That phrase isn't defined, so the courts will look to common usage in the law. If there is no case law defining "official purposes," then the courts will look to common usage in the English language. I have no idea if "official purposes" has any history in case law, but my guess is that it applies to armed people (LEOs) on postal property for specifically for law enforcement purposes. Technically, this would not include a COP stopping to check his PO box, or to purchase stamps, but it would include a COP or postal inspector on the premises to investigate a crime, or to write a ticket in the post office parking lot.llwatson wrote:Charles,Charles L. Cotton wrote:The "notwithstanding . . ." language is intended to nullify any other statute or rule that would allow the carrying of a firearm on postal property. Similar language is used in legislation when the goal is to make sure there isn't some other statute that would impact the application of a particular law. The “notwithstanding� language is primarily used in areas that are subject to many different statutory provisions and amending all of them would be burdensome, or the chance of missing one is significant, thus defeating the purpose of the legislation.seamusTX wrote:I have no idea what this means.(l) Weapons and explosives . Notwithstanding the provisions of any other law, rule or regulation, no person while on postal property may carry firearms, other dangerous or deadly weapons, or explosives, either openly or concealed, or store the same on postal property, except for official purposes.
- Jim
Chas.
Could you explain to us what "official purposes" means?
Someone apparently pushed the issue about “other lawful purposes� in the United States Code and the Postal Service took steps to make it clear that “other lawful purposes� doesn’t include a CHL being armed on post office property. That said, I don’t know if this new CFR provision accomplishes that goal, as I haven’t looked at the enabling statutes (18 U.S.C. 13, 3061; 21 U.S.C. 802, 844; or 39 U.S.C. 401, 403(b)(3), 404(a)(7), 1201(2)) to see if the new CFR provision exceeds that authority or not.
Chas.