controlled legislatures in some of the country's most gun-friendly states. Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee have refused to support such laws, proving receptive to a push by business groups in those states that have argued that the rules trample on their property rights. Businesses in other states have sought to oppose parking-lot bills by emphasizing the liability dangers that such legislation could create, but those efforts have been less successful.

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But amid Republican divisions on the issue, the NRA, one of the nation's most powerful and well-funded lobbying groups, is having to rely on pro-gun Democrats to carry some of the bills. Democrats in Alabama have already refiled bills for the legislative session that begins in February, and lawmakers are expected to do the same in Tennessee. Democrats carrying the bills say they believe gun rights should trump employers' property rights.

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In addition to forming an alliance with Democrats, the NRA is targeting one-time allies who refuse to back such laws. When Republican Debra Maggart, a staunch supporter of the gun group over her seven-year career in the Tennessee House of Representatives, decided with other members of her party to hold up a parking-lot bill introduced by Democratic Rep. Eddie Bass this year, she felt the consequences. The NRA spent tens of thousands of dollars on attack ads against Ms. Maggart, the only member of Republican leadership to face a primary challenge. One NRA flier declared: "Debra Maggart wants to shred your Second Amendment rights." Ms. Maggart said she opposed the bill because it encompassed properties such as day-care centers and colleges. "They singled me out to bully our caucus into voting for a poorly written piece of legislation." Ms. Maggart, a lifelong NRA member who owns a Remington shotgun, ultimately lost to the NRA-backed candidate by 971 votes in the primaries in August.

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