|
|
|
November 26, 2014 |
|
|
|
|
|
Give The Gift Of Legal Protection This Holiday Season |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Post Office Parking Lots:
It Won't Be A Merry Christmas If You're In Jail |
|
This holiday season many of our members will be traveling to their local
post office to send packages across the country to friends and loved
ones, and it is important to know what the law says about carrying a
firearm in your vehicle while visiting the post office. Gun owners are
prohibited by federal regulation from carrying a firearm onto U.S. Post
Office property. What about the parking lot at the post office? The
short answer is that in Colorado it is still a violation of the law,
excepting for one individual in Avon, to have a firearm in the parking
lot of a post office when the parking lot is part of the "postal
property." Last year, a Colorado case generated quite a bit of confusion
concerning whether the postal regulation violates a person�s Second
Amendment rights when it comes to guns in cars on U.S. postal property.
In July of 2013, major news outlets released stories with titles like:
�Guns OK in post office parking lots,� and �You Can Now Bear Arms in a
Post Office Parking Lot� based on the holding of Bonidy, et al. v. USPS,
a case decided in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado.
In a heavily fact-dependent case, the court held that despite the
existing regulation that generally prohibits firearms anywhere on postal
property, one specific individual with a concealed carry license could
carry a firearm secured in his vehicle in a local post office parking
lot in Avon, Colorado. Unfortunately, this holding has been
misinterpreted to mean that federal law now allows all gun owners across
the country to have firearms in their vehicles while in post office
parking lots, when in fact, except for (arguably) gun owners in the
small town of Avon, Colorado, nothing has changed, even for other
Colorado gun owners.
39 C.F.R. � 232.1(l) is the federal regulation issued by the U.S. Postal
Service that prohibits all firearms on postal property. The regulation
reads as follows:
�Weapons and explosives. No person while on postal property may
carry firearms, other dangerous or deadly weapons, or explosives, either
openly or concealed, or store the same on postal property, except for
official purposes.�
Note that the regulation specifically states that no one may carry
firearms while on �postal property.� Parking lots are considered to be
part of postal property. This regulation in effect prohibits all
firearms in all areas of postal property � the parking lot, the lobby
and all buildings of the post office, and even the sidewalks along the
street in front of the post office, when they are within postal property
lines.
Bonidy argued that the postal regulation was a violation of his Second
Amendment rights. He further argued that he was adversely impacted
because he was forced to have his employees pick up and drop off his
mail due to the firearm restriction. The U.S. District Court ruled that
Mr. Bonidy could not take his handgun into the building, but that due to
the peculiar circumstances of Avon, he was not bound by the regulation
with regard to keeping a firearm secured in his vehicle while in the
post office parking lot. The circumstances in Avon are that: 1) The post
office does not provide delivery to the public, 2) they provide free
post office boxes to Avon residents, and 3) these post office boxes are
the only method of delivering mail. The court reasoned that due to these
circumstances, unlike the building, the Avon Post Office parking lot is
not a �sensitive place,� and that as a result, the USPS regulation
could not be a valid restriction on Bonidy�s Second Amendment rights and
his right to self-defense.
There is one main reason why the holding does not apply to other
Colorado gun owners. The holding is very narrow in that it applies to
only one man, allowing him to have a firearm in his automobile in one
specific parking lot (the Avon Post Office parking lot in Avon,
Colorado). The holding does not specifically extend the ability to carry
a firearm in a vehicle to anyone else, even residents of Avon; nor does
the holding give Tab Bonidy or anyone else the right to carry a firearm
in their vehicle in any post office parking lot other than the one in
Avon, Colorado. At most, it may be argued that a person
�similarly-situated� to Tab Bonidy (living in Avon, CO who can only pick
up their mail at the Avon Post Office) may carry a firearm in their
vehicle pursuant to their Colorado concealed carry permit in the Avon
Post Office parking lot only.
On October 1st of this year, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals heard
oral arguments from both parties in Bonidy appealing the decision of the
trial court. While no decision has been made yet, a decision made by
the 10th Circuit may elaborate on exactly who could carry, and this
decision would be binding on lower Federal district courts in this
state. Exactly what this opinion will hold, however, has yet to be seen.
Stay safe this holiday season and help protect all of our rights by knowing the law.
|
|
|
|
|
QuickLinks |
|
|
|
|
|
|
