Virginia Gun Owners Forum - VGOF

So, they "kinda" passed Post Office Carry to the next level of voting under the Postal Reform bill.
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A Senate committee unanimously passed a measure Thursday to allow people to carry guns on postal service property, but killed a broader push to let gun owners carry their firearms into actual post office buildings.

The measure from Sen. Mark Begich, Alaska Democrat, to a broader Postal Reform bill is meant to head off situations where a person could be charged with a crime if they run into the post office after hunting or shooting, for example, and leave their gun in the parking lot.

“In my state, a rural state, we have folks who are going out to the post office [with] a gun in their car,” Mr. Begich said Thursday at a meeting of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. “[You] park and you go in and you may not realize that even though you stored your gun in that parking lot … this solves this problem once and for all.”

The committee approved the amendment 15-0, but Sen. Rand Paul, Kentucky Republican, felt it didn’t go far enough; he introduced an amendment that would also allow gun owners to carry guns into physical post office buildings.

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Interesting.

Has it been illegal, then, to have left my gun in my car while I ran into a post office that was located in a strip mall?

And do convenience stores with little post offices inside them count?

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There was a court ruling a few years back where the post office parking lot was considered part of the official post office and weapons could be banned. If the lot is private or public but not owned by the post office then you can have your gun in your vehicle. There was a recent case in Colorado where a person won the right to have a gun in his car, but so far the decision is limited to that case. The old case dealt with a car in the post office fenced back lot, but the post office decided it included any lot owned by the post office. The new case says that at least in some cases the public lot is not post office property for the purpose of banning guns. In the case of other federal buildings the ban is just inside the buildings according to law, but in practice if there is a perimeter gate house the ban is enforced at the gate. The post office is governed by a different law than other federal buildings.

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]