Post Office carry

[thebishopp]

The pertinent section of the law is:


18 U.S.C. § 930 : US Code - Section 930: Possession of firearms and dangerous weapons in Federal facilities

(a) Except as provided in subsection (d), whoever knowingly
possesses or causes to be present a firearm or other dangerous
weapon in a Federal facility (other than a Federal court facility),
or attempts to do so, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned
not more than 1 year, or both.
(b) Whoever, with intent that a firearm or other dangerous weapon
be used in the commission of a crime, knowingly possesses or causes
to be present such firearm or dangerous weapon in a Federal
facility, or attempts to do so, shall be fined under this title or
imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both.
(c) A person who kills any person in the course of a violation of
subsection (a) or (b), or in the course of an attack on a Federal
facility involving the use of a firearm or other dangerous weapon,
or attempts or conspires to do such an act, shall be punished as
provided in sections 1111, 1112, 1113, and 1117.
(d) Subsection (a) shall not apply to -
(1) the lawful performance of official duties by an officer,
agent, or employee of the United States, a State, or a political
subdivision thereof, who is authorized by law to engage in or
supervise the prevention, detection, investigation, or
prosecution of any violation of law;
(2) the possession of a firearm or other dangerous weapon by a
Federal official or a member of the Armed Forces if such
possession is authorized by law; or
(3) the lawful carrying of firearms or other dangerous weapons
in a Federal facility incident to hunting or other lawful
purposes.
(e)(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), whoever knowingly
possesses or causes to be present a firearm in a Federal court
facility, or attempts to do so, shall be fined under this title,
imprisoned not more than 2 years, or both.
(2) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to conduct which is described
in paragraph (1) or (2) of subsection (d).
(f) Nothing in this section limits the power of a court of the
United States to punish for contempt or to promulgate rules or
orders regulating, restricting, or prohibiting the possession of
weapons within any building housing such court or any of its
proceedings, or upon any grounds appurtenant to such building.
(g) As used in this section:
(1) The term "Federal facility" means a building or part
thereof owned or leased by the Federal Government, where Federal
employees are regularly present for the purpose of performing
their official duties.
(2) The term "dangerous weapon" means a weapon, device,
instrument, material, or substance, animate or inanimate, that is
used for, or is readily capable of, causing death or serious
bodily injury, except that such term does not include a pocket
knife with a blade of less than 2 1/2 inches in length.
(3) The term "Federal court facility" means the courtroom,
judges' chambers, witness rooms, jury deliberation rooms,
attorney conference rooms, prisoner holding cells, offices of the
court clerks, the United States attorney, and the United States
marshal, probation and parole offices, and adjoining corridors of
any court of the United States.
(h) Notice of the provisions of subsections (a) and (b) shall be
posted conspicuously at each public entrance to each Federal
facility, and notice of subsection (e) shall be posted
conspicuously at each public entrance to each Federal court
facility, and no person shall be convicted of an offense under
subsection (a) or (e) with respect to a Federal facility if such
notice is not so posted at such facility, unless such person had
actual notice of subsection (a) or (e), as the case may be.

What's posted at the PO is very selective from this section. The part in red could easily be interpreted to include carrying legally with a license to carry, as self defense is a lawful purpose. I don't plan to be a test case, but one of these days perhaps someone should test this.

Thanks for posting this. This is actually the very thing which was pointed out to me a long time ago which allows carry at a post office. The key being you had to be in a state that allowed the carry of firearms (permit, etc.). It is a "lawful purpose". To convict on this the feds would have to claim that carrying a firearm in accordance with one's own state laws is "NOT A LAWFUL PURPOSE". If they are successful with that I would think it would open the door for the feds to invalidate quite a few state laws by claiming a State has no authority to define what is or is not "lawful" and that all such determinations must be made by the feds (which the feds already do in some cases).

 

[jeremy]

I dont even know if the postal employees know it's illegal.
Maybe they know but there is nobody to enforce the law, or nobody wants to enforce it anyway because, maybe they know it's one silly law (like most gun laws), that you should have the right to protect yourself anywhere, and that a sign or a law wont prevent bad guys from going armed in a post office and shooting everybody.

Im glad you never got in trouble for that.

The most important thing is that you should always know the law, then you are free to follow it or not.
I just think that many of us will wait for the law to change before risking carrying in a post office.
Even if the law is rarely or never enforced you dont want to bet on that.

Occasionally, on fairly rare occasions, Sense still bubbles to the Surface of the Manure Lagoon that is Our Bureaucracy...

 

[newtothis]

That doesnt preempt against a discussion of its content to determine if it is a prohibitied item. The decision to ship firearms lie at the postmaster's discretion, thus many P.O.'s wont ship firearms... thats why you always hear of gunshops and private parties using FEDEX and UPS/Brown for such. As they are private (yet publicly traded) businesses, and therefore can determine how they choose to do bidness.

 

[Drakkule]

If I am caught with firearm at post office, I will tell them I plan on mailing it. I will grab box that is provided and purchase packaging. At that point, place it in the box insure it for twice the value, and then mail it to myself.

God bless America.

Oh, it is federal offence if anyone tampers with the package. It would be an illegal search. You could fight it in court. They would have to throw out the case.

They can, and have opened packages. I had a group of pistols sent to the shop i work at in care of me, and when they didn't show up in time, i called about them. I was informed that they had to open my package to verify the contents, and to check for a packing slip, and copy of there FFL. When i brought up that they had no right to search my package, i was informed it falls under national security, and the issue was fully documented.

 

[MikeDVB]

If the Post Office is still considered federal, then I would imagine that would be included in the "places you cannot carry", where as if it's considered private - they simply get to choose whether to allow it or not (which it seems they do not).

No matter how you look at it, without a legal battle, I would say it's a no-carry zone. The specific section of law that is highlighted that mentions that carry is allowed for lawful purposes would be the point you would argue in court, but I can't say I would want to have the opportunity to argue it.

I go to the post office maybe once per month to check my P.O.... I'll just pull the gun out of the holster and stow it under the seat and lock the car while I go in. If I get shot (while not armed) or otherwise robbed/murdered/raped/etc - I suppose that would be the time for me/my estate to sue.

 

[EvilBlackGun]

Tit & Tat

Or: Easy Rider Strikes Back.

Yeah, and the anti's will be thinking your a Hell's Angel or one of the Sons of Anarchy or some such group and call the LEOs. Could make for an interesting encounter.