Bonidy v. United States Postal Svc., No. 13-1374 (10th Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CasePlaintiff Tab Bonidy lived in a rural area near Avon, Colorado. He was granted a concealed carry permit under Colorado law and regularly carried a handgun for self-defense. Avon’s post office did not deliver mail to residents’ homes; instead, it provided mailboxes in the post office building, and residents had to travel there to collect their mail. The post office lobby, where residents’ mailboxes are located, is open to the public at all times. The post office did not regularly employ security officers. Bonidy sued the United States Postal Service (USPS) challenging 39 C.F.R. section 232.1(l) (“the regulation”), which prohibited the storage and carriage of firearms on USPS property. Bonidy claims the regulation is unconstitutional as applied to him because it violated his Second Amendment right to (1) bring his gun into the USPS building in Avon; and (2) to store the gun in the post office parking lot while he picked up his mail. The district court ruled, on cross-motions for summary judgment, that the regulation was constitutional insofar as it prohibited guns in the building, but unconstitutional insofar as it prohibited guns in the parking lot. Both sides appealed. After review, the Tenth Circuit concluded that the regulation was constitutional as to all USPS property at issue in this case, including the parking lot, because the Second Amendment right to bear arms has not been extended to “government buildings.” Alternatively, even if the Court concluded that the parking lot did not qualify as a “government building,” the Court stated it would uphold this regulation as constitutional as applied to the parking lot under independent intermediate scrutiny.
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