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 (USPS), 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 handguns, the “quintessential self-defense weapon” as described in the Heller decision. Yet all the while, the USPS handles handgun shipments on behalf of businesses and government officials every single day.
Erich Pratt, senior vice president of Gun Owners of America, said, “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, said, “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.”
According to the complaint, the penalties for trying to mail guns is severe. Violators of this general prohibition “shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.” A violation constitutes a Class E felony,
punishable by fine of up to $250,000 for individuals.
In other words, a GOA release said, it is a felony for ordinary Americans to use the mail to transport the “the most popular weapon chosen by Americans for self-defense in the home,” as described in Heller.
The case was filed July 14, 2025 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania based in Johnstown. It’s called Shreve v. U.S. Postal Service and names officials Doug Tulino, U.S. Postmaster General; and Gary Barksdale, Chief Postal Inspector; and the U.S. Department Of Justice as defendants.
The named plaintiff, Bonita Shreve, lives in Blair County Pennsylvania and is a member of Gun Owners of America. She wants to mail a Bersa Thunder handgun to her father in Lebanon County in eastern Pennsylvania, with all the needed legalities. But “private common carriers such as UPS and FedEx prevent her from shipping the handgun using those services,” the complaint states.
As background, the complaint notes that since 1927, federal law has generally prohibited the mailing of handguns using the U.S. Postal Service.3 The relevant statute reads, “Pistols, revolvers, and other firearms capable of being concealed on the person are nonmailable and shall not be deposited in or carried by the mails or delivered by any officer or employee of the Postal Service. Notably, FFLs are exempt from the statute’s prohibition. Thus, Defendant USPS currently handles untold numbers of handguns and other concealable weapons throughout its shipping network on behalf of commercial shippers. Only ordinary Americans are excluded from this service — although they curiously remain free to ship long guns like rifles and shotguns.”