Federal Judge rules Federal Law Banning Gun Possession in U.S. Post Offices are Unconstitutional
U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle in Florida ruled Friday that a law banning Americans from possessing guns in postal offices is unconstitutional. The case, US v Ayala, involved a postal worker, Emmanuel Ayala who had possessed a firearm a Post Office. The 53 page decision is very strong. “The Supreme Court has been clear: the government must point to historical principles that would permit it to prohibit firearms possession in post offices,” wrote Mizelle, an appointee of former President Donald Trump. Needless to say, the government wasn’t able to point to any historical examples of this.
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.” Gov’t Suppl. Br. at 4. Despite the opportunity to present supplemental briefing, the United States fails to point to sufficient historical evidence supporting § 930(a)’s application here. See id . at 15–16 (providing only two paragraphs listing potential historical analogues without any analysis of how they are relevantly similar).
As we have pointed out before, Democrat judges seem to consistently find gun control laws constitutional and Republicans are more likely to find them unconstitutional. Fortunately, for those who support the right to self-defense, Florida is in the Eleventh Federal Circuit, where Republican judges currently hold a 7 to 5 advantage over Democrat judges, with six of the seven Republicans being nominated by Trump. Judge Mizelle is a member of the Federalist Society.
