politics
US Postal Service Ends Public Comment Period on Proposed Handgun Mailing Rule
The United States Postal Service closed public comments on a proposed rule that would permit law-abiding citizens to mail firearms, reversing a 99-year-old ban. The change follows an April Justice Department memo that concluded the restriction violates the Second Amendment. Democratic officials and gun-control groups have opposed the move.
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Los Angeles TimesAudio version
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The United States Postal Service closed public comments Monday on a proposed rule that would allow law-abiding citizens to mail firearms for the first time in nearly a century. The action reverses a ban imposed by Congress in 1927 on shipping concealable handguns.
The Department of Justice issued a memo in April stating that the restriction violates the Second Amendment. Officials cited the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen as they determined the ban lacks sufficient historical precedent.
The memo concluded that the law makes it difficult for citizens to travel with firearms for lawful purposes such as self-defense, target shooting and hunting. It also found the statute interferes with the rights to acquire and maintain arms by imposing barriers on shipping them as articles of commerce.
"We conclude that the restriction imposed by section 1715 violates the Second Amendment. Section 1715 makes it difficult to travel with arms for lawful purposes, including self-defense, target shooting, and hunting," the memo says. Democratic elected officials and organizations opposed to the change have pushed back against the proposed rule.
Opposition from Democratic lawmakers and gun-control advocates has focused on potential safety risks of allowing handguns in the mail stream. When reached for comment on the matter, the Justice Department referred inquiries to the April memo itself.
The agency has not issued additional public statements since the comment period closed. The proposed change would apply only to law-abiding citizens and would maintain existing prohibitions on mailing firearms to prohibited persons or through channels that violate other federal laws.
Implementation would require carriers to follow new screening and packaging protocols. The development marks one of the first concrete regulatory steps following the Justice Department’s legal analysis. Final publication of the rule would formally end the 99-year prohibition and allow compliant mailing of handguns across the United States.
