Which is why when I have to go to the Post Office I choose strip mall ones or ones with parking on the street
3 Likes
I’ll admit, until this weekend I still would go to Starbucks from time to time. The situation that happened on Thanksgiving day changed that for me. A police officer stopped at Starbucks and bought coffees for some of the dispatchers and the name on the cups was a slur against the police. That’s where I draw the line - hate speech is inexcusable to me.
We can disagree on interpretation of the Second Amendment and everyone is welcome to their opinion, but I don’t abide hate speech in any form.
4 Likes
@Randall318 the law for federal property applies on federally owned or leased land. If you go to a stand alone PO, you are on federal property and SCOTUS has clearly said the firearms prohibition is valid there. If you park in the street or go to a PO is another business location, as @David38 and @BJP will do, you can lock your weapon in the car. If you go into a business that has a post office in it (we have 2 near me, one in a paint store the other a hardware store) you are prohibited from carrying in an area used exclusively by the PO.
Now you know!
Some other absurdities with the rules are the police can respond to incidents at the post office but cannot technically go on the property armed unless they are there on official business, on or off duty. Driving up and dropping your mail in the mail box on the property in your police cruiser is a felony.
4 Likes
@Randall318 I am in West Monroe, a little east of Ruston, but we should find a range and do some shooting!
2 Likes
@MikeBKY As far as USPO law, what about a place that offers Post Office services. There is a place locally that offers UPS, Fed Ex and USPO services, but it is (to the best of my knowledge) not owned or operated or staffed with Post Office employees. It also shares a parking lot with a couple other shops.
2 Likes
@MikeBKY, I reviewed some laws and very spot on, sir. I sure do appreciate it.
@Dawn, is also correct…
We are here to learn and I’ve learned something new today. I just hate I was breaking the law for so much time. Makes me feel bad 
@Fred_G, Yeah man, I have been to West Monroe a few times. One time I was going to take a job there X-raying pipeline when I got married (divorced but happily taken now). I forgot the name of the company, but point is that there are real nice people there. I eventually turned down the job…now looking back it would have been good gig.
4 Likes
@Fred_G, I am assuming you are talking of places like the UPS Store and FedEx Kinkos and other places that provide similar services. These are privately owned or publicly traded entities and the federal laws with respect to post offices does not apply. As I mentioned before, they also do not apply to businesses that house a post office within the business except for those portions of the property used exclusively by the post office. I have 2 such places in my area. I print most of my postage myself and can add tracking codes through my software so I generally do not need to go to the post office. The only time in the last year I had to actually have something post marked at the post office because the meter date was not adequate was for an appeal of an administrative determination by a state agency that required a post office post mark. I took it to the paint store that has a post office in it. The only area used exclusively by the post office is the counter and behind the counter. My weapon never passed the counter.
@Randall318 don’t beat yourself up over it. Most of the world does not know that it is the law. Most police do not know that it is the law and only federal law enforcement can enforce it. Unless the Postal Inspectors or one of the alphabet agencies are watching you, it is unlikely that anything would ever happen. I used to go in the post office for personal business in uniform and never thought about it but realize that each time was technically a felony.
It is a big reason that my business mail goes to a box at UPS and not USPS.
3 Likes
I’ll try not too!
But, like I said it’s good to know now and it’s real, real good to have people such as you to point that out. I think my business will turn ALL Fed-Ex or USPS now. I’ve always knew those two ^^^ we’re privately owned but, I stilllll lock it up going in (I’m not sure why, just assumed they would have a policy).
I was also shocked when you said that police driving through the mail drop in a patrol cruiser is actually a felony. 
Law can be very tricky sometimes…as YOU know not to mention Louisiana’s interpretation of law being nepolionic code and all.
3 Likes
@MikeBKY Thanks for the info! That was what I was thinking, but I also thought it had recently been made legal to leave your gun in the USPS parking lot… Don’t understand that law, but…
And yes, the place I go to does UPS, DHL, Fed Ex, and USPS and is privately owned.
1 Like