INDIANAPOLIS -- In a victory for gun rights over property rights, the Indiana General Assembly approved a bill that lets workers keep firearms locked in their cars in trunks or out of sight while parked on company property.

The Indiana House approved the bill 74-20 Thursday and the Senate passed it 41-9. It now goes to Gov. Mitch Daniels.

Paul Morrell, chairman of the Rush County Libertarian Party who drives back and forth to Speedway every day, told 6News' Renee Jameson that it's a matter of safety and a gun owners' legal rights.

"The person that has passed two background checks, both at the local level and federal level, and if they're issued a license to carry a handgun, they should be allowed to carry a handgun," he said. "For a company to say that you cannot protect yourself on the way to work and on the way home, to me is taking away one of my constitutional rights."

But Steve Kellam, the owner of an Indianapolis human resource consulting company, is worried about workplace violence.

"From my perspective, with the companies that I'm involved with, we don't want guns in the workplace," he said. "We don't want them in the parking lot where somebody can walk out, lose their temper and bring a gun back in because they've lost their temper."

A last-minute compromise exempts some public utilities and chemical plants and agencies whose drivers transport developmentally disabled people.

The bill also exempts schools, child care centers, domestic violence shelters and group homes.