This is the official, posted-on-the-internet by the ATF boys final word on what you can and cannot do when it comes to mailing firearms at the United States Post Office.
http://www.atf.gov/firearms/faq/unlicensed-persons.html#shipping-firearms-usps
Q: May a nonlicensee ship a firearm through the U.S. Postal Service?
A nonlicensee may not transfer a firearm to a non-licensed resident of another State. A nonlicensee may mail a shotgun or rifle to a resident of his or her own State or to a licensee in any State. The Postal Service recommends that long guns be sent by registered mail and that no marking of any kind which would indicate the nature of the contents be placed on the outside of any parcel containing firearms. Handguns are not mailable. A common or contract carrier must be used to ship a handgun.
[18 U.S.C. 1715, 922(a)(3), 922(a)(5) and 922 (a)(2)(A)]
Q: May a nonlicensee ship firearms interstate for his or her use in hunting or other lawful activity?
Yes. A person may ship a firearm to himself or herself in care of another person in the State where he or she intends to hunt or engage in any other lawful activity. The package should be addressed to the owner. Persons other than the owner should not open the package and take possession of the firearm.
Now then, on the issue of whether you have to tell the US Post Office counter employee, “Hey Steve! I got me a Thirty-Thirty lever-action assault weapon with a laser-beam aimer and a banana-clip in this here box, and you better not give me no lip about it!,” please read:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode18/usc_sec_18_00000922----000-.html
(e) It shall be unlawful for any person knowingly to deliver or cause to be delivered to any common or contract carrier for transportation or shipment in interstate or foreign commerce, to persons other than licensed importers, licensed manufacturers, licensed dealers, or licensed collectors, any package or other container in which there is any firearm or ammunition without written notice to the carrier that such firearm or ammunition is being transported or shipped; except that any passenger who owns or legally possesses a firearm or ammunition being transported aboard any common or contract carrier for movement with the passenger in interstate or foreign commerce may deliver said firearm or ammunition into the custody of the pilot, captain, conductor or operator of such common or contract carrier for the duration of the trip without violating any of the provisions of this chapter. No common or contract carrier shall require or cause any label, tag, or other written notice to be placed on the outside of any package, luggage, or other container that such package, luggage, or other container contains a firearm.
Note the specification “common or contract carrier.”
FedEx is a “common or contract carrier.”
UPS is a “common or contract carrier.”
Billy Bob’s Toss ‘em and Loss ‘em Package Manglers is a “common or contract carrier.”
You have to give each of them written notice that you are shipping a gun.
Their form, that they require you to fill out at their counter, has a specific place on it where you have to declare the contents of your package.
I have many-a-time listed “rifle” as the contents when shipping at UPS.
Only reason why I ever use UPS though, is when I’m shipping ammo (in a separate box) on the same shipping errand.
I can give you the 411 on how to ship ammo if you ever feel like doing that. It’s a piece of cake.
It is a felony to fail to tell FedEx, UPS, or Billy Bob that you are shipping a gun.
Guns shipped through UPS must be shipped from a Customer Center (generally referred to as a "hub").
See
http://www.ups.com/content/us/en/locations/custcenters/
UPS specifically prohibits their outlet centers "UPS Store," etc. from receiving guns or ammunition from customers.
Don't even think about it.
The United States Post Office is NOT a “common or contract carrier.”
The USPS is a federal government agency, and as such, is excluded from the “common or contract carrier”requirement to notify as to the contents of the box being a firearm.
You do NOT have to make any declaration to the counter clerk as to the nature of the item you are shipping.
Finally, this gets us to the question as to whether a firearm is somehow a “hazardous material,” that would be unmailable under the regs governing mailing explosives, medical waste, or suspicious white powder. You have already read the regs on what things are not mailable. Guns are not mentioned. Moreover, why in the world would the ATF be posting a FAQ
http://www.atf.gov/firearms/faq/ that says you CAN mail guns, if in fact their sister federal agency, the Post Office, was of the official position that guns cannot be mailed?!!!
Finally, what if the clerk asks you, “Hey man, what’s in the box?”
Do you have to answer?
Do you have to answer truthfully?
Do you have to tell the “whole” truth (i.e. “Its machine parts…” or “It’s a high-speed horizontal magazine dispenser”)
I don’t know the answer to this, as it may pertain to the exact letter of the law.
Frankly, I don’t think the letter of the law addresses these questions.
I’ll wager the Postmaster has the authority to inspect the contents of any package for unmailable items.
How much you can stand your ground, or play games, when put to a specific question as to contents is something somebody should look into.
I would err on the side of telling the whole truth.
I have heard third-hand stories of postal clerks requiring persons to prove that the gun is unloaded.
It never has happened to me, or to anybody whom I know personally.
The poor schmucks it did happen to were probably the dopes who announced, unsolicited, the contents of the box.
KYBMS!!!
Bottom line is, the post office clerk NEVER asks what is the contents!
Just make sure the package is wrapped in accordance with postal regs.
Technically, postal regs say you have to use only PAPER tape on the exterior of the box.
I’ve never seen them enforce this. I always use cellophane tape – and lots of it.
The last thing I want is an AK-47 clattering around in the back of the mailman’s Jeep because I was to cheap to use the right box, or enough tape.
If you have done a completely crappy or inadequate job of sealing the box, the postal clerk will say something to you.
You won’t believe some of the train-wrecks of box wrapping I have seen at the Post Office.
Put the gun in a good-quality, plain cardboard box, with a good tape-job, and a permanently-affixed, printed-and-legible address label, and there is zero chance that you will have any sort of confrontation, with the postal clerk.
Wear a tie, stand up straight, and act like you know what you are doing… and KYBMS.
If you do this, the contents of the box will not be questioned, or that you will not have to cite any of the aforesaid laws and regulations.
. They are prohibited by law from turning a profit so they keep getting bailed out by Congress.
