The Trump administration is pressuring the United States Postal Service to allow people to send concealable handguns in the mail after the Justice Department declared a 99-year-old ban on the practice unconstitutional.
California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta is calling the proposed mail-a-handgun policy a “dangerous loophole” that threatens to weaken state gun control laws and enable weapons trafficking.
Under the proposed change Mentioned by USPS last monthRevolvers and other handguns would be reclassified as mailable firearms and subject to the same rules that currently apply to long-barreled rifles and shotguns – meaning they have to be unloaded and securely packed.
The Golden State is not alone in criticizing the policy proposal. This week, Bonta joined a coalition of 22 attorneys general from predominantly Democratic states who submitted a comment letter to the Postal Service outlining their opposition.
“Once again, the Trump administration is recklessly disregarding the safety of the people it has sworn to serve,” Bonta said in a statement. “We cannot ignore the dangerous consequences of this proposed rule, which could open the door for prohibited individuals to obtain weapons without regard to background checks or state firearms laws.”
USPS said it will review all public comments before finalizing any policy changes.
In 1927 Congress banned the mailing of concealable firearms to members of the public, but in January the Justice Department issued an opinion Sided with the challenge filed by gun rights groups and declared the federal law unconstitutional.
The opinion states, “So long as Congress chooses to run a parcel service, the Second Amendment prevents it from refusing to ship constitutionally protected firearms to law-abiding citizens, even if they are not a licensed manufacturer or dealer.”
Gun rights advocates have appreciated the proposed changesSaying it would enable citizens to more easily ship handguns for repairs, for sport shooting on vacation and when relocating to a new address.
“The Trump administration is delivering another important victory for America’s law-abiding gun owners,” John Comerford, executive director of the NRA Institute for Legislative Action, said in a statement. “For nearly a century, the United States Postal Service has arbitrarily prohibited handguns from being mailed.”
But Bonta and a coalition of state attorneys general in opposition argue that the law restricting the mailing of handguns through USPS is constitutional. They also say the Justice Department, which is part of the executive branch of power, does not have the authority to unilaterally invalidate long-standing federal laws.
They say that allowing people to mail handguns and bypassing the requirement of a licensed seller would make it easier for criminals and domestic abusers to gain access to these weapons illegally. They also argue that it would make it harder for law enforcement to trace handgun movements and solve related crimes.
Under the proposed policy change, people are only allowed to ship a gun to another person within the same state. If they want to ship a gun across state lines, they must send it in the care of another person and then open the package themselves.
However, opponents of the change say there would be no easy way to ensure people are following these rules and various state gun laws when mailing easily concealable handguns.
“Expecting postal workers to navigate complex federal, state and local firearms laws is completely unreasonable and dangerous,” Chris Brown, president of the gun violence prevention group Brady, said in a statement. And under this new system, we will undoubtedly see an increase in firearms trafficking and theft – putting us all at risk.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
