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Sunday, January 14, 2024

Victory

 U.S. v. Ayala (M.D.Fla. 2024)  I contributed an expert declaration to this case.  USPS worker drove a truck transporting mail from distribution center to post office.  He had a concealed carry permit.  (Florida: that explains it all.)  They put a hidden camera in his truck, saw that he had a pistol in his belly bag and arrested him when he entered the post office.

The decision struck down the federal law that prohibits being armed in a post office: 18 USC § 930(a).  Using Bruen and another argument that I did not imagine ruled that it violated the Second Amendment.  There are no fingerprints from my declaration except possibly:

Furthermore, although I do not disagree that “[t]he government has more flexibility to regulate when it is acting as a proprietor,” id. at 12, that does not mean it can bring criminal charges for conduct that occurs on its property regardless of an individual’s constitutional rights. Applying that principle in any other context reveals its absurdity. Would an indictment for failing to submit to a full body cavity search when showing up at the District of Columbia Department of Motor Vehicles to apply for a learner’s permit pass Fourth Amendment muster? Or could the United States charge the adherent of a non-favored religion with trespass for entering government property without offending the Free Exercise or Establishment Clauses? I think not.

 

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