USPS handgun – The Justice Department says a decades-old USPS ban on mailing concealable firearms violates the Second Amendment, while states push back on safety concerns.
A major shift in how Americans can ship handguns could be on the horizon, as the Trump administration moves to dismantle a near-century-old restriction that bars most people from mailing concealable firearms through the U.S. Postal Service.
The proposal would effectively overturn a federal prohibition enacted in 1927, when Congress sought to curb crime by limiting the public’s ability to mail handguns. In January, the Justice Department revisited that legal basis and concluded the longstanding restriction is unconstitutional.
At the center of the department’s argument is the Second Amendment. The Justice Department said the current USPS rule conflicts with the constitutional right of law-abiding gun owners to mail handguns, under safety requirements already established for rifles and shotguns.
In this context. the Justice Department’s position signals a willingness to treat firearm shipping rules as a constitutional issue rather than a purely administrative policy choice.. That framing could carry practical consequences for gun owners and for enforcement efforts tied to the flow of weapons through the mail.
Meanwhile, the USPS has already advanced a separate but related step.. In April. it proposed a new rule that would allow anyone to mail a concealable firearm. including pistols and revolvers. subject to safeguards intended to reduce risk.. Those protections include requirements that the weapon be unloaded and securely packaged.
The USPS plan also lays out how in-state versus out-of-state mailing would work.. The proposal would permit mailing within state lines, but it would impose tighter restrictions for shipments crossing state boundaries.. According to the report. people could only mail a handgun out of the origin state either to themselves or in the care of another person.
USPS is still gathering public input on the proposal, keeping the proposal in a formal comment stage rather than putting it immediately into effect. That window may become a key battleground as opponents and supporters try to influence how the policy is ultimately shaped.
The proposal has already triggered significant political pushback from multiple state-level leaders.. Democratic attorneys general in more than 20 states criticized the plan. including Nevada. where the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S.. history occurred at the Mandalay Bay hotel in Las Vegas in 2017.
Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford said in a statement that making it easier for criminals and abusers to access firearms would be a “slap in the face” to gun violence survivors and law enforcement.. His concerns reflect a broader theme among critics who worry that expanded access to mailing could complicate efforts to keep firearms out of the wrong hands.
Supporters of the change, by contrast, have welcomed the USPS shift.. The National Rifle Association praised the proposal. while gun safety groups warned it could make illegal firearms harder to track. underscoring the divide over whether the policy’s packaging and handling requirements are enough to prevent misuse.
For policymakers, the unfolding debate now sits at the intersection of constitutional arguments, postal rulemaking, and state-level public safety priorities.. Even as the USPS continues its comment process. the Justice Department’s stance suggests the legal fight over handgun mailing could extend well beyond Washington.
In the end, the outcome may determine not only whether handguns can be mailed under federal rules, but also how responsibility is distributed among federal agencies, state governments, and law enforcement—an issue with implications for both gun owners and victims of gun violence.
DOJ USPS rule handgun mailing Second Amendment federal restriction gun safety groups state attorneys general