UK Royal Mail asks for a ban on firearms-by-post

Royal Mail yesterday (13 December 2004) asked Postcomm to prohibit the carriage of firearms in its mail service. If agreed, the ban would apply to the delivery of sporting, deactivated and replica firearms, munitions and ordnance by Royal Mail’s letter post, special and recorded delivery and standard parcels services. Parcelforce would continue to carry firearms, as would other parcel companies. Postcomm began consulting on the request today.

While it is lawful to send these items by the post at present, Royal Mail claims that despite their legal status, the sending of them by the standard post causes disruption to their services. Banning firearms would reduce this. At present, every time a firearm is found, Royal Mail’s operations are halted as police have to be alerted. Prohibiting firearms should mean less disruption. Any firearms found would be handed over to the police who would return lawful firearms to their owners.

Royal Mail says that prohibiting firearms-by-post would also help the police prevent crime. Blank-firing guns that can readily be converted into working firearms can be bought easily over the Internet. According to the Association of Chief Police Officers, prohibiting such items from the mail would make it harder for criminals to get hold of them. Royal Mail’s service is anonymous, whereas other parcel carriers record the names and addresses of senders of parcels.

Postcomm’s consultation document: Notice of a Proposed Direction for Royal Mail to Prohibit Carriage of Firearms, is published on the Postcomm website, www.psc.gov.uk. Printed copies will be available shortly from Postcomm at 6 Hercules Road, London SE1 7DB. Responses are requested by 14 March 2005.

Notes
Royal Mail already prohibits or restricts the carriage of a range of materials by post. They include aerosols, alcohol, explosives, flammable material, toxic liquids, solids or gases and solvent-based paints. Royal Mail needs permission from Postcomm to amend the rules to include firearms in this list.

Over a 12-month period, figures collected by Royal Mail show it handled a total of 352 firearms and 254 items containing ammunition. Many of the discoveries followed Royal Mail’s increasing use of aircraft for postal deliveries, where all cargo is x-rayed.

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