The federal government’s post office gun ban just took another major hit.
In an August 12 legal opinion, the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel concluded that otherwise law-abiding citizens may carry constitutionally protected firearms for self-defense inside post offices that are generally open to the public.
DOJ went even further.
The opinion concludes that the Postal Service’s separate firearms regulation is unlawful as applied to those citizens — and that the Executive Branch may not enforce the ban against them.
That is a major victory for gun owners.
And it confirms what Texas Gun Rights has said from the beginning:
The Second Amendment does not stop at the post office door.
DOJ Has Gone From Retreat to Reversal
Texas Gun Rights reported last month that DOJ was abandoning its appeal in the federal lawsuit challenging the post office carry ban.
But the underlying federal statute and Postal Service regulation remained in place.
Now DOJ’s own lawyers have addressed that problem directly.
At issue is 18 U.S.C. § 930, which generally restricts firearms in federal facilities but exempts the “lawful carrying” of firearms incident to hunting or another lawful purpose.
According to OLC, lawful self-defense qualifies.
That means an otherwise law-abiding citizen who lawfully carries a firearm for self-defense and enters a post office open to the public falls within the statutory exception.
Post Offices Are Not Automatically “Sensitive Places”
The opinion also rejects the idea that every government-owned building can automatically be treated as a Second Amendment-free zone.
Under the Supreme Court’s Bruen decision, the government must justify firearm restrictions through the Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.
DOJ’s review found no longstanding American tradition of disarming citizens simply because they entered a post office.
In fact, the Postal Service’s specific prohibition on firearms at post offices did not appear until 1972.
That is not Founding-era history.
It is modern gun control.
The Postal Service Cannot Override Congress
The current Postal Service regulation, 39 C.F.R. § 232.1(l), broadly prohibits firearms on postal property except for official purposes.
But OLC concluded that the agency cannot use its regulatory authority to override the exception Congress wrote into federal law.
The Postal Service does not get to rewrite federal law by regulation.
And it does not get to treat peaceful citizens exercising the right to self-defense like criminals simply because they walked through the door to buy stamps or mail a package.
The Opinion Has Limits
The opinion applies to post offices that are generally open to the public.
It does not announce the same rule for every federal facility or for restricted postal locations closed to the general public. And it does not protect firearm possession or carrying that is otherwise unlawful under state or federal law.
But for law-abiding gun owners using ordinary public post offices, DOJ’s conclusion is clear:
The federal government cannot treat lawful self-defense carry as a crime.
Now Finish the Job
This opinion is a major step forward — but the fight is not finished.
Former Texas Gun Rights Chairman Barry Arrington now leads DOJ’s Second Amendment Section, while NAGR founder David Warrington currently serves as White House Counsel. Warrington remains in that position through the end of August, with Will Scharf set to take over September 1.
That does not prove who drove this particular decision. But the change in direction is hard to miss.
Now is the time to press the advantage, bring Postal Service regulations into line with the law, and make sure a future administration cannot revive the same failed gun-control policy.
The Second Amendment does not stop at the post office door. Help Texas Gun Rights keep the pressure on Washington until this gun-free-zone policy is gone for good — chip in today.
