GOA and GOF Challenge Federal Law Prohibiting Mailing of Handguns via USPS 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 15, 2025

Washington, D.C. — Gun Owners of America (GOA) and Gun Owners Foundation (GOF), together with Pennsylvania resident Bonita Shreve have filed a lawsuit against the United States Postal Service, seeking to overturn the Prohibition-era federal ban on the mailing of handguns.  The Complaint alleges that this ban is “inconsistent with Founding-era historical tradition” of firearm regulation.

Since 1927, federal law has denied ordinary Americans the right to utilize the mails to ship the “quintessential self-defense weapon”: handguns.  Yet all the while, the USPS handles handgun shipments on behalf of businesses and government officials every single day.  This ban is as arbitrary and discriminatory as it is violative of the Second Amendment – and its criminal penalties are steep.

Erich Pratt, Senior Vice President of Gun Owners of America, issued the following statement:

“This complaint demonstrates that the federal government’s Prohibition-era ban on mailing handguns violates the Second Amendment.  GOA is proud to stand with its members and supporters to ensure that their constitutional rights are protected, and we are committed to ending all anti-gun ‘rules for me, but not for thee,’ in any form they may take.”

Sam Paredes, on behalf of the board for Gun Owners Foundation, issued the following statement:

“This law was passed in a different time.  Our complaint makes clear that every day this ban remains in effect, it infringes on the rights of law-abiding Americans who are fully entitled to exercise all of their Second Amendment freedoms.  In America, using the Postal Service to mail handguns to other law-abiding individuals should not be a felony.”

GOA spokesmen are available for interviews. Gun Owners of America is a nonprofit grassroots lobbying organization representing over two million members and activists. For more information, visit GOA’s Press Center.