Mail-a-handgun: Trump administration pushes to allow firearms to be delivered by USPS
The Trump administration is pushing the U.S. Postal Service to allow people to send concealable handguns through the mail after the Justice Department declared a 99-year-old ban on the practice unconstitutional.
California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta calls the proposed handgun shipping policy a “dangerous loophole” that threatens to undermine state gun control laws and enable gun trafficking.
Under the change proposed by the USPS last month, revolvers and other handguns would be reclassified as mailable firearms and subject to the same rules that currently apply to long-barreled rifles and shotguns, namely that they are shipped unloaded and securely packaged.
The Golden State is not alone in rejecting the policy proposal. This week, Bonta joined a coalition of 22 mostly Democratic state attorneys general, submitting a comment letter to the Postal Service outlining their opposition.
“Once again, the Trump administration is recklessly neglecting the safety of the people it is sworn to serve,” Bonta said in a statement. “We cannot ignore the dangerous consequences of this proposed rule, which could open the door for prohibited individuals to obtain weapons without background checks or compliance with state gun laws.”
The USPS said it will consider all public comments before finalizing any policy changes.
Congress banned members of the public from sending concealable firearms through the mail in 1927, but in January the Justice Department issued an opinion siding with a challenge filed by gun rights groups and declared the federal law unconstitutional.
“As long as Congress chooses to operate a package service, the Second Amendment prevents it from refusing to ship constitutionally protected firearms to and from law-abiding citizens, even if they are not licensed manufacturers or dealers,” the opinion states.
Gun rights advocates welcomed the proposed change, saying it will make it easier for citizens to ship handguns for repair, for sports shooting on vacation and when moving to a new address.
“The Trump administration delivers another key victory for law-abiding American gun owners,” John Commerford, executive director of the NRA’s Legislative Action Institute, said in a statement. “For nearly a century, the United States Postal Service has arbitrarily blocked the shipment of handguns. »
But Bonta and the coalition of opposing state attorneys general argue that the law restricting the shipment of handguns through the USPS is constitutional. They also argue that the Justice Department, which is part of the executive branch, does not have the authority to unilaterally invalidate a long-standing federal law.
They say that by allowing people to ship handguns and bypassing the need for a licensed seller, it will be easier for criminals and domestic abusers to illegally access these guns. They also argue it will make it more difficult for law enforcement to trace the movement of handguns and solve related crimes.
Under the proposed policy change, people are only allowed to ship a gun to another person in the same state. If they want to ship a firearm across state lines, they must ship it in the custody of another person and then open the package themselves.
Opponents of the change, however, say there won’t be a simple way to ensure people follow those rules, as well as various state gun laws, when shipping easily concealable handguns.
“It is categorically unfair and downright dangerous to expect postal workers to interfere with complex federal, state and local gun laws,” Kris Brown, president of the gun violence prevention group Brady, said in a statement, “and with this new system, we will undoubtedly see an increase in gun trafficking and theft, putting us all at risk.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
