Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) on Friday unveiled a bill designed to prevent the U.S. Postal Service from implementing a Trump-administration rule that would permit handguns to be mailed through the agency. The legislation, first obtained by The Hill, would bar USPS from finalizing or enforcing any rule that alters long-standing restrictions on shipping firearms, effectively preserving a nearly century-old federal prohibition.
“Michiganders want common-sense safeguards that protect families and support law enforcement, not reckless policies that create new loopholes for illegal guns,” said Stevens, who is currently running for Senate. “The last thing we should be doing is making it easier for handguns to move through the mail.”
The proposed rule, advanced in April, would expand the definition of “mailable firearm” to include concealable weapons such as pistols and revolvers, allowing them to be shipped under the same conditions as rifles and shotguns—unloaded and securely packaged. Currently, only long guns can be mailed through USPS under those rules.
The move stems from a January opinion by the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, which argued that the 1927 law banning the mailing of concealable firearms is unconstitutional. Assistant Attorney General T. Elliot Gaiser wrote that the statute infringes on Second Amendment rights by making it harder for citizens to “travel with arms for lawful purposes,” including self-defense, hunting, or target shooting. He also noted that the law “imposes significant barriers to shipping constitutionally protected firearms as articles of commerce.”
Gun-rights advocates have pressed for the change, with a lobbying group filing a lawsuit last July to overturn the ban, calling it a relic of the Prohibition era. But critics warn that rolling back the restrictions could create a dangerous loophole, allowing individuals to bypass background checks and state laws.
Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.), chair of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, labeled the potential reversal “flat out dangerous.” Thompson is co-sponsoring Stevens’s bill alongside Rep. Jill Tokuda (D-Hawaii) and six other House Democrats. “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 rule would not affect private carriers like UPS and FedEx, which already limit firearm shipments to licensed dealers. However, Stevens’s bill has drawn support from major gun-violence prevention groups, including the organization founded by former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.), who was severely wounded in a 2011 shooting. Vanessa Gonzalez, vice president of government and political affairs at Giffords, called the Trump administration’s effort a “recipe for disaster,” arguing it would “weaken our background check system, endanger USPS workers, and interfere with gun tracing for violent crimes.” She added, “This administration’s goal is to cozy up to the gun lobby and neglect public safety.”
The legislation arrives amid broader debates over gun policy and federal authority. Meanwhile, other political battles continue, including calls for DNC leadership changes and disputes over cultural legislation in the Smithsonian. Stevens’s bill is expected to face stiff opposition from Republicans and gun-rights groups, but it underscores a key fault line in the ongoing fight over firearms regulation.
