Mesa business owners encourage guns at work

MESA, Ariz. -- The owners of Bullet Proof Diesel are encouraging their employees to bring guns to work.

"If people were going to come in here and cause harm knowing that half the people in here may be armed I think it would make them think twice about it," said Ken Neal with Bullet Proof Diesel.

But workers at Neal's company have to get trained before they show up with a firearm.

"We want to make sure they have great training. We wanted to make sure everybody had the same training," said Gene Neal with Bullet Proof Diesel.

The company pays for gun safety and training classes for employees and their families.

"We needed to put our money where our mouth was," said Ken Neal. "We're very local supporters of the Second Amendment and the right to protect yourself so we felt that it was our responsibility to give our employees the opportunity to learn if they wanted to."

Mechanic Jacob Lopez said the classes helped him even though he already is a gun owner.

"Everybody got to learn a lot more about safety and handling weapons and what not and you just get to be more familiar with the weapons themselves." said Lopez.

Teresa Morris said the experience gave her the incentive and confidence to buy her first gun.

"I figured it would be good to be able to protect myself and plus learning about guns I became more comfortable with them," said Morris.

The Neal brothers believe they are now allowing their employees to be much better protected each day as they earn a living.

"I believe they are. Absolutely. I've seen them shoot and they're good shots," said Gene Neal.