When the NFA was sold to the American public, it was defended not as an infringement of the Second Amendment, but as an action stemming from the federal government’s taxation authority in the Constitution. It wasn’t gun control, just a tax. The registry itself was simply a listing of everyone who had paid the tax.
Easy peasy lemon squeezey.
With President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, the tax on short-barreled long guns and suppressors came to an end. However, the DOJ says it should keep the registry.
To say it’s being challenged is an understatement, and the groups fighting this just filed an amicus brief in the challenge.
From a press release:
The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and its partners have filed a supplemental brief in Brown v. ATF, one of three lawsuits the organization is supporting challenging the constitutionality of the National Firearms Act (NFA).
Before President Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, purchasing silencers, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, and “any other weapons” (AOWs) under the NFA required paying a $200 tax and registering the firearms. The tax and registration regime, Congress insisted, was based on its authority to levy taxes. Once the One Big Beautiful Bill eliminated taxes on those arms, however, SAF and its partners filed lawsuits challenging the remaining registration requirements, because without the tax, Congress’ reliance on their taxing power as constitutional authority to enact the law is no longer justifiable.
“In response to our Motion for Summary Judgment, the court requested additional briefing, which highlight multiple critical elements of our claim,” said SAF Director of Legal Operations Bill Sack. “We are thrilled to have an additional opportunity to explain exactly why our claim is so strong. The brief highlights why SAF and our members have standing to bring this suit, and precisely how the merits analysis supports our position. As we always do, we make our positions as plainly and forthrightly as possible, and we post links to the entire docket for each case on our website so everyone can read the full arguments we are making on their behalf.”
SAF is joined in Brown v. ATF by the American Suppressor Association, National Rifle Association, Firearms Policy Coalition, Prime Protection STL Tactical Boutique and two private citizens.
“For almost a century, the NFA has been used to infringe on the Second Amendment rights of citizens,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “We now have a chance to remove these unconstitutional restrictions and look forward to fully restoring the right to keep and bear arms for the countless Americans who own silencers and short-barreled rifles across the nation.”
There’s no reason for the registry without the tax. Maintaining the registry makes it clear that it’s not about the tax at all, but is a gun control measure, and one that doesn’t work worth a damn since gang-bangers are running around with auto-sears on their handguns and hosing down their neighborhoods with rounds.
None of those are registered auto-sears, after all, and thus the registry is useless in preventing these acts of violence.
And honestly, who can’t make their AR into an SBR with the removal of a couple of pins and a shorter upper, all without anyone knowing a damn thing about it? I’m not saying that anyone should do that, only that it’s ridiculously easy to break the laws in question, thus rendering the entire purpose of a registry for gun control purposes useless.
That’s if you accept them as valid in the first place, that is, and I sure don’t. I’m sure you don’t, either.
With the repeal of the tax stamp, it should be a judicial slam dunk to kill the registry. Unfortunately, until then, people who want suppressors or short-barreled long guns still have to fill out paperwork and hope that Uncle Sam gives them permission to do something they could have done on their own if they wanted to.
To all these groups fighting this, I have just two words: Get ’em.
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