Des Moines post office shooting renews focus on employee gun ban

A shooting at the main post office in Des Moines, Iowa, is drawing attention to a detail most customers never think about: postal workers themselves are still barred from carrying firearms on the job, even as rules for customers have loosened.

Snapshot

Police say a 39-year-old West Des Moines postal worker shot two female co-workers Thursday in a non-public area of the facility and kept firing as she fled, before being arrested nearby. A male employee was also hurt while trying to escape, though none of the injuries were considered life-threatening. Tom Knighton of Bearing Arms argues the case shows gun-free zone policies failed again, this time among staff rather than the public.

Key points

• The charges: Des Moines police say she faces two counts of attempted murder, two counts of willful injury causing serious injury, and intimidation.
• The victims: Authorities identified those shot as a 45-year-old woman and a 53-year-old woman, with a 55-year-old man injured in a fall; police Sgt. Paul Parizek said all three were in stable condition at a hospital.
• The setting: Witnesses reported hearing 10 to 12 shots on the facility's second floor, an area not open to the public.
• The policy gap: Knighton notes recent rule changes allow lawfully carrying customers into post offices, but postal employees on duty remain barred from carrying, which is exactly where this shooting happened.

Quick take

Knighton's point, tied to the Postal Service's old reputation for workplace violence, is that a sign on the door doesn't stop someone determined to do harm, it just determines who in the room is allowed to be armed. For readers who track service culture and workplace policy as closely as hardware, this case is a reminder that gun-free rules apply unevenly, and the people most restricted aren't always the ones causing the danger.

Read the full story: bearingarms.com