Gun Laws And 2a
Lawsuit Challenges Federal Oversight of Untaxed Firearms
Gun rights coalition files federal lawsuit to dismantle NFA's registration requirements post-tax repeal
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✍️By ZRIntel Editorial Team📍St. Louis, Missouri
In a major constitutional challenge, several leading Second Amendment organizationsNRA, SAF, ASA, FPC, and othershave jointly filed a federal lawsuit seeking to invalidate key components of the National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA). The suit, filed in the Eastern District of Missouri under the name Brown v. ATF, comes on the heels of President Trumps One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB), which eliminated the $200 federal tax on short-barreled rifles, shotguns, and suppressors as of January 1, 2026. Plaintiffs argue that with the tax component removed, the NFAs remaining regulatory frameworkespecially registration requirementsno longer has constitutional footing. The suit cites that the original justification for the NFA was taxation, not prohibition, and that maintaining a registration regime without an active tax serves only to hinder Second Amendment rights. Adam Kraut of the SAF emphasized the NFAs tax-based origins, noting that "continued inclusion of these items in the NFA serves no purpose," now that the excise taxes are abolished. The plaintiffs are also invoking Supreme Court precedent from Sonzinsky v. United States, which validated the NFA solely under Congress's taxing authority. By eliminating the tax, the lawsuit contends, Congress has removed the legal basis for continued federal control. The plaintiffs seek an injunction against enforcement of any NFA provisions related to making, transferring, or possessing these untaxed arms. The suit also leans heavily on the Supreme Courts Bruen decision, arguing that the registration of suppressors and short-barreled rifles lacks historical precedent and violates the original intent of the Second Amendment.