Those who want to send weapons through snail mail may soon have the option, as the U.S. Postal Service considers a proposal to allow people to ship handguns. Doing so has been illegal for nearly a century, and some firearm safety advocates are warning that the proposed change could bring unintended consequences.
‘Bypassing a longstanding law’
Efforts to undo the ban on mailing handguns first came when the Postal Service introduced a rule change “bypassing a longstanding law prohibiting the practice,” said The Trace. It has been illegal to mail concealable firearms like handguns since 1927, though the mailing of long-barreled weapons like rifles and shotguns is allowed if they are properly secured. The new rule would “expand the scope of mailable firearms” by “allowing lawful handguns to be mailed under the same terms and conditions as lawful rifles and shotguns,” according to the text of the rule in the Federal Register.
The push by the Postal Service seemed to come largely at the behest of the Trump administration. The proposal was introduced two months after a Justice Department opinion declared that a ban on handgun mailing was “unconstitutional as applied to constitutionally protected firearms” because it “serves an illegitimate purpose and is inconsistent with the nation’s tradition of firearm regulation.” If the rule passes, it will “allow people to use the Postal Service to mail handguns to each other within the same state without involving a licensed gun dealer,” said The Trace.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.
Latest Videos FromThe Week
The rule would additionally let people “send handguns across state lines as long as they address the package to themselves ‘in the care of’ a resident in the destination state,” said The Trace. It would also lift the prohibition on mailing handguns to out-of-state gun dealers. Gun rights activists lauded the rule, which represents “another key victory for America’s law-abiding gun owners,” John Commerford, the executive director of the NRA Institute for Legislative Action, told the Los Angeles Times.
‘Gun trafficking pipeline’
Some are concerned that allowing handguns to be sent through the mail will increase the chances of gun-related crimes. Passing the rule would turn the Postal Service into a “gun trafficking pipeline” by giving “felons, abusers and straw purchasers a direct line to illegal firearms while stripping law enforcement of the tools they need to prevent and investigate gun crime,” John Feinblatt, the president of the nonprofit Everytown for Gun Safety, said to USA Today.
Others are worried that the rule would make the Postal Service the “only option for handgun owners seeking to mail their firearms,” said The Trace. FedEx and UPS only allow guns to be shipped by licensed dealers, while DHL “prohibits the shipping of firearms altogether.” There are concerns that forcing all handgun owners to go through one channel could instate new problems.
A group of 22 attorneys general from largely Democratic states has sent a letter to the Postal Service urging it not to pass the rule. “This irresponsible loophole blatantly disregards public safety and would create a direct strain on state resources,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement. The rule is likely to be “challenged in court,” Andrew Willinger, an assistant professor of law at Georgia State University, told The Trace, because the 1927 statute “says mailing concealable firearms is prohibited.”
