Postal workers have some stories, I’m sure. While most are in trucks now, rather than on foot like in the old days, they may still encounter creepy crawlies or other odd things in mailboxes. However, a postal worker in Cincinnati recently found something a bit different.

A handgun found in a mailbox is believed to be a community gun, according to Cincinnati police.

“They leave them there knowing that the next guy behind them may use that gun,” Lt. Col. Paul Neudigate of the Cincinnati Police Department said. “They are almost always found in those challenged areas where we do have an increase in violent crime unfortunately.”

The 9 mm handgun was located by a U.S. postal worker in a mailbox near an apartment complex off Colerain Avenue in Mt. Airy.

The postal worker called police and District 5 officers responded to recover the gun.

“Anybody that lived in that complex that’s involved in criminal activity probably had a good idea that that gun was there,” Neudigate said. “Much like we do with every gun that comes into our possession, we test-fire it. We enter those fire cartridge casings into NIBIN, the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network, and much like we espouse and suspect, all those guns are involved in multiple offenses and this one was no different.”

Seems an odd place for storing a firearm for community use, especially since you know a government worker will likely open it up regularly, but it’s not like some of the folks who implement these schemes are particularly bright, to begin with.

However, it’s also yet another example of how criminals will get their hands on guns.

These “community firearms” mean only one person needs to secure a firearm, then leave it where anyone else who feels the need can get their hands on it as well. That means potentially dozens of criminals had access to a single firearm. Even if you somehow managed to make it virtually impossible for criminals to get guns, all it takes is a single one falling through the cracks and ending up in the wrong hands.

Since those laws aimed at disarming criminals would also disarm countless law-abiding citizens, people who won’t have access to any community guns, we can now see the reason so many gun rights advocates absolutely refuse to budge on new gun regulations. We know it won’t impact crime in any way, only on our ability to respond to criminal acts against us.

All it takes is one firearm, just one, in criminal hands and an entire community can find themselves in terror if they don’t have the means to fight back.

We’re Americans. We don’t really do “docile” and “compliant” when it comes to tyrants, and criminals who often terrorize communities are nothing if not tyrants. Because of this, the good and righteous need the tools necessary to strike down the wicked, something that will let them smite the evil in their midst.

Absent the power to summon the Almighty Hand of God at will, the most effective means to do that is a firearm.

Only we don’t need to stash ours in a mailbox.