In a seismic shift for Second Amendment advocates, the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel has just dropped a bombshell memorandum declaring 18 U.S.C. § 1715—the federal law banning the mailing of concealable firearms like handguns—unconstitutional when applied to arms protected by the Second Amendment. This isn’t some obscure ruling buried in legalese; it’s a direct application of the Supreme Court’s landmark Bruen decision from 2022, which demanded that gun laws be rooted in the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation. For decades, this postal prohibition has hamstrung law-abiding citizens, FFL dealers, and even heirs trying to transfer handguns across state lines without jumping through expensive, cumbersome shipping hoops via UPS or FedEx. The OLC’s opinion cuts through that nonsense, affirming that handguns are arms in the constitutional sense and that blanket mailing bans lack any historical analogue from the Founding era.
What makes this so deliciously disruptive? Bruen flipped the script on gun control challenges, rejecting the old interest-balancing tests that let judges play legislator. Now, with this DOJ memo, we’re seeing the feds themselves concede that point—handguns aren’t dangerous and unusual weapons like sawed-off shotguns; they’re the quintessential self-defense tools carried by Founding Fathers and frontiersmen alike. Historically, the postal service in the 18th and 19th centuries freely carried pistols and revolvers without batting an eye, as evidenced by period records of mail-order arms shipments. This ruling doesn’t just invalidate the law as applied to handguns; it signals a broader unraveling of outdated federal restrictions, potentially paving the way for USPS to resume handling them nationwide, slashing costs for rural gun owners and small businesses.
For the 2A community, the implications are electric: expect a flood of lawsuits dismantling similar anachronistic barriers, from interstate transport rules to state-level mailing bans. This is Bruen’s real-world muscle-flex, proving the Court didn’t just talk a big game—it handed us the tools to rebuild a freer America. Gun rights groups should pounce, pushing ATF guidance and congressional repeal, while everyday carriers celebrate one less hurdle in exercising their rights. The deep state gun-grabbers are on notice: history is on our side, and the mailman’s coming for ’em.
