The National Rifle Association just dropped a bombshell by filing its third lawsuit against the National Firearms Act (NFA) of 1934, igniting fresh hope in the 2A battleground. This isn’t some rehash of old gripes—it’s a surgical strike at the heart of one of America’s oldest federal gun laws, which slaps a $200 tax stamp on suppressors, short-barreled rifles, and other Title II items, effectively pricing everyday Americans out of their exercise of constitutional rights. With the NRA joining forces from previous suits like those from Gun Owners of America and individual plaintiffs, this multi-front assault leverages post-Bruen momentum, where the Supreme Court’s 2022 smackdown of New York’s concealed carry restrictions demanded text, history, and tradition as the litmus test for gun laws. The NFA, born from the post-Prohibition era’s moral panic over gangsters wielding Thompsons, reeks of regulatory overreach that SCOTUS’s new framework could dismantle.
Digging deeper, this lawsuit spotlights the NFA’s absurdities: why should a law-abiding hunter pay Uncle Sam $200 (unchanged since FDR’s day, now worth about $4,500 adjusted for inflation) just to quiet a .22 rifle or shorten a shotgun for home defense? Critics have long called it a backdoor registration scheme masquerading as a tax, chilling Second Amendment exercise through bureaucracy—wait times stretch 6-12 months, and ATF errors have left innocents felons. The implications for the 2A community are electric: a win here could torch the entire NFA framework, normalizing suppressors as hearing protection (already legal in 42 states sans fed stamp) and unleashing innovation in compact firearms. It’s a ripple effect—picture AR pistols without SBR nonsense or machine gun replicas freed from Hughes Amendment shackles. Even if it climbs slowly through courts, this NRA salvo rallies the base, pressuring red-state AGs and Congress to defund ATF enforcement amid mounting challenges like Rahimi refinements.
For gun owners, this is red meat: the NRA proving it’s not just a lobbyist but a litigation powerhouse, echoing its historic wins from Heller to McDonald. As blue states double down on bans, victories like this fortify the high ground, reminding tyrants that the right to keep and bear arms isn’t negotiable—it’s etched in the founders’ ink. Stay tuned; the suppressors might soon be whispering freedom.
