AR lower via USPS?

[Elkins45]

I know non-licensees can mail long guns but not handguns via the Postal Service. Technicaly a stripped AR lower than has previously been assembled as a rifle is always a rifle as defined by ATF, so a person should be OK to stuff a lower in a small priority mail box and send it off to a FFL. Don't know if the person behind the counter knows this, but technically it's legal.

What about a new one that was sold unassembled as an "other" on the 4473? Does it ship by rifle rules or handgun rules?

 

[Frank Ettin]

I know non-licensees can mail long guns but not handguns via the Postal Service. Technicaly a stripped AR lower than has previously been assembled as a rifle is always a rifle as defined by ATF, so a person should be OK to stuff a lower in a small priority mail box and send it off to a FFL. Don't know if the person behind the counter knows this, but technically it's legal.

What about a new one that was sold unassembled as an "other" on the 4473? Does it ship by rifle rules or handgun rules?

See USPS Publication 52, specifically section 431.4:

431.4 Rifles and Shotguns
A rifle is a shoulder weapon having a barrel that is 16 inches or more in length. A shotgun is a shoulder weapon having a barrel that is 18 inches or more in length. Rifles and shotguns have an overall length of 26 inches or greater and cannot be concealed on a person.

So a stripped lower would not be a rifle for the purposes of USPS Regulations.

Also, for the purposes of USPS Regulations, a "handgun" includes any firearm capable of being concealed on the person (431.2):

431.2 Handguns
Pistols, revolvers, and other firearms capable of being concealed on the person...

And under both USPS Regulations (431.1) and federal law (18 USC 921(a)(3)(B)) the term "firearm" includes the frame or receiver alone.

So bottom line, no, a non-FFL may not mail a stripped AR lower; and he must ship it by either UPS or FedEx.

 

[Elkins45]

Thanks for the info.

 

[dogtown tom]

Nevermind