Post Office Proposing Rule to Allow Americans to Mail Handguns

On April 2, 2026, the U.S. Postal Service will post a proposed rule revising “mailing standards for firearms” to allow “lawful handguns to be mailed” in a manner similar to long guns and shotguns.

On January 15, 2026, Breitbart News reported the DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) issued an opinion indicating a ban against mailing handguns violates the Second Amendment.

Today, the Postal Service made clear their pending proposed rule is an attempt to comply with the OLC’s opinion:

On January 15, 2026, the OLC at the Department of Justice issued a Memorandum Opinion for the Attorney General concluding that Section 1715 of title 18 U.S. Code “is unconstitutional as applied to constitutionally protected firearms, including handguns, because it serves an illegitimate purpose and is inconsistent with the Nation’s tradition of firearm regulation.” Constitutionality of 18 U.S.C. § 1715…OLC further concluded that the “Postal Service should modify its regulations to conform with the scope of the Second Amendment as described in [the OLC] opinion.”

…The Postal Service defers to OLC’s judgment as to the lawful scope of this criminal statute and worked in consultation with OLC to develop the proposed revisions to our mailability regulations…The proposed revisions expand the scope of mailable firearms compared to the existing regulations by allowing lawful handguns to be mailed under the same terms and conditions as lawful rifles and shotguns.

The Postal Service will accept comments on the proposed rule change for 30 days after it is published.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He holds a PhD in Military History with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. He enjoys reading Philosophy and novels by Jack Carr and Nelson DeMille. Follow him on X: @awrhawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.