USPS Moves to Allow Mailing Handguns
After DOJ Says Federal Ban Is Unconstitutional

The Trump Administration via the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) issued a Memorandum Opinion on January 15, 2026, pertaining to the general 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 significant step to restore rights traditionally protected by the Second Amendment.

Our history is full of famous figures ordering firearms by mail, from Bat Masterson to President Theodore Roosevelt. In 1927 a federal law banning the sending of handguns through the mail was put into effect. It is widely regarded as the first federal firearms law. The Congressional record of the debate shows the purpose was to prevent black people from circumventing existing state and local handgun bans on the carry of concealed weapons by black men. The Congressional record of the debate was found by esteemed historian Clayton Cramer. From the debate:

Here we have laid bare the principal cause for the high murder rate in Memphis--the carrying by colored people of a concealed deadly weapon, most often a pistol. Can we not cope with this situation?

The quote above is from Senator Shields (D-TN), in 1924. It took time for the act to be passed and become law. …