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Colorado Couple Sues U.S. Post Office Over Gun Ban

AVON, Colo. (CBS4) - An Avon couple says the U.S. Postal Service's ban on guns is keeping them from getting their mail and they have filed a federal lawsuit that's moving forward in court.

The couple says the ban violates their Second Amendment rights.

While the case began in the small town of Avon, the outcome of the lawsuit will certainly have federal implications.

It started with a gun advocacy group looking for someone just like Tab Bonidy. Since the Postal Service doesn't deliver mail to homes or businesses in mountain towns, he must go to a P.O. box to pick it up. But a federal law says he can't do that with his gun.

"How I deal with it; one of my guys actually goes and picks up our mail," Bonidy said.

The law says guns can't be taken inside or left in a car that's on Postal Service property. Bonidy, who says he has a concealed carry license, feels it is a blatant violation of the Second Amendment and his right to bear arms.

"We carry a gun wherever we are, essentially. So why would we want to limit ourselves to not being able to carry it at the post office?" he said.

The Postal Service said it can't comment on any pending litigation, but it also said it doesn't believe it's different than any other federal building that doesn't allow firearms.

Several Avon residents, who didn't want to be identified, said it was obviously a sensitive subject. Some did believe it was a Second Amendment violation, but with thousands of people frequenting the post office all day, some didn't want fellow patrons mixing mail pickups with guns.

"If you look at it in retrospect, the post office has probably had more cases of violence than other places," Bonidy said.

The case has been going on for a few years. Recently a federal judge in Denver threw out the Postal Service's argument that the case should be dropped.

Attorneys for Bonidy say the law has never been challenged before and hope to have it overturned.

The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld similar gun bans in sensitive places. The case is expected to wrap up in a year.

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