The U.S. Postal Service is nearing completion of a rule that would allow people to ship handguns through the regular mail, undercutting the oldest federal firearms law in existence and drawing fierce criticism from both sides of the gun debate.
Gun control advocates complained that the proposal would make private sales easier, potentially circumventing background checks. They also worried that more guns in the regular mail means more chances of firearms being lost or stolen.
Second Amendment groups, meanwhile, said the change on handguns is overdue but the Postal Service is still trampling on gun owners’ rights by barring shipment of ammunition and some other firearms that are lawful to own.
“Allowing Americans to ship handguns through the mail is not going to cause the sky to fall,” said Erich Pratt, senior vice president at Gun Owners of America.
Final public comments on the rule change were due this week, and the Postal Service said in a statement that it is reviewing them. The Postal Service gave no hint of when it might issue a final rule.
Officials said the change is a response to a Justice Department opinion this year that the 1927 ban on mailing concealable firearms infringes on American gun rights.
The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, whose opinions are binding within the executive branch, said that under current Supreme Court jurisprudence, gun laws must show they would have been countenanced by those who crafted the Second Amendment at the government’s founding. The nation had no such ban on mailing weapons at that time, and the law is an undue burden, the office concluded.
“We therefore conclude that the statute violates the Second Amendment insofar as it burdens the rights of law-abiding citizens to ship and receive arms in common use for lawful purposes,” Assistant Attorney General T. Elliot Gaiser wrote.
Mr. Gaiser wrote that the Justice Department should not pursue criminal cases involving mailed firearms and that the Postal Service needs to update its rules.
He wrote that the Postal Service could retain its ban on ammunition. Although bullets are constitutionally protected, he wrote, the danger of injury to postal employees justifies a ban on all types of explosives. He wrote that the bans on storing gunpowder at the nation’s founding gave legal backing to a ban on ammunition shipping.
The Postal Service worked with the Office of Legal Counsel to deliver its proposed regulation on April 2.
“The proposed revisions expand the scope of mailable firearms compared to the existing regulations by allowing lawful handguns to be mailed under the same terms and conditions as lawful rifles and shotguns. These conditions continue to require, among other things, that mailed firearms be unloaded,” the regulation said.
The 1927 law, the Mailing of Firearms Act, is considered the first federal law to directly regulate guns. It was enacted in response to growing concern over gangsters’ access to guns and was aimed specifically at firearms that could be easily concealed.
States had been taking the lead in regulations and demanded federal help in stopping the flow of guns across their borders.
“Every police head in America, the District of Columbia is on record against the mails delivering guns indiscriminately,” Clarence Ayres, president of the Civil Arms Commission, told lawmakers.
The legislation also met with objections that sound strikingly familiar to the current debate over guns.
“In New York state, the Sullivan Act has disarmed the law-abiding citizens and it is not perceptible that any criminal has been impeded in the least in his activities,” said Sen. David Reed, Pennsylvania Republican.
The law has always allowed licensed dealers to ship through the mail, but private transfers were barred.
Mr. Pratt said private shippers such as FedEx used to allow handgun shipments but now have a similar policy limiting that to licensed dealers.
Liberal groups have lined up against the Postal Service proposal.
The League of Women Voters worried that voters might feel less safe when casting ballots.
“Any rule change that weakens safeguards on the circulation of firearms undermines the ability of all people to participate fully in civic life,” the league said.
The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence said handguns account for the vast majority of gun crimes and anything that expands access is dangerous. In particular, Brady warned, people in states with lax laws could obtain handguns and then ship them into states with stricter rules.
“The proposed rule provides traffickers with a convenient pathway for moving handguns across state lines that does not expose them to potential law enforcement encounters, and undermines critical state and local gun regulations in the process,” Brady said.
Democratic politicians have criticized the Office of Legal Counsel’s opinion and told the Postal Service that there is no reason to undo the ban.
“If the Postal Service alters its rules consistent with the OLC memo by allowing handguns to be mailed through the Postal Service, criminals will have a significantly easier time evading law enforcement to conduct their illicit activities,” Rep. Maxwell Frost, Florida Democrat, wrote in a letter to Postmaster General David Steiner.
Mr. Frost also worried about guns being stolen from the mail.
Mr. Pratt of Gun Owners of America said the risk of stolen firearms is “a reality of life.” He said the Postal Service tries to combat such theft by requiring packaging to be unlabeled.
He was disappointed that the Postal Service did not allow ammunition in its update.
He said modern ammunition is stable and unlikely to detonate even if exposed to fire. He said FedEx and UPS ship ammunition without any issue, and the Postal Service ships “far more hazardous things — like spray paint, lithium batteries.”
“If I were a mail carrier, I’d much prefer a truck full of ammo than a truck full of beehives,” he said.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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