In a major development for Second Amendment rights, the U.S. Department of Justice has formally acknowledged that one of the oldest federal gun control laws still on the books violates the Constitution.
On January 15, 2026, the DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) issued a memorandum titled “Constitutionality of 18 U.S.C. § 1715,” concluding that the federal prohibition on mailing handguns through the U.S. Postal Service cannot be enforced against constitutionally protected firearms.
The statute in question dates back to 1927 and provides that:
“Pistols, revolvers, and other firearms capable of being concealed on the person are nonmailable and shall not be deposited in or carried by the mails…
Whoever knowingly deposits for mailing… any pistol, revolver, or firearm declared nonmailable by this section, shall be fined… or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.”
At the time of its enactment, the law effectively barred mail-order handgun sales directly to consumers—decades before the passage of the Gun Control Act of 1968, which now requires retail firearm transfers to go through a Federal Firearms Licensee (FFL).
While later federal law reshaped the firearm marketplace, the USPS handgun mailing ban remained in place, creating persistent and often overlooked burdens for law-abiding gun owners.
A Practical Barrier to Lawful Gun Ownership
Under current USPS regulations, handgun owners cannot use the mail to ship firearms to themselves during a move, send a handgun ahead for a hunting trip or competition, or mail a firearm to a manufacturer or gunsmith for repair or modification.
This restriction has grown increasingly problematic as private shipping carriers have sharply curtailed firearm shipments from non-FFLs. UPS now accepts firearm shipments only from federally licensed dealers with approved agreements, while FedEx outright prohibits firearm shipments from anyone who does not hold an FFL.
As a result, ordinary gun owners face what is effectively a complete shipping ban on handguns—despite their status as core arms protected by the Second Amendment.
The OLC memo explicitly acknowledged this reality, noting that:
“Major express services currently forbid all persons from shipping firearms, except for some federal firearms licensees that have private shipping agreements. Thus, unlicensed private citizens face a complete ban on shipping concealable firearms, even though handguns are among the core ‘arms’ protected by the Second Amendment.”
Applying the Supreme Court’s Bruen Test
In evaluating the constitutionality of 18 U.S.C. § 1715, the OLC applied the framework established by the Supreme Court in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen (2022), which requires firearm regulations to be consistent with the nation’s historical tradition of gun regulation.
First, the memorandum determined that restricting the shipment of firearms constitutes a direct burden on a protected right. As the OLC explained:
“To frustrate protected arms’ transportability, thereby making it more difficult for citizens to obtain such weapons, constitutes a per se infringement upon the Second Amendment.”
Second, the OLC examined historical precedent and found no tradition supporting a broad prohibition on shipping protected firearms. The memorandum stated plainly:
“We did not find any relevant historical tradition of generally prohibiting the shipment of constitutionally protected arms.”
Having failed both prongs of the Bruen analysis, the statute could not stand.
DOJ Directs USPS to Change Course
Based on these findings, the OLC concluded:
“The Executive Branch may not, consistent with the Constitution, enforce section 1715 with respect to constitutionally protected firearms, and the Postal Service should modify its regulations to conform with the scope of the Second Amendment as described in this opinion.”
If implemented, the directive would remove a long-standing federal obstacle to lawful firearm ownership and transportation—particularly at a time when private carriers have effectively closed their doors to non-licensed gun owners.
What Comes Next
The memorandum marks another significant step by the Trump administration’s DOJ in reevaluating legacy gun laws under modern constitutional standards. However, it also highlights unresolved issues within the Postal Service’s firearm policies.
Gun owners may reasonably ask whether the same Bruen analysis should be applied to USPS regulations banning lawful carry inside post offices open to the public—a question the OLC has not yet addressed.
For now, attention turns to whether the Postal Service will promptly revise its regulations in line with the DOJ’s constitutional guidance.
