My question is, who the heck actually goes to a Post Office anymore?
That may be a valid question in Fort Worth, Sigman, but I will assure you that it is not where I live well out in the boondocks in this part of Texas. I and everyone else living on the beautiful Bolivar Peninsula receive no mail deliveries by the USPS -- neither to homes nor businesses. ("Businesses" here means one decent-sized country grocery store and several watering holes).
I will assume that the reason for this is that our homes have to be on pilings of adequate height to put our first floor 16 feet above water level. "Water level" here is the beach I see out my window.
I and my lady must do essentially all our shopping other than for groceries on the Internet, which causes some severe problems as to what we should use for a shipping address -- our Post Office Box or our physical address? Commercial delivery services such as UPS, DHL and FedEx do deliver to our home.
One has to be in our position before one realizes how many vendors' web sites do not advise the mode of shipment. Some, but not many, leave a space on their web site for comments. Even after using the telephone sometimes we have to just cross our fingers and hope for the best. Amazon.com, for example, is one of the worst. They assert on the phone that they have no idea in advance which mode will be used; it's up to some guy downstairs at the end of the chain in the delivery room.
But I stray from the topic. Our situation vis-a-vis the Post Office raises an interesting, but real, subset of the question which started this thread.
(Bear with me and let us assume, for the moment, despite the sea-lawyering we have sometimes seen on this thread, that it is indeed unlawful for me to walk into a U. S. Post Office carrying a concealed handgun pursuant to my valid Texas CHL, and bear with me further and let us also assume that if something is unlawful, it is unlawful, whether you are caught at it or not).
My darling wife has instructed me to stop at the Post Office and pick up her latest pile of catalogues on my way home from our one grocery store. I am armed, as is usually the case.
Given our assumption (and my personal belief) that I cannot
lawfully carry my firearm into the Post Office, what then is my alternative, if any? Perhaps another Texican might help me with my dilemma.
In order to remain in compliance with both federal and state law,
a. Can I leave my firearm in my car in the Post Office parking lot?
b. ... in plain view in the car?
c. ... locked in the glove compartment?
d. ... locked in the trunk?
Or must I go straight home from the grocery store, disarm, and then return to the Post Office?
Is there another alternative?
If this question is easy, let's complicate it a bit, and put my wife in the car, and assume that she does not have a CHL, although she in fact does. Can I leave my handgun with her in the car while I go into the Post Office, whether locked up or not, without leaving her in violation of the law, either federal or state?
Before giving me your advice, I will remind you of the ground rules I have expressed, including that I must, given our assumptions, remain in compliance with both federal and state law.
Should there be any thoughts to the contrary, this is not a hypothetical question intended to highjack a thread. It is a real question I face probably five days a week.
And thus endeth the exam,
Jim
