Representative Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) recently put forth legislation designed to thwart a Trump administration proposal that could permit the U.S. Postal Service to transport handguns.
The proposed bill, initially shared with The Hill, explicitly forbids the Postal Service from “finalizing, implementing, or enforcing” any current or future regulation that modifies the rules governing firearm shipments. It aims to uphold a longstanding federal prohibition on this practice, which has been in place for nearly a century.
“Citizens of Michigan desire sensible protections that safeguard families and support law enforcement, not irresponsible policies that open new avenues for illicit firearms,” stated Stevens, who is pursuing a Senate seat, in a comment to The Hill. “The last thing we should be doing is facilitating the movement of handguns through the mail.”
The controversial recommendation would broaden the definition of a “mailable firearm,” potentially allowing easily concealable weapons, like pistols and revolvers, to be mailed under the same conditions as long-barreled rifles and shotguns. Currently, these items can be shipped by the Postal Service provided they are unloaded and securely packaged.
This April recommendation followed an opinion issued by the Justice Department several months prior, which posited that a 1927 law prohibiting the mailing of concealable firearms via the Postal Service was unconstitutional.
T. Elliot Gaiser, the assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel, argued in the January opinion that the existing statute infringed upon Second Amendment rights by making it more difficult to “travel with arms for lawful purposes,” such as self-defense, hunting, or target shooting.
He further asserted, “The statute also places significant obstacles on the shipping of constitutionally protected firearms as commercial goods, which impedes citizens’ ancillary rights to acquire and possess arms.”
Last July, a gun-rights advocacy group initiated a lawsuit against the Postal Service, seeking to overturn the ban, claiming the nearly century-old law had “outlived its Prohibition-era origins.”
However, critics of the proposed change contend that relaxing these existing restrictions could create a dangerous loophole, allowing individuals to circumvent background checks and state laws to acquire firearms.
Representative Mike Thompson (D-Calif.), who chairs the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, characterized a potential reversal as “flat out dangerous” in a recent statement. Thompson is co-sponsoring Stevens’s bill, alongside Representative Jill Tokuda (D-Hawaii) and six other Democratic House members.
“Families, postal employees, and law enforcement demand more safety measures, not fewer,” Thompson remarked. “Instead of focusing on reducing costs or safeguarding our democracy, Republicans are yielding to the demands of the gun lobby and reversing popular safety measures at the expense of American lives.”
It is important to note that the proposed rule would not affect private carriers, such as UPS and FedEx, which currently limit firearm shipments exclusively to licensed dealers.
Stevens’s bill is supported by prominent organizations dedicated to combating gun violence across the U.S., including the group led by former Representative Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.), who sustained partial paralysis after being shot in the head during an assassination attempt in 2011.
Vanessa Gonzalez, the vice president of government and political affairs at Giffords, stated, “This endeavor by the Trump Administration would weaken our background check system, endanger USPS [U.S. Postal Service] workers, and complicate gun tracing for violent crimes,” calling it a “recipe for disaster.”
She concluded, “This administration’s objective is to appease the gun lobby and disregard public safety.”
