A nearly 100-year-old federal ban on mailing handguns through the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is unconstitutional and cannot be enforced, according to an opinion released Thursday by the Justice Department.
The 15-page opinion concluded that a 1927 law, which made it illegal to use USPS to mail concealable firearms, such as pistols and revolvers, infringes on the Second Amendment.
“Section 1715 makes it difficult to travel with arms for lawful purposes, including self-defense, target shooting, and hunting,” wrote T. Elliot Gaiser, the Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel.
“The statute also imposes significant barriers to shipping constitutionally protected firearms as articles of commerce, which interferes with citizens’ incidental rights to acquire and maintain arms,” the opinion continued.
USPS policy mandates that nonmailable firearms found in the mail stream “must be immediately reported to the United States Postal Inspection Service,” and investigations are then referred to the relevant U.S. Attorney’s Office for prosecution.
