What happened between the time this firearm was supposed to be delivered and the time that it was? (Photo: Len Savage)

A Freedom of Information Act Request was sent to the United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General Tuesday by this correspondent via Return Receipt mail. The purpose is “to request information about a presumed investigation conducted after the U.S. Postal Inspector Service was notified about a shipment delayed in transit.”

Regular readers will recall remember the time Len Savage, president of Historic Arms LLC, sent the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) unassembled parts for an evaluation and they assembled it into an unmarked Short Barrel Rifle (SBR) with a brace in what looked suspiciously like an entrapment – after a four and ½ year wait.  It took the Bureau so long to respond that the return postage Savage had originally included was no longer sufficient, as it had been raised twice.

We’ve been friends for a long time and in gratitude for my support over the years, including on AmmoLand and Firearms News, and much to my delighted surprise, Savage decided I should have the gun. It’s important to make this disclosure lest anyone challenges my motives or journalistic ethics. If they were compromised, I wouldn’t have mentioned this.

Savage shipped the rifle (now with a 16″ barrel) to my local Federal Firearms Licensee on July 2.  It was estimated on the receipt to be delivered July 6.  It was not. Every day thereafter I checked the tracking number, a couple times a day, and it was always still “in transit.”

Savage made a report to the “US Postal Inspector Law Enforcement Division” on July 11.

“Sounds like they will start investigating and interviewing starting with the last Postal Employee who touched it,” he informed me. “They got rather animated when I told them the missing firearm was an AR-15.  They require Model and serial number.  I told them the firearm was featured in an article that had photos.”

“I’d bet once the heat comes there will be a mysterious RE-appearance of the missing firearm,” he added.

He had that right. I checked on July 13 and saw it had been delivered. Someone must have found it stacked against a wall or under a conveyor belt, right?

That’s what I want to find out with the FOIA request.

“This raises the questions of why the shipment was delayed and why it was completed so soon after that was reported,” the request notes. “In order to determine the cause, I request copies of all communications, including emails, memoranda, reports, and findings concerning the report made by Mr. Savage, to included internal USPS correspondence and any and all communications sent to and received from other government agencies.”

That should tell me if this was a simple glitch in the system or if something more was involved. So should a deferral from answering, particularly if the reason turns out to be due to an ongoing investigation.

The FOIA request is embedded below. I’ll make another report when I have an answer.

About David Codrea:

David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating/defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” is a regularly featured contributor to Firearms News, and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.

David Codrea