702 
‘‘(2) knowingly and unlawfully makes, forges, 
or counterfeits any such key, or possesses any such 
mail lock or key with the intent unlawfully or im-
properly to use, sell, or otherwise dispose of the 
same, or to cause the same to be unlawfully or im-
properly used, sold, or otherwise disposed of; or 
‘‘(3) being engaged as a contractor or otherwise 
in the manufacture of any such mail lock or key, de-
livers any finished or unfinished lock or the interior 
part thereof, or key, used or designed for use by the 
department, to any person not duly authorized under 
the hand of the Postmaster General and the seal of 
the Post Office Department or the Postal Service, to 
receive the same, unless the person receiving it is the 
contractor for furnishing the same or engaged in the 
manufacture thereof in the manner authorized by 
the contract, or the agent of such manufacturer; 
shall be imprisoned not more than ten years. 
‘‘§ 945. Destruction of letter boxes or mail 
‘‘Whoever knowingly injures, tears down, or destroys 
any letter box or other receptacle intended or used for the 
receipt or delivery of mail on any mail route, or breaks 
open the same or knowingly injures, defaces, or destroys 
any mail deposited therein, shall be imprisoned not more 
than three years. 
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‘‘§ 946. Theft of property used by Postal Service 
‘‘Whoever steals, purloins, or embezzles any property 
used by the Postal Service, or appropriates any such prop-
erty to any other than its proper use, or conveys away 
any such property to the hindrance or detriment of the 
public service, shall be imprisoned not more than three 
years, but if the value of such property does not exceed 
$1,000, the offender shall be imprisoned not more than 
one year. 
‘‘§ 947. Theft or receipt of stolen mail matter gen-
erally 
‘‘Whoever— 
‘‘(1) steals, takes, or abstracts, or by fraud or 
deception obtains, or attempts so to obtain, from or 
out of any mail, post office, or station thereof, letter 
box, mail receptacle, or any mail route or other au-
thorized depository for mail matter, or from a letter 
or mail carrier, any letter, postal card, package, bag, 
or mail, or abstracts or removes from any such let-
ter, package, bag, or mail, any article or thing con-
tained therein, or secretes, embezzles, or destroys 
any such letter, postal card, package, bag, or mail, 
or any article or thing contained therein; 
‘‘(2) steals, takes, or abstracts, or by fraud or 
deception obtains any letter, postal card, package, 
bag, or mail, or any article or thing contained there-
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in which has been left for collection upon or adjacent 
to a collection box or other authorized depository of 
mail matter; or 
‘‘(3) buys, receives, or conceals, or unlawfully 
has in his possession, any letter, postal card, pack-
age, bag, or mail, or any article or thing contained 
therein, which has been so stolen, taken, embezzled, 
or abstracted, as herein described, knowing the same 
to have been stolen, taken, embezzled, or abstracted; 
shall be imprisoned not more than five years. 
‘‘§ 948. Theft of mail matter by officer or employee 
‘‘Whoever, being a Postal Service officer or employee, 
embezzles any letter, postal card, package, bag, or mail, 
or any article or thing contained therein entrusted to him 
or which comes into his possession intended to be conveyed 
by mail, or carried or delivered by any carrier, messenger, 
agent, or other person employed in any department of the 
Postal Service, or forwarded through or delivered from 
any post office or station thereof established by authority 
of the Postmaster General or of the Postal Service; or 
steals, abstracts, or removes from any such letter, pack-
age, bag, or mail, any article or thing contained therein, 
shall be imprisoned not more than five years. 
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‘‘§ 949. Misappropriation of postal funds 
‘‘(a) OFFENSE.—Whoever, being a Postal Service of-
ficer or employee, loans, uses, pledges, hypothecates, or 
converts to his own use, or deposits in any bank, or ex-
changes for other funds or property, except as authorized 
by law, any money or property coming into his hands or 
under his control in any manner, in the execution or under 
color of his office, employment, or service, whether or not 
the same shall be the money or property of the United 
States; or fails or refuses to remit to or deposit in the 
Treasury of the United States or in a designated deposi-
tory, or to account for or turn over to the proper officer 
or agent, any such money or property, when required to 
do so by law or the regulations of the Postal Service, or 
upon demand or order of the Postal Service, either directly 
or through a duly authorized officer or agent, is guilty 
of embezzlement; and every such person, as well as every 
other person advising or knowingly participating therein, 
shall be imprisoned not more than ten years; but if the 
amount or value thereof does not exceed $1,000, he shall 
be imprisoned not more than one year. 
‘‘(b) EXCLUSION.—This section does not prohibit any 
Postal Service officer or employee from depositing, under 
the direction of the Postal Service, in a national bank des-
ignated by the Secretary of the Treasury for that purpose, 
to his own credit as Postal Service officer or employee any 
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funds in his charge, nor prevent his negotiating drafts or 
other evidences of debt through such bank, or through 
United States disbursing officers, or otherwise, when in-
structed or required so to do by the Postal Service, for 
the purpose of remitting surplus funds from one post of-
fice to another. 
‘‘§ 950. Injurious articles as nonmailable 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—All kinds of poison, and all arti-
cles and compositions containing poison, and all poisonous 
animals, insects, reptiles, and all explosives, inflammable 
materials, infernal machines, and mechanical, chemical, or 
other devices or compositions which may ignite or explode, 
including firearms, and all disease germs or scabs, and 
all other natural or artificial articles, compositions, or ma-
terial which may kill or injure another, or injure the mails 
or other property, whether or not sealed as first-class mat-
ter, are nonmailable matter and shall not be conveyed in 
the mails or delivered from any post office or station 
thereof, nor by any officer or employee of the Postal Serv-
ice. 
‘‘(b) EXCEPTIONS.—The Postal Service may permit 
the transmission in the mails, under such rules and regu-
lations as it shall prescribe as to preparation and packing, 
of any such articles which are not outwardly or of their 
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own force dangerous or injurious to life, health, or prop-
erty. 
‘‘(c) SCORPIONS.—The Postal Service is authorized 
and directed to permit the transmission in the mails, 
under regulations to be prescribed by it, of live scorpions 
which are to be used for purposes of medical research or 
for the manufacture of antivenom. Such regulations shall 
include such provisions with respect to the packaging of 
such live scorpions for transmission in the mails as the 
Postal Service deems necessary or desirable for the protec-
tion of Postal Service personnel and of the public generally 
and for ease of handling by such personnel and by any 
individual connected with such research or manufacture. 
Nothing in this paragraph shall be construed to authorize 
the transmission in the mails of live scorpions by means 
of aircraft engaged in the carriage of passengers for com-
pensation or hire. 
‘‘(d) POISONOUS
DRUGS
AND
MEDICINES.—The 
transmission in the mails of poisonous drugs and medi-
cines may be limited by the Postal Service to shipments 
of such articles from the manufacturer thereof or dealer 
therein to licensed physicians, surgeons, dentists, phar-
macists, druggists, cosmetologists, barbers, and veterinar-
ians under such rules and regulations as it shall prescribe. 
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‘‘(e) POISONS
FOR SCIENTIFIC USE.—The trans-
mission in the mails of poisons for scientific use, and 
which are not outwardly dangerous or of their own force 
dangerous or injurious to life, health, or property, may 
be limited by the Postal Service to shipments of such arti-
cles between the manufacturers thereof, dealers therein, 
bona fide research or experimental scientific laboratories, 
and such other persons who are employees of the Federal, 
a State, or local government, whose official duties are 
comprised, in whole or in part, of the use of such poisons, 
and who are designated by the head of the agency in which 
they are employed to receive or send such articles, under 
such rules and regulations as the Postal Service shall pre-
scribe. 
‘‘(f) INTOXICATING LIQUORS.—All spirituous, vinous, 
malted, fermented, or other intoxicating liquors of any 
kind are nonmailable and shall not be deposited in or car-
ried through the mails. 
‘‘(g) KNIVES.—All knives having a blade which opens 
automatically (1) by hand pressure applied to a button 
or other device in the handle of the knife, or (2) by oper-
ation of inertia, gravity, or both, 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 
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knives may be conveyed in the mails, under such regula-
tions as the Postal Service shall prescribe— 
‘‘(1) to civilian or Armed Forces supply or pro-
curement officers and employees of the Federal Gov-
ernment ordering, procuring, or purchasing such 
knives in connection with the activities of the Fed-
eral Government; 
‘‘(2) to supply or procurement officers of the 
National Guard, the Air National Guard, or militia 
of a State ordering, procuring, or purchasing such 
knives in connection with the activities of such orga-
nizations; 
‘‘(3) to supply or procurement officers or em-
ployees of any State, or any political subdivision of 
a State, ordering, procuring, or purchasing such 
knives in connection with the activities of such gov-
ernment; and 
‘‘(4) to manufacturers of such knives or bona 
fide dealers therein in connection with any shipment 
made pursuant to an order from any person des-
ignated in paragraphs (1), (2), and (3). 
The Postal Service may require, as a condition of con-
veying any such knife in the mails, that any person pro-
posing to mail such knife explain in writing to the satisfac-
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tion of the Postal Service that the mailing of such knife 
will not be in violation of this section. 
‘‘(h) ADVERTISING, PROMOTIONAL, OR SALES MAT-
TER.—Any advertising, promotional, or sales matter which 
solicits or induces the mailing of anything declared non-
mailable by this section is likewise nonmailable unless such 
matter contains wrapping or packaging instructions which 
are in accord with regulations promulgated by the Postal 
Service. 
‘‘(i) BALLISTIC KNIVES.— 
‘‘(1) GENERALLY.—Any ballistic knife shall be 
subject to the same restrictions and penalties pro-
vided under subsection (g) for knives described in 
the first sentence of that subsection. 
‘‘(2) DEFINITION.—As used in this subsection, 
the term ‘ballistic knife’ means a knife with a de-
tachable blade that is propelled by a spring-operated 
mechanism. 
‘‘(j) OFFENSES.— 
‘‘(1) COMPLIANCE WITH RULES AND REGULA-
TIONS.—Whoever knowingly deposits for mailing or 
delivery, or knowingly causes to be delivered by mail, 
according to the direction thereon, or at any place 
at which it is directed to be delivered by the person 
to whom it is addressed, anything declared non-
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mailable by this section, unless in accordance with 
the rules and regulations authorized to be prescribed 
by the Postal Service, shall be imprisoned not more 
than one year. 
‘‘(2) WITH INTENT TO KILL OR INJURE AN-
OTHER OR TO INJURE THE MAILS OR PROPERTY.— 
Whoever knowingly deposits for mailing or delivery, 
or knowingly causes to be delivered by mail, accord-
ing to the direction thereon or at any place to which 
it is directed to be delivered by the person to whom 
it is addressed, anything declared nonmailable by 
this section, whether or not transmitted in accord-
ance with the rules and regulations authorized to be 
prescribed by the Postal Service, with intent to kill 
or injure another, or injure the mails or other prop-
erty, shall be imprisoned not more than twenty 
years. 
‘‘(3) DEATH PENALTY.—Whoever is convicted 
of any crime prohibited by this section, which has 
resulted in the death of any person, shall be subject 
also to the death penalty or to imprisonment for life. 
‘‘§ 951. Tobacco products as nonmailable 
‘‘(a) PROHIBITION.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—All cigarettes and smoke-
less tobacco (as those terms are defined in section 
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1 of the Act of October 19, 1949, commonly referred 
to as the Jenkins Act) are nonmailable and shall not 
be deposited in or carried through the mails. The 
United States Postal Service shall not accept for de-
livery or transmit through the mails any package 
that it knows or has reasonable cause to believe con-
tains any cigarettes or smokeless tobacco made non-
mailable by this paragraph. 
‘‘(2) REASONABLE CAUSE.—For the purposes 
of this subsection reasonable cause includes— 
‘‘(A) a statement on a publicly available 
website, or an advertisement, by any person 
that the person will mail matter which is non-
mailable under this section in return for pay-
ment; or 
‘‘(B) the fact that the person is on the list 
created under section 2A(e) of the Jenkins Act. 
‘‘(b) EXCEPTIONS.— 
‘‘(1) CIGARS.—Subsection (a) does not apply to 
cigars (as defined in section 5702(a) of the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986). 
‘‘(2) GEOGRAPHIC EXCEPTION.—Subsection (a) 
does not apply to mailings within the State of Alas-
ka or within the State of Hawaii. 
‘‘(3) BUSINESS PURPOSES.— 
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