The Moms Demand Action Facebook post speaks for itself:

Under the image, they wrote the caption:

Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America

CALL TO ACTION: A bill meant to address stamp prices has been hijacked by Sen. Rand Paul, who added an amendment that would allow guns inside local post offices. Sadly, we already know guns and post offices don’t mix, but this amendment could also encourage a total reversal of the ban on guns inside federal buildings: http://tinyurl.com/koys99h The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee could vote tomorrow on whether to include Sen. Paul’s amendment in the bill. Please tell every Committee member TODAY to vote down the Paul amendment – go here for their names and contact info: http://www.hsgac.senate.gov/about. And Tweet using the hashtag #DontGoPostal

Wow.

Moms Demand Action is of course free to have their opinion on the Paul Amendment, and given their prohibitionist leanings, it isn’t remotely surprising that they are against any expansion of concealed carry laws.

What is surprising is language attacking postal workers themselves, including the text on the image “History confirms. Guns, post offices and anger don’t mix,” the caption commentary, “we already know that guns and post offices don’t mix,” and the offensive hashtag #DontGoPostal.

“Going Postal” was a phrase that arose in 1986 after US Postal Service relief carrier Patrick Sherrill went on deadly shooting spree in Edmond, Oklahoma, killing 14 and wounding 6 others before committing suicide. Other events in 1991, 1993, and 2006 cemented the phrase in the culture as urban slang.

Unfortunately for the Moms Demand narrative, Columbia University report concluded the going postal is a myth (PDF):

“Going postal” is a myth, a bad rap. Postal workers are no more likely to physically assault, sexually harass, or verbally abuse their coworkers than employees in the national workforce.

Postal employees are only a third as likely as those in the national workforce to be victims of homicide at work.

The level of violence throughout the American workplace is unacceptably high: last year, one in twenty workers was physically assaulted, one in six was sexually harassed, and one in three was verbally abused. We hope that this report will help achieve your goal of making the Postal Service the gold standard for safe and secure workplaces for all American workers and that it will be of use to other public and private employers as well.

It is perhaps worth noting that the majority of these shootings were conducted by former employees, or employees (such as Sherrill) that feared being let go for substandard performance, not normal, average postal employees. Retail workers are far more likely to carry out workplace shootings, followed by public administration workers which includes law enforcement.

Adding to the slight against the Postal Service by Moms Demand is that it isn’t even relevant to the Paul amendment to which they are opposed; Paul’s amendment merely reverses a relatively new policy that affects customers, not postal service workers.

With the backing of gun-rights and constitutional groups, the Republican senator on Wednesday plans to push an amendment to the U.S. Post Office reform bill that would remove the ban. “It would allow the carrying of firearms subject to state law on federal post office lands,” said a Paul associate. “Gun groups support it; we expect it to pass.” If passed, it would simply allow gun owners already approved to carry weapons to do so inside the post office — and save them the hassle of unholstering and locking their gun in their car. A few years ago, lawmakers approved a ban on guns in federal buildings and postal officials decided to join in, barring weapons from their grounds.

Senator Paul’s amendment would simply reinstate the long-standing pre-existing policy for postal service customers.

Moms Demand Action’s attack on U.S. Postal Service workers is entirely gratuitous, emotional, irrelevant, spiteful, and insensitive.

Bearing Arms has contacted the American Postal Workers Union (APWU), an AFL-CIO affiliate for comment about this attack against postal workers, and will update this story when they respond.