By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
A federal law dating back more than 50 years which bans firearms in post offices is unconstitutional, according to a ruling by a U.S. District Court judge in Florida.
District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, a Donald Trump appointee, issued her ruling last Friday in Tampa. According to Reuters, the judge dismissed a charge against Emmanuel Ayala, a driver for the U.S. Postal Service for having a firearm in a federal building.
A separate charge of resisting arrest remains in effect. When he was in initially confronted by federal officers in 2022, he fled and was eventually apprehended by Tampa police, according to published reports.
In her 42-page opinion, Judge Mizelle noted, “The United States concedes that ‘[t]here is no evidence of firearms being prohibited at post offices, specifically, or of postal workers being prohibited from carrying them, at the time of the founding.’”
Ayala is licensed to carry a firearm in Florida, and he carried a 9mm Smith & Wesson pistol in a fanny pack for self-defense, as noted in the ruling.
In her decision, Judge Mizelle dispelled “two misapprehensions held by the parties.”
“First,” the judge noted, “nothing in Supreme Court dicta establishes that the United States may ban firearms in all government buildings. Second, the scope of the Second Amendment right is a legal question, not a factual one, and I need not hold an evidentiary hearing to resolve it. Instead, the government bears the burden to identify historical evidence supporting its challenged regulation. Finally, I explain why the United States errs in arguing that its proprietorship of federal land and buildings excludes vast swathes of the country from the protection of the Second Amendment.”
A few pages later, the judge observes, “Possessing a firearm in a Federal facility is an activity that falls within the plain text of the Second Amendment…Thus, the United States must show that a ban on firearms in ordinary post offices is consistent with our nation’s founding-era tradition of firearms regulation.
“The United States concedes,” she continues, “that ‘[t]here is no evidence of firearms being prohibited at post offices, specifically, or of postal workers being prohibited from carrying them, at the time of the founding.’”
As noted by The Hill, Judge Mizelle’s ruling also recalls that there have been post offices since the founding, and that the restriction on guns in such facilities did not occur until 1972.After discussing possible reasons for the prohibition, them judge notes, “In short, post offices do not resemble the narrow classes of government buildings that were, at times, firearms-free zones at the founding.”
So what happens now? The government will almost certainly appeal.
