Republican-dominated legislatures in at least four states areplanning to consider allowing employees to bring guns to work,turning two of the party's traditional constituencies against eachother: gun-rights supporters and businesses.

The measures, backed by the National Rifle Association, wouldallow workers in Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina andPennsylvania to keep the weapons locked and hidden in their cars inemployee parking areas. Seventeen states have approved similarmeasures since 2003, according to a tally by the Law Center toPrevent Gun Violence in San Francisco.

The laws extend gun rights onto property controlled by privateemployers, prompting opposition from companies such as FedEx Corp.and Volkswagen AG. The proposals are creating a dilemma forRepublicans, said Robert Spitzer, chairman of the political sciencedepartment at the State University of New York at Cortland.