The Department of Justice’s latest filing in the Fifth Circuit is less a retreat than a calculated pause, signaling that the Biden-Harris administration still views the National Firearms Act’s registration and tax regime as a hill worth dying on. By asking the court to hold off on final judgment while it “evaluates its options,” DOJ is buying time to decide whether to roll the dice at the Supreme Court—an implicit admission that the district court’s reasoning, grounded in Bruen’s text-and-tradition test, has exposed the NFA’s historical weaknesses. The move also keeps the case alive as political leverage: an election-year talking point that paints any pro-2A ruling as a radical threat to “public safety.”

For the gun-owning public, the filing is both vindication and warning. It confirms that the legal theory advanced by plaintiffs—that the NFA’s $200 tax and registration scheme lacks a sufficiently analogous historical predicate—is landing in federal court. Yet it also underscores how entrenched the administrative state remains; even a clear constitutional win at the trial level can be stalled by endless procedural maneuvering. If DOJ ultimately appeals, expect a renewed battle over whether the NFA’s 1934 framework can survive Bruen scrutiny, with implications that stretch far beyond short-barreled rifles and suppressors to the broader constitutionality of federal gun taxes and registration.

Strategically, the 2A community should treat this as a dress rehearsal for the next round. Amicus efforts, historical research, and state-level nullification measures all gain urgency while the case sits in limbo. The DOJ’s hesitation may look like weakness, but it is also an opportunity to lock in favorable precedent before a potentially less friendly Supreme Court has the final word.