From time to time, we hear a story about a delivery driver who was fired because he used his gun to defend himself from an armed robbery. The companies state they have policies that don’t allow their drivers to carry firearms, even if they’re licensed to do so. It apparently has something to do with liability.

Whatever.

In my hometown, though, there was a murder that shows just how stupid those policies are.

Several arrests were made in a homicide that took place Saturday, according to the Albany Police Department (APD).

Alexander Mixon, 27, was fatally wounded during an attempted robbery.

The victim was lured to the 1900 block of West Broad Avenue to deliver food, APD officials said. The victim was a Locos Grill and Pub employee.

When he arrived, which was a vacant home, the victim was approached by two men and shot while inside his vehicle, according to law enforcement.

Mixon was alive when police arrived and was transported to the hospital, but died a short time later.

Now, I’m not saying Mixon should have been carrying a gun. I do think he should have, but that’s a decision each person has to make for themselves.

I’m also not saying that if he had been carrying, this wouldn’t have happened. That depends on the specifics, and I wasn’t there so I can’t say definitively.

Nor am I saying the restaurant had a policy forbidding him from carrying. I’ve never worked for Loco’s, so I don’t have a clue either way.

What I will say is that if Mixon had been carrying a gun, he might have at least had a chance to defend himself, to possibly take out the killers and maybe go home to his family. Georgia is a Stand Your Ground state, after all, and I have no doubt that he’d have done just that after shooting criminals who were apparently trying to rob him.

When companies disarm their staff via policies, they put them in the position that Mixon found himself in. It’s one thing to put yourself in that position but quite another when your employer requires you to be in that position.

While this tragedy isn’t an everyday thing, it’s common enough that it makes sense for those in this position to arm themselves and be ready in case they meet an armed attacker.

But not to corporate bigshots who aren’t the ones who will be looking down the business end of some thug’s gun. These policies are decided on by people looking at the bottom line, not by people who seem to have any care about their delivery drivers’ safety.

I’m not a fan of government regulation as a general thing, but I wouldn’t cry if states began passing laws forbidding companies from infringing on delivery drivers’ Second Amendment rights. Give these men and women a chance to defend their own lives without worrying about risking their jobs in the process.

They deserve it.