House Democrat introduces bill to block Postal Service from mailing handguns

May 24, 2026 3oliver

House Democrat introduces bill to block Postal Service from mailing handguns

Sophie Brams

Fri, May 22, 2026 at 4:30 PM UTC

3 min read

Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) introduced a bill Friday aimed at blocking a rule proposed by the Trump administration that could allow handguns to be shipped through the U.S. Postal Service.

The bill, which was first shared with The Hill, would prohibit the Postal Service from “finalizing, implementing, or enforcing” any proposed or future rule that changes regulations governing the mailing of firearms and uphold a nearly 100-year-old federal ban on the practice.

“Michiganders want common-sense safeguards that protect families and support law enforcement, not reckless policies that create new loopholes for illegal guns,” Stevens, who is running for Senate, said in a statement to The Hill. “The last thing we should be doing is making it easier for handguns to move through the mail.”

The proposed rule would expand the scope of what is considered a “mailable firearm,” allowing concealable firearms, such as pistols and revolvers, to be shipped through the mail under the same conditions as long-barreled rifles and shotguns. Those items can currently be shipped with the Postal Service if they are unloaded and securely packaged.

The April recommendation came several months after the Justice Department issued an opinion stating that a 1927 law banning the use of the Postal Service to mail concealable firearms was unconstitutional.

T. Elliot Gaiser, the assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel, argued in the January opinion that the current statute infringed on the Second Amendment by making it more difficult to “travel with arms for lawful purposes,” such as self-defense, hunting or target shooting.

“The statute also imposes significant barriers to shipping constitutionally protected firearms as articles of commerce, which interferes with citizens’ incidental rights to acquire and maintain arms,” he wrote.

A gun-rights lobbying group filed a lawsuit last July against the Postal Service seeking to overturn the ban, arguing the century-old law had “outlived its Prohibition-era roots.”

But critics of the proposed rule have argued that rolling back the existing restrictions could create a loophole that enables dangerous individuals to bypass background checks and state laws to obtain guns.

Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.), who chairs the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, called a potential reversal “flat out dangerous” in a statement Thursday. Thompson is co-sponsoring Stevens’s bill, along with Rep. Jill Tokuda (D-Hawaii) and six other Democratic House members.

“Families, postal workers, and law enforcement want more safety measures in place, not fewer,” Thompson said. “Instead of focusing on lowering costs or protecting our democracy, Republicans are carrying out the whims of the gun lobby and reversing popular safety measures at the cost of Americans’ lives.”

The proposed rule would have no impact on private carriers, such as UPS and FedEx, which currently restrict the shipping of firearms to only licensed dealers.

Stevens’s bill has the backing of major groups fighting gun violence across the U.S., including the organization led by former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.), who was left partially paralyzed after being shot in the head during a 2011 assassination attempt.

“This attempt by the Trump Administration would weaken our background check system, endanger USPS [U.S. Postal Service] workers, and interfere with gun tracing for violent crimes,” said Vanessa Gonzalez, the vice president of government and political affairs at Giffords, labeling it a “recipe for disaster.”

“This administration’s goal is to cozy up to the gun lobby and neglect public safety,” she added.

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