Wyoming Law Review
Manuscript 1516
Charles K. Eldred
The National Firearms Act (NFA) regulates certain firearms (most
importantly, short-barreled rifles and suppressors) under the taxing power.
The Supreme Court upheld it as such in the 1930s. But those precedents are
subject to attack under Heller and Bruen, since the NFA taxes the exercise of
constitutional rights the earlier precedents did not recognize—and does so
without any historical precedent. Moreover, consideration of rarely
considered limitations on the taxing power that the Supreme Court
reaffirmed in Sebelius leads to the conclusion that several provisions of the
NFA violate the taxing power, independent of any Second Amendment
concerns. In sum, the NFA violates the Constitution, in total or in parts.