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A federal judge in Texas just handed gun-rights advocates one of their biggest courtroom wins in years. And it could have major implications for suppressors, short-barreled rifles, and the future of the National Firearms Act.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor ruled that the federal government can no longer require the registration of suppressors, short-barreled rifles (SBRs), short-barreled shotguns (SBSs), and certain other firearms whose $200 transfer tax was eliminated under the One Big Beautiful Bill.
The ruling came in Jensen v. ATF, one of several lawsuits backed by the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) challenging what’s left of the National Firearms Act after Congress zeroed out the tax earlier this year.
This is a huge win,” Washington Gun Law President William Kirk said in a video (see below) breaking down the decision. But, he cautioned, “it is not unconstitutional under the Second Amendment.”
That’s an important distinction.
Table of contents
Why the Judge Ruled Against the NFA
For decades, the National Firearms Act rested on Congress’ constitutional authority to levy taxes.
If you wanted to buy a suppressor or an SBR, you paid a $200 tax and registered the firearm with the ATF.
Then Congress changed the equation.
The One Big Beautiful Bill eliminated the transfer and making tax for suppressors, SBRs, SBSs, and certain other NFA-regulated firearms. But left the registration requirement in place.
According to Judge O’Connor, that’s where the problem begins.
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In plain English, the court concluded that if the tax no longer exists, Congress can’t continue enforcing regulations that were justified solely by that taxing power. Without revenue, the constitutional foundation disappears.
“The basis for each lawsuit challenging the NFA registration scheme is the same – without the tax, the remaining requirements for the affected arms under the NFA have no constitutional basis,” said SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut. “And today the first court to rule on the issue has agreed with us.”
This Isn’t a Second Amendment Ruling
That’s the part many headlines are likely to miss. The judge never ruled that the NFA violates the Second Amendment.
Instead, he found that Congress exceeded its constitutional authority by continuing to require registration after eliminating the tax that justified the law in the first place.
As Kirk explained, the court intentionally stopped there because striking down the registration scheme on constitutional grounds made it unnecessary to analyze the Second Amendment claims.
In other words, the plaintiffs got the relief they were seeking without the court having to reach a Bruen-style analysis.
The Government’s Backup Argument Didn’t Work
The Justice Department argued that even without the tax, the registration system could survive under Congress’ authority to regulate interstate commerce.
Judge O’Connor wasn’t persuaded.
The opinion points out that Congress wrote the NFA as a tax law (not a commerce law) and the government can’t simply switch constitutional justifications decades later because the original one no longer works.
The court also noted that violating the NFA isn’t just missing paperwork. Failure to comply can carry felony penalties, prison time, fines, firearm forfeiture, and even the permanent loss of gun rights. It makes the government’s argument that the registration system is merely administrative a tough sell.
SAF Sees Momentum Building
SAF believes the decision could have ripple effects far beyond this single case.
The removal of the $200 tax in the One Big Beautiful Bill offers the best opportunity to remove the NFA registration requirements that we’ve had in almost a century,” said SAF founder Alan Gottlieb. “We are thrilled the court ruled in our favor and look forward to other jurisdictions following suit in our remaining NFA cases. This ruling will set a precedent we can now argue in courts across the country to allow Americans to exercise their Second Amendment rights without fear of being placed on some government registry.
SAF is also backing similar lawsuits, including Brown v. ATF and Roberts v. ATF. They challenge the same post-tax registration requirements.
Don’t Expect Overnight Changes
Before anyone rushes out expecting to buy a suppressor with nothing more than a Form 4473, pump the brakes.
This ruling came from a federal district court, and an appeal is widely expected. Kirk said he would be “absolutely positively” shocked if the Justice Department didn’t take the case to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.
For now, existing federal law and ATF procedures remain in place while the legal process plays out.
Still, the ruling marks the first time a federal court has agreed with the argument that once Congress eliminated the NFA tax, it also eliminated the constitutional basis for requiring registration of those firearms.
Whether higher courts agree could determine the future of a major portion of the National Firearms Act.
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is a seasoned outdoorsman, lifelong hunter, and the kind of guy who’d rather track whitetails than scroll social media. As an editor for GunsAmerica, he’s got a sharp eye for spotting both solid gear and bad gun laws. Whether he’s deep in the woods or deep in editorial deadlines, Larry brings a no-nonsense, tell-it-like-it-is approach to firearms, hunting, and the great American tradition of self-reliance. If there’s a hot debate on gun rights or the latest in hunting tech, you can bet Larry’s got an opinion—and it’s probably backed up with both facts and field experience.
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It’s a little tricky to understand why the “big, beautiful bill” was formulated, by this administration, to eliminate a tax and thus remove Congressional authority to continue enforcing a registration that Congress authorized (whether understood or not understood by congress) but yet this administration’s DOJ might appeal a legal victory for its constituents?
This is a nice double-edged sword now cutting both ways. I get tickets and fines for not having certain stickers pasted all over my car, even though my compliance with the statutes that the stickers demonstrate is easily proven. “Forget about the intent of the law– the law becomes having a sticker.” Now we have the the opposite: The tax stamp was to prove you paid the tax. Now that there’s no tax, no stamp needed.
dacian I’m going to try to answer some of the missteps in your post without being snarky or rude. Of course when you write “let’s face facts” and follow that with suppositions and outright inventions of your “facts” it’s hard to do. Here’s a fact for you – the FBI keeps track of crimes reported to them and according to their statistics more people are beaten and stomped to death than all the murders committed with long guns. Maybe we should make sandals the only legal footwear and ban Doc Martens instead of banning AR-15s. If you really were interested in establishing facts instead of creating even more false situations where sawed-off shots and short barreled rifles are used willie-nilly to murder folks and then tossed out of their car window onto the nearest highway. I doubt that even your local gang- bangers can re-arm themselves as easily as you make it seem in your make believe universe. One more glaring example of your imagination running away from reality is your opinions about what you erroneously referred to as “silencers” leaving your readers to wonder whether you have any actual experience or knowledge of what suppressors (not silencers) really do. Ever do any research on suppressors and how they work? Have you ever fired a firearm equipped with a sound suppression? Did you just make up your dangerous world where suppressors are totally silent and every gang-banger has a sawed-off shotgun or an automatic weapon? Because your warnings are far enough away from reality to almost qualify as science fiction. If you really want to scare yourself do some research on Constitutional Carry, which is the law in either 29 or 30 states. None of the Constitutional Carry states have experienced any spike in armed crime. As a matter of fact most have seen decreases in the number of assaults. Guns don’t cause crime. Crime is simply caused by people who have no consideration for others. We don’t need to just disarm them, we need to lock them away from society. After all you yourself admitted how easy it is to get more guns!
You’re wasting your breath. You can’t debate with a left-wing nut job. You disagree with a demoncrat and their head explodes.
No reason suppressors and SBR’s can’t be tracked under the 4473. When I was an FFL, it was a paper form and stayed in my filing cabinet until law enforcement knocked on the door trying to trace a firearm from the manufacturer to the end user. Now we fill out the 4473 online and you’d have to be a complete idiot not to understand it’s a back-door registry.
Keeping full auto toys under the NFA registry is fully understandable, but still overkill and redundant with the new online 4473 system. When I surrendered my mom & pop FFL to ‘Slick Wille and the Brady bunch’ back in 1994, all the completed 4473’s had to be forwarded to the ATF. What do you think happened to them? YES – they were all digitized and placed into electronic files readily available anytime the BATF wanted to go through them.
I have seen a lot of hair brained Right Wing Nut Case Judges but this decision is really over the top and has about as much chance of becoming finale law as an iceberg in hell. Lets face facts we have as the NRA said the 4473 form which is back door registration since 1968, but the big flaw in the 1968 law is that when the weapon is resold it does not have to be re-registered and that is exactly what striking down the NFA registration would do. A gang banger after making a hit on someone would just throw the silencer and short barreled rifle out the window of his car and buy another in minutes, not hours, on the used gun market. Second Hand Silencers and short barreled shotguns and rifles would be for sale at every bar, flee market, and gun show. If that is not insane what would be?????????
Lets face facts, short barreled long guns being legal without registration or even a healthy modern upgraded tax stamp is just insane. Its a green light for the gang bangers to stock up and use them. If a Cop in a traffic stop found a legal short barreled shotgun unloaded in a trunk he could do nothing but let the gang banger go on his merry way to his next robbery or hit job.
The old complete NFA regulations worked well and for the most part did indeed keep silencers, machine guns, and short barreled rifles and shotguns out of the hands of nut cases and gang bangers.
As far as silencers they were built for assassination and everyone I ever spoke with that I know personally admitted “the real reason” they bought a silencer is because “if I ever needed it”. Spine chilling for anyone who is not a paranoid nut case.
Gang bangers will be dancing in rivers of blood flowing in the streets and thanking the nut case Judge for giving them a silencer and a short barreled shotgun or assault rifle on a silver plate.
Mass murderers using silencers on assault rifles will be gunning down people at parades and social gatherings and they will fall by the dozens before realizing they are even being shot at. Just one incident like that and politicians who supported such insanity know their political careers will be finished. Judges too, if they have brain 1 will know they will be voted permanently out of office.
Hill Jacks will be using them to plink at tin cans with in their back yards while stray rounds will zip down through their neighborhood killing pets and children at play. The Idiots will think “no noise, no danger” so I can blast away without even a back stoop. Yes they are that stupid.
In conclusion there is no legitimate reason to own a short barreled rifle or shotgun or silencer. You can use ear muffs for noise reduction and there is zero reason for the short barreled rifles and shotguns as neither is suitable for competition or hunting purposes. They are the primo tools of the mass murderer and the gang bangers. You will no longer be shooting off your big mouth about no regulation of these weapons when your family lies dead at your feet while simply attending a Fair or a Parade. Civilized Nations have tightly controlled or outlawed such weapons for decades because there was a damn good reason to do so.
What others own Sally is none your libtard business. Same rap as every gun grabber has ever uttered. Nice originality Sally. Too bad your doom and gloom never materialized with CCW and it won’t with this. You know why? Because criminals can get all of it now from their pals in the cartels. Go back to MS Now, CNN or the huffy post and blather your anti-gun psychosis over there.
What a load of pure unadulterated blathering nonsense. It’s nothing but the same hypothetical nonsense that is spewed by the nutty left every time an unconstitutional law is removed or a constitutional one put in place, that never materializes. Oh no… freedom can be scary! What’s far more scary is the loss of freedom. When you are willing to trade your essential liberties for a little temporary safety you deserve neither liberty or safety – Ben Franklin (paraphrased).
A Far Right Socialist against suppressors? Color me surprised.
This fantasy of what will happen is not supported by the facts since 42 States allow them. These things are not happening. Just like CCW was going to make the streets run with rivers of blood, your people’s predictions always fall short of reality.
I will give you Luigi as an example of someone using a suppressor, he was neither a gang banger or a hill hack, he was one of your kind. Maybe your kind shouldn’t be allowed while the rest of us civilized people ought to choose what we use.
And with your vast knowledge of firearms you would know they don’t make the firearm silent, they act like a muffler and tone down the sharpness of the report.
Your dead wrong Sledge, pun intended. Obviously you never fired an M16 with a .22 rimfire conversion kit and a silencer. You only hear the bolt rattling back and forth. Even high velocity rim fire ammo only sounds like a muffled cap gun going off and with background crowd noise or even traffic noise no one would even realize they were being shot at. I have fired such a weapon and it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
Beware of what you wish for it will come back to bite you and your family.
dacian, I am surprised to see you put forward a scenario wherein you lament that a policeman has no cause to stop a youth.
He is a person of contradictions for sure.
It is surprising to read Komisar dacian tossing around the term “gang bangers” no less than 4 times while acting sympathetic to any “Cop” unable to make an arrest.
Sometimes I indulge conspiracy theories. And sometimes I just read what the Data republican has to say. She claimed recently that the German government (members of their parliament, I think?) are funding some DSA NGOs. Maybe that is where dacian comes from? Although he does seem more keenly aware of German history than most Germans I have met.
Interesting, since the SLPC got caught funding hate groups and thus “conspiracy theory” should be less of a pejorative term now. Maybe you have read my posts where I mentioned the Hegelian dialectic, an explanation of a conspiracy fact.
thesis + antithesis = synthesis
I disagree about dacian being “keenly aware” of anything relevant. dacian is a shallow moron, a fact proven over and over again and dacian could never talk at length on topics I research.
I responded awhile back where you asked me about some scriptural support of what I stated on Judas Iscariot being a possible member of a Jewish assassin group and a possible homosexual. I remember the portrayal in “Jesus of Nazareth” where Jesus was hurt, disappointed. Christ says, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”
Not sure of all the remembered detail but it was a powerful scene, there was a lot going on that could not be articulated in the written format. I was thinking and still believe that Judas was an early example of an “agent provocateur” or a spy working for the chief priest well in advance. IOW the 30 pieces of silver was a fee determined long before the betrayal and paid in full. No scripture or history to support that theory.
Anyway, here is an interesting non-scriptural source tracing through the Vatican. Not sure about the credibility of Vatican records to all Christian groups but context should be important to all scripture. Hope it is posted this time.
Lost Vatican Manuscript Reveals Judas Was Gay
NEW evidence released this week claims Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve original disciples of Jesus Christ, was a ‘raging homosexual’ and tried to force himself on the son of God numerous times.
According to a manuscript almost 2,000 years old unearthed in The Vatican vaults, Judas regularly made advances on his fellow apostles, and was quoted as saying he would “kiss Jesus on the lips at some point, whether he liked it or not”, no matter what the consequences.
“It appears Judas had a thing for our Lord Jesus Christ for quite some time,” director of the Holy See Press Office Federico Lombardi confirmed. “So-much-so that he ended up betraying Jesus to the Romans after turning down his sexual advances. Hence why the Catholic religion frowns upon such practices today”.
Fr. Lombardi explained there were several explanations in the past as to why Judas betrayed Jesus, but this latest find details his four year long crush on Jesus in stunning detail.
“Judas was always the first of the apostles to volunteer in washing the Lords feet,” he said. “There are also references made by the traitor on Jesus’ physique, claiming the Lords abdominal muscles were quite ripped for his age and how he used to dream about rubbing ointment on them after supper”.
“Following several years of harassment, Jesus eventually told Judas, he wasn’t into that kind of thing and urged him to stop watching him bathe as it was getting a bit creepy,” added Lombardi. “Being a gay, Judas didn’t take rejection well and ended up betraying Jesus by kissing him in the garden of Gethsemane – embarrassing him in front of his apostles and a band of Roman soldiers”.
According to the ancient manuscript, the first ever homosexual mentioned in the bible was so struck down with emotion after betraying his love, that he then took his own life, before descending into hell.
“Jesus died for the sins of all mankind,” concluded the Vatican spokesman. “Womankind? Not so much”.
Kane, surely that story is from the Babylon Bee or the Eye of the Tiber or something like that. That reads about as scriptural as Jesus Christ Superstar.
The story of the men of Sodom takes place some two millennia before Judas and had been written down some 14 centuries before Christ. Don’t come at me on Torah. I got surprise Bar Mitzvah’d the last time I was at the mall.
If I included the link, the post would never have popped up on GA. It was from the Waterford Whisperers News and it was not scripture as I told you beforehand but yet a nearly 2000-year-old manuscript that the Vatican held, and Father Lombardi explained the content of the manuscript. The manuscript may provide context to the scripture, maybe not.
Then the author of the article, most likely a homosexual apologist, went on to reveal a lack of the most basic biblical understanding by claiming the “first ever homosexual mentioned in the bible.” This author must have missed the Biblical account of the angry crowd of homosexuals who demand the Lot present his two guests even declining Lot’s offer of his fair young virgin daughters instead. Guess that fell into the customs and courtesies of the day. Luckly the 2 guests were Angels that knew how to handle the situation, sure glad I was NOT there.
Like I say to people who throw out the tired old misnomer, “imagine a world without gun violence,” I suggest that they consider the hamlet of Sodom. What stranger passing through Sodom would NOT want a loaded AR?
BTW, BD, do you believe that Lott’s daughters could really have been virgins if they got their father drunk and then seduced him?
That’s why I stay away from the OT. NOT my covenant, never was, never will be. How much drink could turn Lott’s judgement?
Maybe you found something morally meaningful to take away from that particular scripture, only the Lott’s visitors look good in that woeful tale. If Lott and his daughters were spared, how awful were the other men, women and children?
Tell me what your Bible study classes come up with.
Go seek professional help. YOU ARE CRAZY!!!
Komisar dacian, your insensitive and flagrant use the term “gang banger” betrays your contempt for the underprivileged youth of America who have been forced to join urban clubs to survive in decaying democratic fiefdoms. Seems pretty reasonable to concluded that your use of “gang bangers” was really a thin veiled attack on the Black youth of America who are my fellow citizens. Since you went on to use the term “Hill Jacks,” it is easy to see how your racist terms apply to the other segment of society, my White brothers and Sisters that you also hate.
({[A hilljack is a person from a remote, rural, or mountainous area in the United States, often self-reliant, socially unsophisticated, and skilled at various manual tasks.
Meaning and Usage
The term hilljack is primarily used as a noun to describe individuals living in rural or mountainous regions, particularly in the Appalachian or Midwestern United States.
It is closely related to terms like hillbilly or redneck, but often implies a slightly more aggressive, eccentric, or defiant persona. Hilljacks are typically self-reliant, capable of performing a variety of manual labor tasks, though they may not be masters of any single trade
Cultural Connotations
While the term can be pejorative when used by outsiders, implying a lack of formal education or social refinement, it can also carry a sense of pride, toughness, and independence within the communities themselves.
Hilljacks are often depicted as enjoying outdoor activities such as hunting, fishing, and other hands-on pursuits, reflecting their connection to rural life
Informal and Slang Uses
In some informal contexts, “hilljack” has been used humorously or exaggeratedly to describe stereotypical rural behaviors, including eccentric dress, rural vehicles, or unconventional lifestyles Urban Dictionary also notes a slang usage of “hill jacking” as a verb, though this is less common and context-specific
Summary
In essence, a hilljack is a rural American individual who is self-sufficient, skilled in general manual labor, and often socially unsophisticated, with the term carrying both pejorative and prideful connotations depending on context)]}
Komisar dacian attacks Black youth with hateful rhetoric.
Well I figured if no one is allowed to print a 3-D suppressor then anytime someone is caught with one then you would know it’s illegal. I guess on second thought this probably wouldn’t work since even manufacturers these days are printing suppressors.
Sorry folks but I don’t consider this a win. I agree with not having to register an SBS or SBR but suppressors are different story. They can solely be made on a 3-D printer which almost guarantees that every inner city criminal organization is gonna buy a 3-D printer and start making their own suppressors. There will be nothing to stop them from doing that.
I’m just not one of those paranoid gun owners that think somebody’s going to come “take er’ guns”. I had zero problem waiting for my paperwork to come back for my SBS and my SBR. The only problem I had was it took almost 2 months for the SBS and less than 10 days for the SBR lol. I’ve never been told no for anything I’ve purchased and don’t mind the wait if it helps to keep weapons out of illegal hands. That was the problem with removing the tax stamp was now making it look like it’s a registration which people will whine about. Many people just care about themselves and not in helping to keep guns out of illegal hands.
I’m trying to grasp your logic. We need a law for us honest folks so criminals won’t make their own suppressors; which criminals can already do that?
As you said, buy a 3D printer and game on. Anyone can already do that. Why do we need this law by that argument?
A person doesn’t have to be paranoid to know that criminals break laws that the vast majority of us don’t.
Also, suppressors are not guns/weapons.
That is another potential problem for the states that ban suppressors. If suppressors require registration and regulation under the same logic as guns, then how can a ban be justified under the 2A? Then again, maybe suppressors are NOT the same as guns but then why the registration? Certainly, suppressors are like “arms” and thus covered under the 2A. This should be fun to watch play out.
Wrong. Even the Euro trash has suppressors readily available.
You obviously have never shot anything with a suppressor and seem to spend too many hours watching too many hours idiotic TV shows. Do you know that cans don’t work on revolvers except one so am thinking of. Stay away from TV shows. They are fiction and your reaction to this proves you find fiction to be reality.
I always find childish responses like yours entertaining. I think it’s hilarious that your brain is so small you can’t even comprehend someone else having an opinion that may differ from yours. And then you want to compare the US to Europe… Really? Well aren’t you a stupid little wee cunt. And I laugh at pussies like you that use the term “cans“. So grow up, don’t be upset the education system and your parents failed you by raising an idiot… It’s ok, we have the welfare system for people like you.
Now shhh, the adults are talking.
Shut up stupid, you’re out of you league .
So I guess you’re on the ban Glock pistols team too because those same “illegal hands” are building select fire Glock switches? Criminals don’t care about laws. Did you know there are countries that suppressors are mandatory. The objective is to lower the noise level. The SBR and Suppressor NFA laws have always been ridiculous. You’re either a Democrat or you’re watching to many Movies.
Trump promised to remove suppressors from the NFA during his Season 1. Another broken promise by a politician.
That was a pretty spectacular reversal. He went from “the most 2A friendly President ever” with the HUSH act to banning bump stocks in less than a week.
You guys better pray that nobody does a high-profile mass shooting with a suppressor or SBR before Trump loses interest in or needs to wag the dog over the Iran War before the midterms. Or, better yet, after the historic blue wave arriving early in November.
Blue watermelons, that is. 😬
Okay. Easy to see your a demonicrat. That’s fine. We can disagree on politics.
Truth is I don’t want a mass shooting involving anything in any country. I already pray for that.
I hope you don’t take glee upon hearing of a shooting. That’s disgusting and that person truly needs to talk to God about it if they feel like that.
I take no glee in mass casualty events. My comment was saying that such a tragedy has been historically what it takes to advance common sense gun violence legislation and even Trump can be moved to the right side of things in such moments. Also to remind folks that Trump cannot be counted on for consistency.
how about instead, applying some “common sense” judicial hearings for those that break the law!
No glee? Keep pretending. You celebrate all forms of chaos that can be spun into some fake, vote-getting outrage. My condolences to your friends in the IRGC.
whats to appeal, no tax so now it is gun registration plain and simple…..which is illegal.
Exactly, and it isn’t even a weapon.