Gun-rights organizations like Gun Owners of America (GOA) and the Second Amendment Foundation are doubling down in federal courts, hammering the Department of Justice (DOJ) for stubbornly defending the National Firearms Act (NFA) despite Congress gutting its core mechanism back in 1986. The NFA, that dusty 1934 relic imposing taxes and registrations on suppressors, short-barreled rifles, and other gangster gadgets, lost its revenue-raising pretense when the Firearm Owners’ Protection Act zeroed out the infamous $200 transfer tax. Yet here we are in 2024, with the DOJ clutching pearls and arguing the registration scheme still stands—pure bureaucratic inertia masquerading as law. These lawsuits, including GOA’s high-profile challenges in Texas and Wisconsin, aren’t just paperwork skirmishes; they’re precision strikes at the heart of administrative overreach, forcing judges to confront whether a taxless tax registry violates the Second Amendment post-Bruen.
The clever angle? This is regulatory judo. Plaintiffs are wielding the Supreme Court’s Bruen framework—text, history, and tradition—like a constitutional crowbar, arguing there’s zero founding-era analog for forcing Americans to register their property with the feds before exercising their rights. The NFA’s tax was always a prohibition in sheep’s clothing, and without it, the whole apparatus crumbles under modern scrutiny. Implications for the 2A community are electric: victories here could shatter the suppressor tax stamp backlog (hello, instant Hearing Protection Act vibes), unleash SBRs and AOWs from ATF purgatory, and set precedents nuking other public safety registries. It’s a domino ready to topple, pressuring pistol brace rules and beyond—imagine owning a braced AR without the fed’s permission slip.
For gun owners, this is rally-the-troops time. Support these cases through amicus briefs, donations to GOA/SAF, or just spreading the word—the DOJ’s defense is flimsier than a polymer frame in a drop test. If courts side with history over bureaucracy, we’re looking at a massive expansion of practical 2A carry options overnight. Stay vigilant; the battle for unalienable rights never sleeps.
