The APWU has filed an amicus (“friend of the court”) brief in Shreve v. U.S. Postal Service (W.D. Pa.), a case challenging the federal law prohibiting individuals from mailing concealable handguns.
The plaintiff argues that 18 U.S.C. §1715 — a 1927 law banning the mailing of concealable pistols, revolvers, and similar firearms by private individuals — violates her Second Amendment rights. The Department of Justice has directed the Postal Service not to defend the law’s constitutionality, prompting three states to intervene as defendants in its place.
The APWU’s brief focuses on the physical dangers that allowing individuals to mail handguns would pose to postal workers. Packages containing handguns packed by unlicensed individuals risk accidental discharge, and postal clerks lack the tools, training, and resources to identify, track, or enforce the federal, state, and local gun possession laws that apply to such packages. The brief underscores that the law and postal regulations protect individual rights and preserve the sanctity of the mail while respecting that “safety matters” for both postal workers and the public.
The post APWU Files Amicus Brief Supporting the Prohibition to Mail Concealable Handguns first appeared on APWU.