Should Fresno city employees who are licensed to carry a concealed weapon be able to pack heat on the job? Fresno City Councilman Garry Bredefeld thinks so, and will ask his council colleagues next week to pass a resolution to allow it.

Others, however, aren’t keen on the idea, including Fresno police Chief Jerry Dyer and Mayor Lee Brand – who said he will veto the plan if it passes.

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Brand acknowledged that he’s had a CCW permit for years. He said he brought his gun to City Hall “on a handful of occasions” after he was elected to the City Council in 2008, but only after authorization from then-City Manager Mark Scott. As mayor since January, he has taken a gun with him to public events “and one or two times to City Hall” because his higher visibility provides a greater potential to be targeted for threats.

Bredefeld described Brand’s position as “hypocritical and unfair.”

“The mayor ought to give every city employee the very same right to protect themselves that he himself has exercised with his CCW permit,” Bredefeld said.