Constitutionality of 18 U.S.C. § 1715

Summary

This memorandum opinion of the Office of Legal Counsel addresses the constitutionality of 18 U.S.C. § 1715, which restricts the mailing of concealable firearms. It concludes that the statute is unconstitutional as applied to constitutionally protected firearms, including handguns, under the Second Amendment and advises the Department of Justice to cease related prosecutions and the Postal Service to modify its regulations. The opinion states that enforcement may continue with respect to firearms lacking constitutional protection.

Holdings

1. Section 1715 is unconstitutional as applied to constitutionally protected firearms, including handguns, because it substantially burdens the rights of law-abiding citizens to transport, receive, acquire, and maintain arms in common use for lawful purposes.
2. Section 1715 is inconsistent with the Nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation because the historical enactments identified by the opinion regulated arms transfers to hostile or politically excluded groups, wartime removal of arms, or dangerous quantities of gunpowder, rather than generally prohibiting law-abiding citizens from shipping constitutionally protected firearms.
3. The Department of Justice may not, consistent with the Constitution, enforce § 1715 against constitutionally protected firearms, while it may continue enforcing the statute against firearms lacking constitutional protection.
4. The Second Amendment does not affirmatively require the government to maintain a postal service, carry parcels, or ship ammunition and gunpowder; however, while Congress operates a parcel service, it may not use that service to discriminate against the carriage of constitutionally protected firearms by law-abiding citizens.

Questions Presented

1. Whether 18 U.S.C. § 1715 violates the Second Amendment insofar as it prohibits ordinary law-abiding citizens from mailing constitutionally protected firearms, including handguns.
2. Whether § 1715 is consistent with the Nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation under the text-and-history framework of New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass'n v. Bruen and United States v. Rahimi.
3. Whether the Department of Justice may decline to enforce § 1715 against constitutionally protected firearms.
4. Whether the Postal Service must modify its regulations to conform to the opinion's Second Amendment analysis.

Disposition

other