Two gun organizations are challenging a 1927 federal law prohibiting mailing handguns through the U.S. Postal Service.
Gun Owners of America and Gun Owners Foundation, together with Pennsylvania resident Bonita Shreve have filed a lawsuit in the Western District of Pennsylvania against the United States Postal Service. The Pennsylvania resident wants to mail her father a handgun as a gift, according to the filing, but is prohibited by federal law and Postal Service regulations.
In their filing the plaintiffs argue that the Postal Service allows businesses and government officials to ship handgun and that individual Americans should have the same ability. Private shipping companies like UPS and FedEx have policies prohibiting shipping a handgun, the filing states.
“The federal government’s Prohibition-era ban on mailing handguns violates the Second Amendment,” Erich Pratt, Senior Vice President of Gun Owners of America, said in a statement.
Sam Paredes, with the Gun Owners Foundation, said in a statement that the law was passed in a different time.
“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,” Paredes said.
Mailing a handgun is currently a Class E felony punishable by up to $250,000 fine and two years in prison.
A spokesperson for the Postal Service did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Gun groups challenge federal law banning mailing handguns
