Virginia Social Worker Storm Durham Fired for Having Concealed Carry Permit-Unproven!
Summary of eRumor:
A social worker from Roanoke, Virginia, named Storm Durham was fired for having a concealed carry permit.
The Truth:
Storm Durham claimed in a viral social media post that she’d been fired from her job as a social worker for having a concealed carry permit. But Durham later admitted that she failed to close a predetermined number of cases in her employee evaluation and was also “cited” for wearing loafers on the job. And the City of Roanoke has released a statement denying Durham’s claims.
The flap started on March 10th when Storm Durham posted her account of being fired on Facebook. The post states: “I was fired today due to having a concealed carry permit. Was my gun on me? No. Has it ever been on me during my job, or visits, or anything related to work? No. When I told them that it has never been on me during work, what did they say? ‘How do we know that.’ Search me. Do I have a criminal record? No.” Durham also tweeted that she was fired from Roanoke City Social Services “for having a concealed carry permit. Not the gun, the permit.” She said she’d been deemed a “safety risk to the building” and was escorted outside by three police officers:
The tweet went viral almost immediately. Opponents of gun control laws have long argued that government-maintained lists of gun owners could be used to punish them. Storm Durham’s account appeared to reinforce those fears, which led to her tweets going viral. But it’s not clear that Daniels was fired for having a concealed carry permit.
A number of social media users followed up with personal accounts of Durham’s performance at work, pushing back against the idea that she was fired for having a concealed carry permit. Posts claimed that Durham’s boyfriend had threatened her coworkers and brought a gun into the office. Durham denied those claims in a Facebook Live video stream. But she acknowledged performance issues, noting that she hadn’t closed a predetermined number of cases and was cited for waring loafers to a training session.
The City of Roanoke also released a statement denying claims that Storm Durham was fired because she holds a concealed carry permit:
Roanoke, VA – A former employee of the City of Roanoke recently posted via social media assertions regarding the basis of her dismissal from City employment. Her posting has also been reported in other media. The City does not publicly comment on specific personnel matters. In light of these assertions, however, it is important to note that the City of Roanoke respects the Constitutional rights of its citizens and that the dismissal in question was not based upon anyone’s exercise of such rights.
In the end, there’s not enough information to determine why Storm Durham was fired from her job as a social worker. It’s not clear if guns, or Durham holding a concealed carry permit, had anything to do with it. And Durham has admitted that she has faced performance and other disciplinary issues at work in the past. Given all that, we’re calling these claims “unproven.”