Pistols through the mail

[Wolfsbane]

Came across this article.

For FedEx and UPS, a Cheaper Route: the Post Office

http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-mail-does-the-trick-for-fedex-ups-1407182247

I'm wondering if this doesn't invalidate the ATF regulation about non-FFLs shipping handguns through the mail since it's being done, albeit without the knowledge of the shipper.

 

[CoalTrain49]

Hmmm. I saw the USPS truck park in front of the UPS store the other day and unload most of the packages in the truck. So apparently UPS is shipping packages for the post office. Or maybe that was a dream.

 

[newfalguy101]

Came across this article.

For FedEx and UPS, a Cheaper Route: the Post Office

http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-mail-does-the-trick-for-fedex-ups-1407182247

I'm wondering if this doesn't invalidate the ATF regulation about non-FFLs shipping handguns through the mail since it's being done, albeit without the knowledge of the shipper.

Why would it???

Oh, and for what its worth, its not an ATF regulation, that is a Postal regulation.

 

[Wolfsbane]

Okay, so USPS says they won't/can't deliver pistols unless they get them from UPS or FedEx. Seems like a great way to be able to challenge the regulation and get it thrown out.

 

[Frank Ettin]

First, both UPS and FedEx tariffs require that the shipper verbally inform the counter-person that the package contains a handgun.

Second, both UPS and FedEx tariffs require that a non-licensee ship a handgun by Next Day Air.

Third, this is all part of a special arrangement for certain classes of UPS and FedEx packages, as described in the full article (I subscribe to the WSJ):

...The volume of so-called Parcel Select packages—a USPS service aimed at businesses including FedEx, UPS, and Amazon.com Inc. — surged nearly 500% to about 1.29 billion packages in 2013 from about 223 million in 2009. The USPS projects that service it will grow 12% next year. Parcel Select accounts for 35% of the USPS's annual package-delivery business.

Both UPS and FedEx rely on the postal office for the back-end of their cheaper two- to seven-day delivery options, Smartpost for FedEx and Surepost for UPS. Amazon also uses the USPS and enlisted it for Sunday deliveries. The post office's Parcel Select service, launched in its current format in 2008, allows the companies to transport the packages the long distance themselves, then sort by ZIP Code and deliver to the local post office. The letter carrier takes it for the most expensive last leg of the delivery....

So it's unlikely that UPS or FedEx is using the USPS to carry handguns shipped by UPS or FedEx customers.

 

[Frank Ettin]

...I'm wondering if this doesn't invalidate the ATF regulation about non-FFLs shipping handguns through the mail since it's being done, albeit without the knowledge of the shipper.

Why would it???

Oh, and for what its worth, its not an ATF regulation, that is a Postal regulation.

Not quite.

Yes, there's a USPS regulation. But there is also a federal statute (18 USC 1715):

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,...

 

[Frank Ettin]

A poorly conceived, dead-end thread. It's now over.