The USPS Gun Rule Would End a Century of Federal Firearms Policy With an Administrative Memo

The idea that the USPS, the same organization that delivers birthday cards and Amazon returns, might soon be transporting firearms from one private citizen to another is almost endearing. That was forbidden for ninety-nine years. A 1927 law, enacted in a completely different America, established a strict distinction between long guns and concealable ones. This distinction persisted throughout Prohibition, two world wars, the assault weapons controversy of the 1990s, and the protracted current debate over what the Second Amendment actually protects. Now, an administrative rulemaking process that most Americans are unaware of could make it disappear.

It’s a peculiar mechanism. The Justice Department concluded in a memo published in January that the previous ban was unconstitutional and that Congress could not refuse to ship lawfully owned firearms between law-abiding citizens because it had decided to operate a parcel service. The Postal Service submitted a proposed rule in April based on that legal interpretation. On May 4, public comments ended. Reading the timeline gives the impression that the major work was completed before anyone outside of Washington became aware of it.

The difference is striking when you walk into any small-town post office. The cardboard tubes resting against the wall, the retiree mailing a birthday card to a grandchild, the clerk weighing a package of homemade jam. The proposed rule would apply the same general framework that currently governs unloaded rifles to slot pistols and revolvers in that typical scene. This is just consistency, according to supporters. Critics have a completely different view.

The term “gun trafficking pipeline,” coined by John Feinblatt of Everytown for Gun Safety, is intentional and meant to stick. He expressed concern, as did a group of state attorneys general who filed an opposition, that despite the rule’s limitations, it might actually serve as a workaround for those who shouldn’t be purchasing firearms at all. John Commerford of the NRA-ILA presented it in a different light, claiming that the current ban was arbitrary and that the modification was a win for gun owners who have long objected to being viewed as suspects by their own government.

The proposal’s text makes an attempt to thread the needle. A handgun could be sold and shipped directly within a state. Things become more bizarre when you cross state lines; in theory, you would be mailing the gun to yourself, taking care of someone else, and opening it at the other end. It reads like a piece of legal fiction created to allay worries about interstate commerce, the kind of wording that attorneys will likely have to spend years interpreting.

It’s difficult to ignore how silently everything is moving. A Justice Department reading and a Postal Service filing are unraveling a century-old federal policy that dates back to a time when Congress was concerned about mail-order Saturday night specials. It is genuinely unclear if the rule will survive the inevitable lawsuits. Since Bruen, courts have not consistently ruled on Second Amendment cases, and a number of state attorneys general have already indicated that they believe the underlying statute to be legitimate.

The proposal is currently undergoing review. According to the Postal Service, comments are being read. Unaware that the contents of those boxes might soon appear drastically different, a clerk is moving packages along a conveyor somewhere in a sorting facility.