Gun Owners Of America Lawsuit Strikes Down Parts Of National Firearms Act

via Gun Owners of America,

On August 5, we at Gun Owners of America won our “One Big Beautiful Lawsuit,” against the registration requirements of the National Firearms Act at the district level in Texas.

This is definitely one of the biggest wins for gun rights – ever.

BREAKING

In GOA’s case, a federal court just stuck down NFA registration for:

Suppressors
Short-Barreled Rifles
Short-Barreled Shotguns

GOA & our allies in Congress eliminated the tax.

The National Firearms Act of 1934 is now UNCONSTITUTIONAL as applied.

— Gun Owners of America (@GunOwners) August 5, 2026

We’re proud to have fought this fight, but it’s not over yet. The Department of Justice still has the opportunity to appeal, and the court stayed its order for seven days to give them time to seek appellate review. Although as of the writing of this article, they have not done so.

Also, the Judge in this case limited protection to members of Gun Owners of America and other named plaintiffs.

We fought for a nationwide injunction, but the Judge did not grant it to us.

So, because of the ruling, we’re encouraging everyone who would like protection from the National Firearms Act’s registration requirements to become GOA members.

Since 1934, the National Firearms Act has tightly regulated Short Barreled Firearms (rifles, shotguns), Suppressors, Machineguns, Destructive Devices, and “Any Other Weapons” (a catch-all term for other firearms that don’t quite fit in the other categories.)

To purchase any of these items, Americans must submit to a lengthy background check process that includes passport photos, fingerprinting, address disclosure, and paying a $200 tax.

That is, until President Trump signed the “One Big Beautiful Bill” on July 4, 2025.

In that legislation, Congress removed the $200 tax on some of these regulated items.

For short barreled firearms, suppressors, and “Any Other Weapons” or AOWs, the tax was reduced to $0, effective January 1, 2026. Machineguns and destructive devices were not included, and still carry the $200 tax. Thanks to the hard work of Gun Owners of America and our allies, this important change was added to the reconciliation bill and passed into law.

And while GOA fought for a complete removal of the registration requirements, the Senate Parliamentarian removed them at the last second, leading us to call for her removal.

We at GOA were furious that at the last second, an unelected bureaucrat removed arguably the most important part of the legislation – the registration of these firearms.

While there was still a massive win for gun rights, it was incomplete.

So, we sued.

The bureaucrats at ATF and DOJ did not want to give up their registry. They fought us tooth and nail in court, arguing that just because the tax was reduced to $0, it doesn’t mean that they couldn’t register that “tax” as paid, and keep their gun registry intact.

But, thanks to a few cases from the 1930s, the Supreme Court had already ruled on this issue.

SCOTUS ruled in the 1935 case United States v. Constantine that when a tax stops functioning as a genuine revenue-generating measure, it stops functioning as a tax, and courts must evaluate if it is in fact a regulation disguised as a tax.

Which is exactly what a $0 tax on these NFA-regulated items is.

These regulations cannot be justified as “necessary and proper” as the Department of Justice argued in our case. The court also rejected the government’s fallback argument that the Commerce Clause could carry the scheme, finding no sign Congress ever invoked it. The entire constitutional foundation – Congress’s taxing power, that the National Firearms Act rested upon – was gone, so therefore the registration requirements that went along with the tax went as well.

So, on August 5 – a little over a year since we filed our lawsuit – U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix of the Northern District of Texas ruled that the items that had their taxes reduced to $0 were not subject to the registration and regulatory requirements of the National Firearms Act. The consolidated cases are Silencer Shop Foundation v. ATF and Jensen v. ATF.

“[T]he Court concludes that the challenged NFA provisions exceed Congress’s Article I enumerated powers and are therefore unconstitutional… [Gun Owners of America is] entitled to a permanent injunction against the challenged NFA provisions.” https://t.co/iyr4teQtN9 pic.twitter.com/UZA6waIAqc

— Gun Owners of America (@GunOwners) August 5, 2026

But, the fight doesn’t end here. The Department of Justice still can appeal our win. We’re prepared to fight this as long as it takes, and we’re confident that the law is on our side.

The Department of Justice could also decide not to appeal this ruling and let it take effect nationwide.

GOA members have been contacting their Senators and encouraging them to get Attorney General Todd Blanche to commit to not appeal this decision.

This Department of Justice likes to refer to itself as “the most pro-2A DOJ in history.”

Let’s make them walk the walk, instead of just talking the talk.

*** Gun Owners of America is the only No Compromise Gun Lobby in Washington DC