USPS Gun Theft

“No, I did not realize that. You can actually ship guns through the Post Office? I would have thought that would be illegal,” said postal customer Nelda Finn.

Yes. Just like your regular mail, guns go through the postal system and are handled by the same workers.

Problems come when guns shipped through the mail never reach their destination.

They’re stolen, not from a truck in transit, but from the post office itself.

Scott Balfour, an Assistant Special Agent with the U.S. Post Office of Inspector General, talked with us via the internet, confirming gun shipments.

“Guns do go through the mail system. Mailers have to follow all postal regulations to send those guns through the mail, but there is no special handling procedure for guns in the mail system,” said Balfour.

That may be the problem.

WREG obtained a federal report that showed just how vulnerable guns shipped via USPS can be and what happened.

In May of 2013, firearms ended up missing from Memphis` Main Post Office on South Third.

The ATF report blocked us from seeing just how many guns thieves stole, but it happened over a months time.

During some of the thefts, the thieves swiped the weapons and shipped the empty firearm box on to its next destination.

The ATF documented 13 Post Office theft cases from February 2013 to May 2013.

They won’t say how many guns were stolen in those cases.

If you go back to 2012, there had been a total of 20 theft cases.