Post Office & Handguns

[rwsmith]

Truly

Man has the world changed. Can you imagine how many of our politicians would faint dead-to-the-floor at the suggestion of a bill to allow mail carriers to 'carry'.

Really

 

[turnerriver]

Kevin, I think that might be a S&W rig all the way. Here's a model 02 Off Duty holster made for a 2" model 10.

Regards,
turnerriver

 

[jimmyj]

Hi:
In the 1956-1958 era I was a "Temp Employee" for the U.S. Post Office. Mail Carriers that was assigned "Registered Mail" was issued a sidearm before leaving and when returning the sidearm was turned in. IIRC the sidearms at my Post Office were small .38 revolvers. There was one S&W M1917 .45acp Revolver in a brown left hand flap holster in the Arms Locker. Usually this was the last to be issued as the Carriers didn't like the size or weight of it.
Jimmy

 

[David LaPell]

I don't know about them carrying guns, but there are a couple of female clerks at my local post office that if they ever did a strip tease would make you wet yourself from fright. When they are all working at once it looks like the bar scene from Star Wars.

 

[L Pete]

When I was a kid, in the mid to late 50's, I remember seeing the fellers that delivered the mail to the Post Office were armed with what I remember as large revolvers. They drove in, in a large bob-tailed truck with the days mail deliveries for the Post Master at the small rural Post Office where I lived. I can't swear to it, but I think one had a holstered Colt, and the other had a holstered S & W. Neither wore any type of uniform or had any badge of any sort. Just regular working type fellers wearing guns in a plain bobtail truck marked U. S. Post Office on the side of the door. That was it, but I do also remember a "Night Watchman" walking around wearing a K-frame in a holster with a little tiny badge pinned to his shirt in those days, too. He was as good as a Deputy to us in those days.

 

[44R]

Did the Post Office buy or issue Model 36's? Every so often, it comes up. For example, a model 36 square butt, not a flat latch, struck U.S.P.O. on the parkerized frame.

 

[ColbyBruce]

I saw a uniformed officer with a U. S. Postal Police shoulder patch in a restaurant where I eat breakfast last week. I didn't do a "target glance" at his sidearm but it was some sort of plastic pistol. Unfortunately, the guy looked as though his long time assignment had been protection of interstate transportation of Crispy Creme doughnuts.

Bob

That would be Krispy Kreme, and please do not underestimate the importance of protecting them.

The U.S. Postal Police guard large facilities, such as mail hubs. Many years ago they were called Federal Police, but that sounded too third world so the name was changed. That is what I remember from orientation 27 years ago.

 

[bettis1]

A friend recently gave me a copy of "THE SECRET SERVICE OF THE POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT As Exhibited In The Wonderful Exploits of Special Agents or Inspectors In The Detection, Pursuit, and Capture of Depredators Upon The Mails, With A Complete Description of The Many Means and Complicated Contrivances of the Wily and Unscrupulous to Defraud the Public; also, an Accurate Account of the Famous Star Route Frauds".

It's a large book by P. H. Woodward and published in 1978 by Durst Publications. I haven't had a chance to read it yet but it appears to be an interesting study.

Bob

 

[Texas Star]

I can vouch for the spelling of Krispy Kreme donuts. I'm looking at a box of them purchased this afternoon.

I think Krispy Kreme is the only donut brand mentioned in novels. The late Robert B. Parker mentioned them several times in his Spenser novels.

I never got a response to my question here about customers taking ordinary pocketknives into the post office to mail things or buy stamps.

Someone mentioned Postal Police. I was guarding an office building maybe seven years ago when a postal cop came by asking if I'd seen anyone in the area. Apparently, someone had phoned in a complaint that someone was tampering with a mailbox a couple of blocks away. He was armed, but circumstances were such that I didn't ask with what, and I couldn't see the gun well. Frankly, from the looks of the man, I doubt that he even knew which gun he had.
But he was out on the street, not guarding a hub station.

So: I still want to know if I can carry an ordinary Swiss Army knife in the post oiffice. ???

 

[ColbyBruce]

Texas Star, the officer you saw worked at a plant, or hub. He just got dispatched to check on the complaint rather than send a USPS Inspector. I have met a few of those officers in the past, the last one was eating a Blimpie sandwich, and talking with his mouth full.

As far as toting a Swiss Army knife into a post office, you may do anything you are willing to suffer the consequences for, LOL!! A customer entering the postal facility for business purposes is of course, subject to the law, but we do not have metal detectors nor do we search people. Out of sight, out of mind.

As USPS employees, we have the need for knives to remove plastic wrap and straps from magazines and heat shrink from pallets of parcels. We actually have small knives similar to paring knives and ring knives (rings with hooked blades) for such purposes. I personally carry a Black Hawk switchblade in my pocket, and have for years.

 

[shawn mccarver]

Ordinary mail carriers do not carry revolvers. Post offices used to keep hand guns in the post offices. Postal Inspectors, even today, are Federal LE officers investigating crimes related to the mail. They are armed.

 

[ColbyBruce]

Ordinary mail carriers do not carry revolvers. Post offices used to keep hand guns in the post offices. Postal Inspectors, even today, are Federal LE officers investigating crimes related to the mail. They are armed.

Back when RFD was first established, mail carriers were issued firearms because they were alone in rural, if not even wilderness, type areas. I have a friend who has the Savage .32 semi auto pistol his grandfather was issued as a carrier, he worked about 100 miles southwest from Atlanta.

 

[medxam]

This was a great thread! I learned very much, especially from the sites that were referenced. Thanks to all!

medxam

 

[swilli41]

In the late 50s, early 60s, I worked for the P.O. contractor whose job was to meet the trains that came into Amarillo, TX and transfer mail to the Post Offfice and between depots. The Burlington line (we called it Ft. Worth and Denver) trains had Railway Post Office cars staffed with clerks and yes, they were armed with revolvers tucked away in the hip pocket of their overalls, holster and all. Occasionally, the payroll for Amarillo Air Force Base would come in cash through the mail (some speculated that it was close to a million dollars). I would load it into my truck and one clerk would ride in my cab to the Post Office with his trusty revolver hidden away in his hip pocket. Four Air Police would come to pick it up at the Post Office and they were all armed with .45s and two had Thompson sub machine guns. If one wanted to rob the payroll, hitting my truck would have been the way to go, but probably no one really knew about the opportunity.

 

[Muley Gil]

I was a parttime rural carrier in 2009 for a few months. I carried my automatic Benchmade knife and no one said anything. Of course, my supervisor was former 82nd Airborne and knew I was a former Marine, as well as being a retired LEEO.

 

[bettis1]

I generally carry the same things in the post office that I carry in the grocery store, hardware store, filling station, bank, restaurant...

Bob

 

[radar1972]

My grandfather was a letter carrier from the 1930s until his retirement in the 1950s. Grandma told me once that he routinely packed a small handgun in his pocket but it was a personal gun and not issued.

Same for my father-in-law's father, a letter carrier in rural Alabama from the late 20's through the early 50's. He was not issued a weapon, but routinely carried a personal long gun (either a shotgun or .22 rifle) and brought home quail, rabbit, etc for the supper table.