A federal judge in Florida ruled a U.S. law that prohibits people from having firearms in post offices to be unconstitutional, the latest court decision declaring gun restrictions violate the Constitution.

U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, a Trump appointee, cited the 2022 Supreme Court ruling “New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen” that expanded gun rights. The 2022 ruling recognized the individual’s right to bear a handgun in public for self-defense.

The judge shared her decision in the indictment that charged Emmanuel Ayala, U.S. Postal Service truck driver, with illegal possession of a firearm in a federal building.

  • TimLovesTech (AuDHD)(he/him)
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    451 year ago

    Cool, so the place that mass shootings in the US began, and coined its own phrase, now must allow armed nut jobs inside. What could go wrong!?

    • Ultragramps
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      371 year ago

      The USPS has been abused by DeJoy, another trump appointee, who filled the fleet with more gas vehicles with less efficiency than previous models. That and removing public mail boxes for “reasons that totally didn’t have to do with mail-in voting helping Democrats win elections, promise.”

      • BigDaddySlim
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        1 year ago

        It wasn’t just blue boxes, he also shut down sorting machines, slowing mail processing in another attempt to delay mail-in ballots. Luckily we weren’t sending these off to get sorted at the plant and would take them to the town hall directly which probably helped circumvent a lot of late ballots. Can’t say this was done in every office but in my local area I know we did that.

        Edit: a word

        • @[email protected]
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          11 year ago

          It may have a little to do with voting, but it’s ultimately just the logistics lobby flexing their influence to further weaken the USPS. End game is privatization of the mail for the short term, but ideally dissolution of the service altogether to remove the public option that helps keep consumer shipping prices in check.

          • BigDaddySlim
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            31 year ago

            The timing of a Trump crony shutting down mail sorting machines during the largest mail in election in history shortly after being appointed by Trump isn’t a coincidence. I agree with the rest of your statement, though.

    • @[email protected]
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      141 year ago

      now must allow armed nut jobs inside

      What do you imagine was blocking such people from carrying in the first place? A sign?

      “Well shit Jethro. Sign says it right there. ‘No nutty gunners allowed.’ Let’s go put our shit back in the truck. 'Parently the libs won’t ‘allow’ us to shoot the place up. Dang it!”

      People like you are why our politicians waste political capital on bullshit laws instead of working towards real solutions. You actually believe carry bans are effective? Ignorant at best, a childish conception of human behavior, and that’s me being charitable.

      “Well, by golly I don’t like it! A ban should do nicely! Put those bad people in their place for once!”

      Yeah. Worked for alcohol, abortion and drugs, didn’t it?

      the place that mass shootings in the US began

      Fuck are you on about? I know, bag on Florida, score internet points, feel righteous. Getting that dopamine hit? Feeling smart?

      Know why you hear so much crazy shit about Florida?

      We got 21.7 million people here, third most populous state in the union. (A million is “a lot” for those of you lacking math.) Yeah, we gonna have some fruits and nuts.

      We got “sunshine laws”, a liberal idea, one I adore, that allows free reporting of crime and much more.

      Florida began its tradition of openness back in 1909 with the passage of Chapter 119 of the Florida Statutes or the “Public Records Law.” This law provides that any records made or received by any public agency in the course of its official business are available for inspection, unless specifically exempted by the Florida Legislature.

      Perhaps we should rescind that? Take the wind out of the sails for people like you?

      We got a nut case governor, who is certainly going to lose his next election. LOL, we can’t do worse.

      Where you from? Bet money I can bag on your state as hard or harder.

      • BigDaddySlim
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        261 year ago

        A lot to unpack here but I’ll just focus on this;

        the place that mass shootings in the US began

        The term “going postal” is what they’re referring to.

      • @[email protected]
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        11 year ago

        The thing is that the experiment you imagine --implementing common-sense gun-reform-- has been run hundreds of times in other countries and the result was not, as you hypothesize, that suddenly they were overrun by bad guys with guns who don’t care about gun laws, but rather was that they saw precipitous declines in gun violence and gun-related deaths.

        Basically, your hypothesis, which you and others take for granted as evidently true, is objectively incorrect, and has been shown to be so many times. What does a rational actor do when their hypothesis is shown to be incorrect? Do they continue to defend it? Help me make sense of your thinking, because what it looks like to me is a complete refusal to confront and accept reality.

      • @[email protected]
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        271 year ago

        What do you imagine was blocking such people from carrying in the first place? A sign?

        It’s this simple: if it’s legal to carry a gun somewhere then you have no idea which armed people are responsible, sane gun owners; if it’s illegal to carry a gun somewhere, then anyone with a gun is therefore not a sane, responsible gun owner, which is really damn good to know before they are pointing the gun at someone.

        No it doesn’t prevent crazy people with guns, but it let’s you know that anyone with a gun is a threat and measures should be taken immediately.

        • @[email protected]
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          11 year ago

          Most of the time you just have no idea which people are armed, concealed carry is popular. Most criminals also carry concealed rather than open, obviously. Sure, if you gave all post office employees X-Ray Spex so they could see the concealed weapons carried by these criminals, your logic would be sound. Unfortunately X-Ray Spex is a band, not a functional product for seeing through clothing, we still need the TSA machines for that.

          • @[email protected]
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            11 year ago

            Right, it’s not 100% effective for sure, but it’s better than nothing. Look, if someone perfectly conceals their weapon it’s the same thing as if it’s legal. No one had any chance to react between them going for their weapon and then getting a shot off.

            But if, with all the adrenaline in their system because of what they are planning, they slip up, that’s where the difference is between legal and illegal concealed carry. If it’s legal I don’t know if they are about to commit murder or not, but when it’s illegal then I know they have bad intentions from the moment I see it.

            I could go into much more depth here, but I think this is really the gist of my point. I’m not anti-gun, by the way, or trying to achieve 100% safety from guns. But I do feel like a post office isn’t somewhere a gun needs to be.

        • @[email protected]
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          41 year ago

          By this logic concealed carry would be acceptable and if someone shows you their gun they are a threat. Which is always illegal already.

  • @[email protected]
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    141 year ago

    Bunch of scared insecure children on the right. Recommend a listen to Malcolm Gladwell 6 part series on gun violence for the history of the rights obsession with 2A.

  • @[email protected]
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    01 year ago

    I wonder how the court would respond to a petition to allow firearms in court rooms. It’s a god-given American freedom, guaranteed by the second amendment right?

    • @[email protected]
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      1 year ago

      It would respond that there are valid reasons not to allow guns in courthouses, which is true.

      As for whether there are good reasons to ban guns in post offices, that’s debatable. There certainly were when sending money was a thing but now, I think I agree with the court now. I wouldn’t strongly disagree with keeping the ban either though.

      • Cosmic Cleric
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        01 year ago

        As for whether there are good reasons to ban guns in post offices, that’s debatable

        All it takes is one guy with a gun that’s pissed off about a lost package.

        • @[email protected]
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          1 year ago

          That’s true literally everywhere. Pissed at cashier at McDonald’s, pissed at a driver on the street, …

          Maybe don’t give guns to people with anger issues.

          • Cosmic Cleric
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            01 year ago

            As for whether there are good reasons to ban guns in post offices, that’s debatable.

            All it takes is one guy with a gun that’s pissed off about a lost package.

            That’s true literally everywhere.

            Yep, including Post Offices.

  • Ricky Rigatoni
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    171 year ago

    I need a gun when I go to the post office to protect myself from the postal workers when they decide to go postal.

      • @[email protected]
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        1 year ago

        Do you think the people who decided to shoot up their place of work would change their mind because the government made guns illegal in their place of work? Like the only reason they’re not comitting to a mass shooting and suicide is because they may get arrested for carrying in a no carry zone? I can’t really see this making going postal any more a thing than it is currently.

    • @[email protected]
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      131 year ago

      Yeah, Florida made itself such a reputation, that when there was an article that the law about financial disclosure of politicians passed it just raised questions “what’s the catch?”. People are not used to seeing anything positive coming from that state.

  • @[email protected]
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    491 year ago

    We should make sure it’s also unconstitutional to block guns at:

    • Courthouses
    • GOP conventions
    • Political rallies
    • NRA conventions
    • @[email protected]
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      161 year ago

      Jesus Christ. Can you imagine families of the defendant and victim along with the jury all being armed when the verdict gets read at a murder trial?

      I’ve been a juror on a murder trial and even with current regulations banning guns, we got armed escorts out the back of the building after the verdict.

    • FauxPseudo
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      61 year ago

      The NRA is not part of the government. The constitution does and should have absolutely zero say in what they can and can not bar from their events.

    • @[email protected]
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      21 year ago

      With the exception of the courthouse, those examples are privately owned locations which can currently not allow firearms to their whim. Courthouse gun-free zones are constitutional and reaffirmed via Bruen.

      The 3 other examples are: Theaters, arenas, public events reserved via permit, etc.

      Depending on the state, any private location can choose to allow firearms and some states have the rule of law in that. In states where disallowing firearms does not have the rule of law, the individual going against the wishes of the location or event can be asked to leave under threat of trespassing as an unwelcomed individual.

      Opening up those locations to firearms would also negate all other laws that ban carry on private property or otherwise public properties reserved by a private party as none would qualify as a constitutional gun-free zone.

  • @[email protected]
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    311 year ago

    This is a ridiculous ruling, but the reason the ban on guns in post offices makes many gun owners so angry is that unlike pretty much any other no-gun zone laws, it includes all of the property, including the parking lot.

    So if a licensed person removes their gun and leaves it in the car so they can go into the post office, they’ve still committed a felony by parking there.

    So instead they’ll park in the street. And if the lot is mostly empty and there’s a car parked in the street in front of the post office, it’s a bright neon sign to thieves that breaking into that car will score them a gun.

    • @[email protected]
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      51 year ago

      That’s common to all federal property though. I’ve literally never been to a federal property that wasn’t posted for no guns anywhere on the property.

      • @[email protected]
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        41 year ago

        Not all. They carved out an exception for National Parks that has the land adopting the rules of the state in which they’re located, with the firearm bans only in place in buildings. They need to do the same with Corps of Engineers parks and post offices.

          • @[email protected]
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            11 year ago

            Wilderness Area is an entirely different designation from a national park. They aren’t administered by the park service but instead by the Forest Service and they don’t typically come with amenities/facilities apart from trailhead parking lots, usually a trail system and sometimes designated campsites and the like. Just FYI. Not that it really matters in this context.

            • @[email protected]
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              11 year ago

              Well yeah, except all of the interior land management agencies have wildernesses they mandate. Park, Forest, BLM, and even Fish and Wildlife.

    • nicetriangle
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      381 year ago

      Turns out there’s a surprisingly simple way to avoid that whole situation…

      • @[email protected]
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        131 year ago

        Some people are required to carry firearms. If your job is armed security, you shouldn’t have a potential felony charge for going to the post office after work and dropping a letter in the night drop with your gun locked in the car.

        Just have federal buildings follow the laws of the states they’re in regarding the definition of premises for firearms. That is - apply it to the buildings, but not to the cars in the parking lot.

          • @[email protected]
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            41 year ago

            What’s a more secure place for a firearm? Unattended in a locker or actively in the possession of the person licensed to have it?

              • @[email protected]
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                21 year ago

                How so? Where do you keep your wallet? How about your keys?

                The most secure place to store something isn’t to leave it unattended. It’s to actively have it on your person.

                • @[email protected]
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                  171 year ago

                  Do you take everything valuable from your house and your car with you from wherever you go? Or do you just lock them up and leave them unattended? Lol

                  The most secure place to keep something is to leave it locked up in a safe place. A person can get robbed…even if they have a gun, lol

                • @[email protected]
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                  101 year ago

                  See you think that. But I don’t think you know the people I know. Even the military locks up guns when they aren’t in use.

                • @[email protected]
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                  171 year ago

                  I don’t take my wallet and keys with me to secure them. I take them with me because there is a good chance I’ll want to use them.

        • e̶t̶t̶y̶b̶l̶a̶t̶a̶n̶t̶
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          1 year ago

          FWIW, the amount of security guardsin Florida is pretty small at 0.4032%. I don’t know the percent of those who carry for work, but the number of cops that carried (all data 20/21/22) was also small at 0.246%. Combined, that gets us to the measurable number of Job Guns at .649% of the population in 21/22.

          The idea that these people’s hindrances should even be acknowledged, let alone come into consideration when making or tossing out laws, is fucking absurd.

    • Phoenixz
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      11 year ago

      Sooooo, you just leave your gun at home since there is no good reason to carry it around everywhere?

      Seriously what’s up with Americans and police? In other countries people trust the police because frankly, they can, but also frankly, because they’re not insane. Yes, insane, because the obsession people have with guns is insane,and the obsession with safety and freedom is insane as well

      • @[email protected]
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        11 year ago

        It’s about consistency of laws. Depending on whether you park in the lot or 15-feet away in the street you’re either compliant with the law or subject to a 10-year prison sentence.

        This is the problem with having an honest discussion about firearms policies. The reason gun owners refuse to work with the other side for some easy wins (universal background checks, expansion of NICS, enforcement of ownership restrictions, etc) is because the anti-gun crowd won’t take a minor victory and jumps straight to the “You’re a fucking crazy redneck” argument instead of talking about realistic solutions and what will be most effective. They let their idea of perfect be the enemy of good, while simultaneously making arguments from a place of profound ignorance regarding firearms, and the laws we do end up with in liberal states ban things like thumb-holes in stocks or require technology that doesn’t exist.

        Straw purchases are still stupidly easy because the political left is frothing about firearms that are used in fewer homicides than blunt objects, a “gun show loophole” that doesn’t even exist (an FFL must still do background checks if selling off-site), and muzzle decides designed to prevent hearing damage from firearms that are still louder than a jackhammer.

        Meanwhile 99-dollar zinc guns designed and used for murder are sold in piles to straw buyers who then sell them to convicted criminals and nothing is done about it.

  • key
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    61 year ago

    When we going to have a law banning possession of weaponry that relies on scientific or engineering knowledge or techniques for which there is no historic evidence of the writers of the 2nd amendment having known of or imagined. Let’s get down with this “historical tradition” muck rolling.

  • @[email protected]
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    1 year ago

    So the reason she used in her ruling is that the law about not having guns in post offices was passed in 1972. Which is pants on head crazy. Under that reasoning it’s not about what powers to regulate there were traditionally. It’s about specific case details, like qualified immunity. The federal government has absolutely maintained an ability to say no guns in sensitive areas from day 1 of the USA. But because they didn’t get around to post offices until 1972, it’s illegal to make guns illegal in post offices.

    Which is not the standard SCOTUS set in Bruen. According to their standard it would be sufficient to prove early Americans would approve of such laws by finding similar laws. Not requiring that they had the same exact law.

  • Phoenixz
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    111 year ago

    I want to open carry an ar15 in an MRI room. If you prohibit that, you are violating my constitutional rights!

    If you say that there are exceptions to those rights the I think we have a crack that we need to rip open juuuuust a little wider.

    • @[email protected]
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      1 year ago

      Get a constitutional ammendment passed then. The crack is defined now and only that can legitimately change it.

    • nicetriangle
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      I love how open carry was banned in California by Republican legislation and the law was signed by fucking none other than conservative golden calf, Ronald Reagan.

      And why? Because the Black Panthers were making white people nervous.

      There’s no moral or logical consistency until you realize everything they do is self serving and any given stance is subject to change whenever convenient.

    • @[email protected]
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      1 year ago

      Last time I checked killing people is still murder in Florida, which is a crime.

      There are many other common everyday items in society that can kill people if misused, yet they are not illegal in the post office.

      Edit: Wow soo many downvotes for simply pointing out the fact that murder is still illegal in Florida.

      • @[email protected]
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        61 year ago

        Downvotes aren’t necessarily disagreements. Sometimes they’re just about helping other people invest their time better.

      • @[email protected]
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        181 year ago

        killing people is still murder in Florida, which is a crime

        No, no, and no. If your are president you can totally murder and it is not a crime unless you are impeached and convicted - heard from a source that is considered reliable in Florida.

        • @[email protected]
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          51 year ago

          That is a very flawed opinion put forth in a court case outside of the state of Florida. Murder is still illegal in Florida.

          • Lightor
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            71 year ago

            I dunno, some people are claiming to have “total immunity.” Big people, important people. Some tell me the most important.

      • @[email protected]
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        101 year ago

        There are many other common everyday items in society that can kill people if misused, yet they are not illegal in the post office.

        Are these other common everyday items purpose built for killing someone?

        • @[email protected]
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          51 year ago

          Yes, Florida is a stand your ground state. We have no legal obligation to flee when attacked. We can fight back and use lethal force if necessary.

            • goferking (he/him)
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              171 year ago

              Those skittles and hoodie were so much more dangerous than any gun.

              Still don’t get how he got off in that case

              • Flying Squid
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                141 year ago

                Trayvon Martin was black and it’s Florida. I think it’s pretty much that simple.

              • @[email protected]
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                71 year ago

                And you don’t see any problem with that, even though he did kill an innocent and unarmed person?

                • @[email protected]
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                  11 year ago

                  The defense established that Trayvon Martin attacked Zimmerman. For that reason the jury acquitted Zimmerman.

                  You can speculate and apply your beliefs to build whatever narrative you are trying to construct. But those are the facts of the case.

              • Lightor
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                31 year ago

                You realize that means he’s found innocent by a bunch of people who think like him. That doesn’t make his logic and people’s acceptance of it ok. Hell back in the day a jury of peers would find a slave guilty for running away.

                • @[email protected]
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                  11 year ago

                  You do realize that the defense and prosecution both have a say in Jury selection.

                  Jury’s also don’t establish law, they just rule on if the defendant violated it.

                  Do you want to reach any further back in time to try and establish a false equivalency? We could debate trial by combat or something.

              • Flying Squid
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                71 year ago

                I see. So OJ Simpson also did not murder his ex-wife and her boyfriend, correct?

                • @[email protected]
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                  31 year ago

                  OJ was acquitted of the charges by a jury of his peers and is considered innocent.

                  The Zimmerman case had a lot more relevant eyewitness evidence as well as an audio recording of the shooting. None of this existed for the OJ trial.

          • Lightor
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            41 year ago

            Yes, if kid runs up and knocks your drink out of your hand, kill that fool! Fight back!

            • @[email protected]
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              11 year ago

              That is quite the story there. Do you win all the internet arguments in your head when you make them up like that?

              Nowhere did I state it was ok to shoot anyone for knocking a drink. I pointed out where stand your ground laws apply and where they did not. Murder is still murder.