Three anti-gun attorneys general from New York, New Jersey, and Delaware are leaping into the fray to defend a dusty federal relic: the longstanding U.S. Postal Service ban on mailing handguns. With the U.S. Postal Service itself recently throwing in the towel on the fight—citing a lack of resources—these blue-state enforcers are picking up the torch to preserve 18 U.S.C. § 1716, a Depression-era prohibition that’s long treated handguns like contraband unfit for Uncle Sam’s mail trucks. This comes hot on the heels of a federal appeals court greenlighting a challenge from the Firearms Policy Coalition, which argues the ban is an unconstitutional overreach in our modern world of FFL transfers and interstate commerce.
Digging deeper, this isn’t just bureaucratic housekeeping; it’s a masterclass in how gun-control zealots cling to outdated restrictions amid a Supreme Court that’s increasingly skeptical of such nonsense post-Bruen. Picture this: law-abiding citizens in rural America, far from the nearest FFL dealer, can’t ship a heirloom pistol via USPS for a legal transfer, while rifles and shotguns sail through just fine. The AGs’ intervention reeks of desperation to block a commonsense reform that would streamline 2A rights without compromising safety—after all, USPS already handles serialized long guns with background checks intact. It’s the same playbook we’ve seen in mag-ban battles: prop up arbitrary lines drawn from a bygone era when Tommy guns were the panic du jour, not ghost guns or whatever the media’s flavor-of-the-month boogeyman is.
For the 2A community, the implications are electric—this could crack open the door to modernizing federal shipping rules, making compliance easier for collectors, inheritors, and everyday carriers. If the courts side with FPC, expect a ripple effect challenging similar patchwork bans at FedEx or UPS, turbocharging the right to keep and bear arms across state lines. But with these AGs digging in, it’s a stark reminder: the war on convenient gun ownership rages on, one postage stamp at a time. Stay vigilant, patriots—your next court filing might just mail in the win.
