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The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) believes three recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions could dramatically strengthen its ongoing legal fight against what’s left of the National Firearms Act (NFA).
If you’ve been wondering why suppressor lawsuits are suddenly back in the spotlight, here’s the brass tacks version.
Last year, Congress eliminated the $200 tax on suppressors and short-barreled rifles through the One Big Beautiful Bill. That tax had long been one of the key pillars supporting the NFA’s regulation of those items.
SAF argues that once Congress removed the tax, it also knocked out the constitutional foundation for keeping the NFA’s registration requirements in place.
Now the organization says three Supreme Court decisions handed down this summer give that argument even more momentum.
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The first is Landor, which SAF says reinforces the idea that Congress can’t stretch its taxing power beyond its constitutional limits. In plain English, if there’s no tax anymore, SAF argues there’s much less justification for maintaining a federal registration scheme built around that tax.
The other two cases: Wolford and Hemani, deal with the Second Amendment itself.
According to SAF, those rulings make it even clearer that suppressors and short-barreled rifles qualify as protected “arms” under the Constitution. That shifts the burden to the government to prove those restrictions are consistent with the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.
SAF Senior Director of Legal Operations Bill Sack said the new rulings allow the organization to better explain “why the remaining registration scheme left in the NFA lacks constitutional authority and is a direct violation of Americans’ Second Amendment rights.”
SAF founder Alan Gottlieb made a similar point, saying the Supreme Court’s recent opinions are “binding precedent” that should strengthen the organization’s cases challenging the remaining NFA registration requirements.
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Those arguments are now being presented in three federal lawsuits: Brown v. ATF, Jensen v. ATF, and Roberts v. ATF. All of which seek to eliminate the remaining federal registration requirements for suppressors and short-barreled firearms now that the tax itself has been repealed.
None of this means the NFA is about to disappear overnight.
These are still active cases working their way through the federal courts. And judges will ultimately decide whether SAF’s constitutional arguments carry the day. But there’s little doubt the legal landscape has changed since the Supreme Court’s latest Second Amendment rulings.
If SAF is right, the next major battle over suppressors and short-barreled rifles may no longer be about the tax. It’ll be about whether the federal government can keep requiring Americans to register firearms after the very tax that justified those regulations is gone.
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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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I’m amazed at the advances made in eliminating some of the ridiculous draconian gun restrictions. (Thank you President Trump!) I’m in the market for my 1st suppressor, but everytime i come here there’s a new article about the nfa that makes me stop from pressing the ‘Buy Now’ button on the suppressor website lol
I bought three at different times over 15 years ago back when you had to jump through flaming hoops to purchase one. First – I had to pay $1500 for a lawyer to draw up a gun trust, pay $200 for EACH suppressor stamp, the cost of the suppressors of course, and then wait over a year for the fed to complete my paperwork on each ‘can’ while it sat on the dealers shelf. Three suppressors – three years waiting.
Now’s the time to make the purchase. It couldn’t be easier. Don’t wait until the next election or you may regret it.
Good advice, thank you. I just made a purchase for one.
There’s absolutely no reason suppressor sells can’t be sold and documented under a form 4473 since they are serialized. In some countries you can walk into any hardware store and purchase one off the shelf with no paperwork whatsoever. It’s considered safety equipment, no more, no less. ‘Hollyweed’ is to blame for glorifying the use of suppressors in the movies.
It wasn’t Hollywood. It was a few semi-high profile crimes back in the prohibition days, including the mob assassination of Henry Ginsburg. Sensationalist media was just as effective back then as it still is today, and suppressors got grouped into the same lot as the Thompsons used in the Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre.