Concealed carry in a US Post Office ??

[Cyborg]

Carrying In A Post Office?

An Uncle of mine who passed away recently retired from the USPS as Postmaster of Sweetwater, Texas. He once joked with me that he planned to send all his people to the range "to reduce collateral damage".

He also told me that once while attending some sort of conference in D.C., they were asked what the strangest thing they had ever eaten was. Coming from Sweetwater, home of an annual rattlesnake roundup, he naturally told them he had eaten rattlesnake meat. The session leader and the rest of the people attending made quite a lot of that and gave him a s***load of grief over eating snake meat. Next night they were all taken (on the taxpayers' dime naturally) to some big fancy restaurant. The leader of the seminar the day before ordered "escargot" (snails cooked in garlic and butter IIRC). When my Uncle saw what was on the man's plate he called out very loudly "You're eating SNAILS and you gave ME a hard time over eating rattlesnake??" For the record I've eaten rattlesnake meat a couple of times. It doesn't taste at all like chicken. Makes a good hamburger. Ain't bad in sloppy joes neither.

Cyborg

 

[7Star]

"unless such person had actual notice of subsection(a) or (e), as the case may be." I don't the particulars..but I do know this was covered in my CCCW class and also in the copy of regulations and what not they handed out at the time. I think that covers it for me

 

[Erik]

So... It is a crime, either a misdemeanor or felony, depending on the circumstances. And how, pray tell, will the circumstances be interpreted if:

(a) Your carrying is inadvertantly discovered?
(b) You, for what ever reason, have to use your firearm?

I am curious as to the variety of rationals which will emerge.

 

[Frank Ettin]

...And how, pray tell, will the circumstances be interpreted if...

No one can say. A lot may depend on whether the U. S Attorney is in a good mood.

It makes no legal difference whether the fact that you were carrying was discovered inadvertently or if you had to use your gun. At this point, how the matter is pursued is largely and matter of the exercise of prosecutorial discretion. So trying to dope out what will happen is simply idle speculation.

 

[solareclipse]

PO here has metal detectors (that always go off when i pass but not because of a piece)..

Apparently a lot of the local population felt they would just carry in anyway... funny thing is when those beep nobody cares

 

[MostlyHarmless]

I believe that this thread must set some sort of record for the degree to which bad advice overwhelms any valid insight that might be gleaned.

The reality is that the post office is pushing the edges of the law by promulgating regulations arguably in excess of its statutory authority. Nonetheless, violations of these regulations are investigated and prosecuted at the federal level with little if any local input (e.g. local sheriff, police, prosecuting attorney). The signs make it clear that they're spoiling for a fight. If you get caught, and get convicted, it's a felony, unless you can get the law overturned on appeal.

If you understand all that and are prepared to be a test case, great. I hope you have your attorney selected, your legal strategy in place, and the support of your family. And then more power to you. I really hope you win.

But it's foolish to violate such regulations casually.

And besides, in this particular case, I think some congressional oversight or executive rulemaking might go farther than a test case. Maybe in four years we'll have elected officials we can work with again and try to get this fixed. Little by little, progress is being made, the recent changes to the national park rules being an example.

 

[divemedic]

If you get caught, and get convicted, it's a felony, unless you can get the law overturned on appeal.

Misdemeanor. The penalty is a fine and up to 1 year in jail.