Title 18 — Crimes and Criminal ProcedureRelease 119-73
§1715 Firearms as nonmailable; regulations
Title 18 › Part PART I— - CRIMES › Chapter CHAPTER 83— - POSTAL SERVICE › § 1715
Summary
Pistols, revolvers, and other guns that can be hidden on a person cannot be mailed. The Postal Service may allow mailing them under its rules only to certain people for official duty — for example military officers, National Guard or state militia officers, officers who serve warrants or commitments, Postal employees, federal or state law-enforcement officers, and watchmen guarding government property — and it may allow manufacturers and bona fide dealers to send guns to each other in normal trade shipments, including for repairs or parts. Anyone who knowingly mails or causes to be mailed such a firearm can be fined under federal law, jailed for up to two years, or both.
Full Legal Text
Title 18, §1715
Crimes and Criminal Procedure — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
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. Such articles may be conveyed in the mails, under such regulations as the Postal Service shall prescribe, for use in connection with their official duty, to officers of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, Space Force, or Organized Reserve Corps; to officers of the National Guard or Militia of a State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District; to officers of the United States or of a State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District whose official duty is to serve warrants of arrest or commitments; to employees of the Postal Service; to officers and employees of enforcement agencies of the United States; and to watchmen engaged in guarding the property of the United States, a State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District. Such articles also may be conveyed in the mails to manufacturers of firearms or bona fide dealers therein in customary trade shipments, including such articles for repairs or replacement of parts, from one to the other, under such regulations as the Postal Service shall prescribe. Whoever knowingly deposits for mailing or delivery, or knowingly causes to be delivered by mail according to the direction thereon, or at any place to which it is directed to be delivered by the person to whom it is addressed, any pistol, revolver, or firearm declared nonmailable by this section, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Historical and Revision Notes
1948 ActBased on title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed., § 361 (Feb. 8, 1927, ch. 75, § 1, 44 Stat. 1059;
May 15, 1939, ch. 134, 53 Stat. 744; Mar. 7, 1942, ch. 160, 56 Stat. 141). Reference to persons causing or procuring was omitted as unnecessary in view of definition of “principal” in section 2 of this title. Minor changes were made in phraseology. 1949 ActThis section [section 40] inserts “Air Force,” in section 1715 of title 18, U.S.C., in view of the establishment in 1947 of this separate branch of the armed forces, and substitutes, “Organized” for “Officers’ ”, preceding “Reserve Corps”, to conform to section 2 of title 10, U.S.C., as amended by the act of
March 25, 1948 (ch. 157, § 1, 62 Stat. 87), which grouped all reserve branches into a reserve component called the Organized Reserve Corps.
Editorial Notes
Amendments
2021—Pub. L. 116–283 inserted “Space Force,” after “Marine Corps,”. 1996—Pub. L. 104–294, in first par., substituted “State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District” for “State, Territory, or District” wherever appearing. 1994—Pub. L. 103–322 substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $1,000” in second par. 1970—Pub. L. 91–375 substituted “Postal Service” for “Postmaster General” after “such
Regulations
as the” in two places and “officer or employee of” for “postmaster, letter carrier, or other person in” in first par., respectively. 1949—Act May 24, 1949, inserted “Air Force” after “Navy” and substituted “Organized” for “Officers’ ” before “Reserve Corps” in first par., to make section applicable to the Air Force and to conform to the grouping of all reserve branches into a single reserve component.
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Effective Date
of 1970 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 91–375 effective within 1 year after Aug. 12, 1970, on date established therefor by Board of Governors of United States Postal Service and published by it in Federal Register, see section 15(a) of Pub. L. 91–375, set out as an
Effective Date
note preceding section 101 of Title 39, Postal Service.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
18 U.S.C. § 1715
Title 18 — Crimes and Criminal Procedure
Last Updated
Apr 6, 2026
Release point: 119-73