CITE

    18 USC Sec. 1715                                            01/05/2009

EXPCITE

    TITLE 18 - CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE
    PART I - CRIMES
    CHAPTER 83 - POSTAL SERVICE

HEAD

    Sec. 1715. Firearms as nonmailable; regulations

STATUTE

      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, for use in
    connection with their official duty, to officers of the Army, Navy,
    Air Force, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, or Organized Reserve Corps;
    to officers of the National Guard or Militia of a State, Territory,
    Commonwealth, Possession, or District; to officers of the United
    States or of a State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or
    District whose official duty is to serve warrants of arrest or
    commitments; to employees of the Postal Service; to officers and
    employees of enforcement agencies of the United States; and to
    watchmen engaged in guarding the property of the United States, a
    State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District. Such
    articles also may be conveyed in the mails to manufacturers of
    firearms or bona fide dealers therein in customary trade shipments,
    including such articles for repairs or replacement of parts, from
    one to the other, under such regulations as the Postal Service
    shall prescribe.
      Whoever knowingly deposits for mailing or delivery, or knowingly
    causes to be delivered by mail according to the direction thereon,
    or at any place to which it is directed to be delivered by the
    person to whom it is addressed, any pistol, revolver, or firearm
    declared nonmailable by this section, shall be fined under this
    title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.

SOURCE

    (June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 781; May 24, 1949, ch. 139, Sec.
    40, 63 Stat. 95; Pub. L. 91-375, Sec. 6(j)(24), Aug. 12, 1970, 84
    Stat. 779; Pub. L. 103-322, title XXXIII, Sec. 330016(1)(H), Sept.
    13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2147; Pub. L. 104-294, title VI, Sec. 607(f),
    Oct. 11, 1996, 110 Stat. 3511.)

HISTORICAL AND REVISION NOTES

                                 1948 ACT
      Based on title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed., Sec. 361 (Feb. 8, 1927, ch.
    75, Sec. 1, 44 Stat. 1059; May 15, 1939, ch. 134, 53 Stat. 744;
    Mar. 7, 1942, ch. 160, 56 Stat. 141).
      Reference to persons causing or procuring was omitted as
    unnecessary in view of definition of "principal" in section 2 of
    this title.
      Minor changes were made in phraseology.
                                 1949 ACT
      This section [section 40] inserts "Air Force," in section 1715 of
    title 18, U.S.C., in view of the establishment in 1947 of this
    separate branch of the armed forces, and substitutes, "Organized"
    for "Officers' ", preceding "Reserve Corps", to conform to section
    2 of title 10, U.S.C., as amended by the act of March 25, 1948 (ch.
    157, Sec. 1, 62 Stat. 87), which grouped all reserve branches into
    a reserve component called the Organized Reserve Corps.
                                AMENDMENTS
      1996 - Pub. L. 104-294, in first par., substituted "State,
    Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District" for "State,
    Territory, or District" wherever appearing.
      1994 - Pub. L. 103-322 substituted "fined under this title" for
    "fined not more than $1,000" in second par.
      1970 - Pub. L. 91-375 substituted "Postal Service" for
    "Postmaster General" after "such regulations as the" in two places
    and "officer or employee of" for "postmaster, letter carrier, or
    other person in" in first par., respectively.
      1949 - Act May 24, 1949, inserted "Air Force" after "Navy" and
    substituted "Organized" for "Officers' " before "Reserve Corps" in
    first par., to make section applicable to the Air Force and to
    conform to the grouping of all reserve branches into a single
    reserve component.
                     EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1970 AMENDMENT
      Amendment by Pub. L. 91-375 effective within 1 year after Aug.
    12, 1970, on date established therefor by Board of Governors of
    United States Postal Service and published by it in Federal
    Register, see section 15(a) of Pub. L. 91-375, set out as an
    Effective Date note preceding section 101 of Title 39, Postal
    Service.