Second Amendment Foundation Challenges Constitutionality of National Firearms Act

The Second Amendment Foundation has filed a new lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the National Firearms Act.

The groups Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, FPC Action Foundation, Texas Rifle Association, Hot Shots Custom and three people: John Jensen, Jeremy Neusch, and David Lynn Smith filed the lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

Since 1934, the NFA required anyone who wished to purchase a silencer, short-barreled rifle, short-barreled shotgun or “Any Other Weapon” to pay a $200 tax and register the firearm with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The One Big Beautiful Bill removed the tax on these arms but kept the registration requirement.

The newly filed suit seeks to completely remove the affected arms from the NFA, eliminating the remaining registration requirements for gun silencers, short-barreled rifles, or barreled shotguns.

“With the tax now set to $0, the remaining registration requirements for these arms under the NFA have no constitutional basis,” said SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut. “Completely removing them from the NFA is now a must, and this suit aims to eradicate the barriers to the exercise of the Second Amendment. SAF is already a plaintiff in its own lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of these elements of the NFA, and now our sister organization the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms is joining the fight as a plaintiff with our financial backing in this companion case.”

The SAF posted on social media:

“MAJOR 2A LAWSUIT FILED: SAF and partners have filed another groundbreaking complaint against the ATF and DOJ in the Northern District of Texas. After the One Big Beautiful Bill Act eliminated taxes on suppressors, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, and other NFA items, the NFA’s invasive registration scheme is left without constitutional basis—it’s no longer a tax measure and violates the Second Amendment. This suit argues the NFA exceeds Congress’s powers for untaxed firearms and infringes on the right to keep and bear common arms like suppressors and SBRs, which are neither dangerous nor unusual. Law-abiding Americans shouldn’t face felony charges for exercising their rights without government tracking.

 Jensen v. ATF Compliant  by  scott.mcclallen 

SAF Founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb said that this is the best time to eliminate much of the gun law.

“This is the best opportunity in a generation to eliminate major portions of the NFA since its inception nearly a century ago,” Gottlieb said in a statement. “The government is going to be hard-pressed to justify the law as a tax without a tax, and the type of regulation of Second Amendment-protected arms seen in the NFA is without any historical support. We’re hopeful its days are numbered.”

The laws hurt firearm and accessory sales, the lawsuit said.

“For example, the NFA imposes burdensome recordkeeping requirements on HotShots Custom to sell NFA-covered firearms. In addition, Hot Shots Custom has heard from prospective customers who have expressed a desire to purchase an NFA firearm but declined to do so because they do not wish to submit personally identifying information to the federal government and go through the intrusive, time-consuming registration process.”