The Trump Administration, by way of the Workplace of Authorized Counsel (OLC), issued a Memorandum Opinion on January 15, 2026, pertaining to the final ban on the mailing of handguns by use of the Postal Service. The Memorandum declared the federal ban on mailing handguns to be unconstitutional. This was a major step towards restoring rights historically protected by the Second Modification.
Our historical past is filled with well-known figures ordering firearms by mail, from Bat Masterson to President Theodore Roosevelt. In 1927, a federal regulation banning the mailing of handguns went into impact. It’s broadly considered the primary federal firearms regulation.
The Congressional file of the talk exhibits the aim was to forestall black folks from circumventing present state and native handgun bans on the carry of hid weapons by black males.
“Right here we’ve got laid naked the principal trigger for the excessive homicide fee in Memphis–the carrying by coloured folks of a hid lethal weapon, most frequently a pistol. Can we not deal with this case?” – Senator John Ok. Shields (D-TN), 1924
It took time for the act to be handed and grow to be regulation. Senator Shields mentioned the first objective was to forestall black folks from circumventing state and native bans on the possession and carry of hid handguns. This was carried out by way of the interstate transport of handguns. Shields asserted that no law-abiding citizen had any lawful motive to hold a hid weapon. The ban solely affected the postal service. Non-public shippers weren’t banned from transport handguns.
The present regulation proposed by the Postal Service is designed to convey postal rules again into conformity with the Structure, or at the least with the OLC Memorandum’s discovering.
“The proposed revisions develop the scope of mailable firearms in comparison with the prevailing rules by permitting lawful handguns to be mailed below the identical phrases and circumstances as lawful rifles and shotguns. These circumstances proceed to require, amongst different issues, that mailed firearms beunloaded. Moreover, in any other case nonmailable handguns will stay mailable between approved individuals in keeping with Part 1715.”
Handguns shall be included as “Mailable firearms”. For mailing inside a selected state, cargo of handguns shall be required to make use of “Return Service Requested”. Monitoring and signature seize at supply shall be required. For mailing to out-of-state addresses, by these and not using a Federal Firearms License, the next is required:
Out-of-State Mailings by Non-FFL House owners: Non-FFL house owners might mail Mailable Firearms to themselves or one other individual in one other state for lawful actions below the next circumstances.The mailpiece should:
Be addressed to the recipient.
Embrace the “within the care of” endorsement instantly previous the identify of the relevant non permanent custodian.
Be opened by the recipient.
Be mailed utilizing a category of mail, product, or Further Service that gives monitoring and signature seize at supply.
The reform regulation won’t go into impact till the remark interval has lapsed. The remark interval will start on the time of publication within the Federal Register, anticipated on April 2, 2026, and proceed for 30 days. Feedback could be made after the proposed rule is printed. Precisely when the regulation might go into impact shouldn’t be sure presently. If this rule is of curiosity, residents can affect it by way of reasoned arguments submitted by way of feedback on the hyperlink when the remark interval is open.
One of many anticipated outcomes of having the ability to ship handguns by way of the postal service is a drop in the price of ordering handguns remotely, by way of the Web, phone, or by mail. The price of returning handguns to the producer for guarantee service also needs to drop. The price of sending handguns by way of non-postal means has skyrocketed in recent times, together with privateness issues.
The argument over the utility of hid weapons continues to today. These against an armed inhabitants declare that weapons within the fingers of strange residents, particularly handguns, serve no helpful objective. These supporting the reasoning behind the adoption of the Second Modification declare a number of helpful and vital functions. Analysis on the topic is split.
Bans on handguns don’t seem to cut back total murder charges or suicide charges. Handgun bans look like motivated for functions of political energy.
The Second Modification seems clear on the topic. The Supreme Court docket has issued a definitive opinion within the Bruen choice. The Second Modification protects the proper to be armed in public.
About Dean Weingarten:
Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a army officer, was on the College of Wisconsin Pistol Staff for 4 years, and was first licensed to show firearms security in 1973. He taught the Arizona hid carry course for fifteen years till the aim of Constitutional Carry was attained. He has levels in meteorology and mining engineering, and retired from the Division of Protection after a 30 yr profession in Military Analysis, Growth, Testing, and Analysis.
