USPS Proposes Mailing Handguns Rule

The U.S. Postal Service wants to let people mail handguns for the first time since 1927, and the rule is messier than it sounds.

Driving the news: The DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel issued a memo in January declaring the 1927 federal handgun-mailing ban unconstitutional, and recommended USPS rewrite its regulations to match. USPS did exactly that — and went further.

Catch up quick:

• Federal law has barred handgun shipments through USPS since 1927
• Rifles and shotguns are already mailable, but only to people who can legally possess them or to FFLs in other states
• Private carriers (FedEx, UPS) only accept firearms from licensed dealers — who must run background checks on the receiving end

That last point is the one worth sitting with. The current system routes transfers through FFLs not just as a formality — it's the mechanism that requires a background check and creates a paper trail for crime gun tracing. The USPS proposal doesn't replicate any of that.

The fine print: The proposed rule allows unlicensed individuals to mail handguns, rifles, or shotguns to themselves or another person in another state for "lawful activities." No FFL required. No background check on the recipient. No log entry. The phrase "or another person" is doing a lot of work in that sentence.

By the numbers:

• 4,082 gun trafficking investigations by ATF between 2017–2021 where transportation method was identified
• 179 (4.4%) involved private common carriers
• 131 (3.2%) involved the U.S. mail — under the existing, more restrictive system

Reality check: This isn't a win for law-abiding gun owners trying to ship a pistol to themselves before a hunting trip. That's a narrow use case. The real impact is structural: it creates a channel where no background check is required and no record exists. Straw purchasers don't need a sophisticated operation — they need a USPS account and an address.

What Idaho owners should know: Nothing in this rule gives you rights you don't already have. You can transfer firearms through licensed dealers now. What changes is the ability to bypass that system entirely — which, if it goes bad, tends to make life harder for everyone who follows the rules.

What to watch: The proposed rule is in a comment period. It is not final. If you have opinions about it — in either direction — that's the time and place to make them. ATF and Congress will both be watching how USPS responds to public input before any implementation moves forward.

The bottom line: The existing system isn't perfect, but it works because FFLs are the chokepoint. Remove the chokepoint, and you've removed the system.