We all know, these days especially, that there are many restrictive laws surrounding firearms and firearms parts. There are some firearm parts that you can’t ship, but can you mail magazines?
You are legally able to send gun magazines through the mail. As long as you are not breaking your state’s law and the recipient’s state laws regarding magazine capacity, there are no restrictions on magazines.
Unfortunately, as with many things, there are caveats to this. Next, I’ll go over everything else you need to know.
Sending Magazines in the Mail
As I mentioned before, you are legally able to mail magazines through the USPS and other shipping services. Magazines are not a restricted firearm part and can ship with no issue most of the time.
In California, it’s currently illegal to possess magazines over a certain capacity. This means that if you were to ship a 30 round magazine from a free state into California, the recipient would be breaking state law, and could find themselves in legal trouble.
Other than those situations, there’s no issue mailing magazines domestically.
What You Can’t Legally Ship
While you can ship magazines, there are some other things that you can’t:
• Handguns
• Ammunition
• Other Explosives
You are able to order ammunition through the mail, but it may not come through USPS, and you aren’t able to mail it yourself.
You also aren’t able to mail explosives in general, which makes a bit of sense.
Handguns, for some reason, are also on the prohibited items list, but you can ship other types of guns like rifles and shotguns as long as they are unloaded.
Of course, there are many other things that are prohibited from mailing but most of them probably don’t apply to you if you’re reading this article.
Mailing Magazines Internationally
Unfortunately, gun magazines fall under ITAR restrictions, which means that they’re internationally regulated.
You should have no issue mailing mags domestically, but it may be illegal to ship them to another country. The laws surrounding ITAR are confusing and convoluted so if you are trying to do something like this, it would be in your best interest to consult a legal expert.
This especially applies to businesses shipping magazines overseas but may apply to individuals as well. Again, the laws here are long and hazy.
The Bottom Line
The bottom line is that in general, it is legal to mail mags domestically in the US.
Problems may arise with state laws in certain areas, like California, New Jersey, or more recently, Washington, among others, which all have laws restricting the possession of magazines over a certain capacity.