From the
USPS website:
Notwithstanding any other law, rule, or regulation, no person while on Postal Service property may carry firearms, other dangerous or deadly weapons, or explosives, either openly or concealed, or store the same on Postal Service property, except for official purposes.
Those last four words cover shipping items, I'd assume.
So, the question that this blurb leaves open is: Is a collapsible baton considered a "dangerous or deadly weapon." To find that out, you'd need to find out the Federal definition for the term.
From the
Department of Justice website:
What constitutes a "deadly or dangerous weapon" is left to the general definition of that term as found in the law by the courts. See 107 Cong. Rec. 14366-67; H.R. Rep. No. 958, 87th Cong., 1st Sess. (1961), p. 15, reprinted in 1961 U.S.Code Cong. and Adm. News 2563, 2570. A "stun gun," as a matter of law, is a dangerous weapon. See United States v. Wallace, 800 F.2d 1509 (9th Cir. 1986), cert. denied, 481 U.S. 1019 (1987).
I'm not going to go dig up those cases, and IANAL, but there's also the common definition of the term referenced by NOLO, found on the
Cornell Law School website:
Definition from Nolo’s Plain-English Law Dictionary
Any object, such as a gun, knife, sword, crossbow, or slingshot, that is intrinsically capable of causing serious bodily harm to another person. The definition becomes important in cases where criminal laws attach particular consequences to crimes performed with a dangerous weapon. (See also:
deadly weapon)
IANAL, but this seems pretty cut and dry. A collapsible baton is purpose-designed as a weapon. It's also capable of inflicting great bodily harm or death. Carry it on USPS property at your own risk.
You stated that you don't want anyone to talk you out of a baton, OP, so feel free to ignore this next part. It's as much for people wandering into the thread looking for the same information as you, as it is for you.
As far as using one on a dog, I see two issues:
1. You've got a baton that's maybe 21" if you get one of the larger variety, maybe 16" if you get a more compact one. If the dog's a serious enough threat to whack with it, you're in a hand to hand fight with an angry dog, and you're going to get bit. If you prevail, you just killed or injured someone's dog.
2. People get irate when they see their dog getting hurt by someone, regardless of it being their fault that the event is taking place. You might end up in baton on dummy combat with someone, which carries legal consequences, even if you're on the right side of things.
IMO, pepper spray is better in both cases. You can use it on the pooch, and if you have to calm down an irate owner, it's still useful without being lethal. It's probably a lot closer to being acceptable on USPS property, but you'd want to ask an actual lawyer about that one. And, yes, I know pepper spray isn't 100% effective, especially on people. But it's still got a very high success rate, especially versus animals.
