The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) just dropped a bombshell response brief in their ongoing crusade against the National Firearms Act (NFA), and it’s a masterclass in constitutional lawyering that could reshape how we view suppressors, short-barreled rifles, and the whole tangled web of NFA restrictions. At the heart of the challenge—filed in response to the government’s rehearing petition in Mock v. Garland—is the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which zeroed out the infamous $200 transfer tax. SAF argues this isn’t just a price cut; it’s a death knell for the NFA’s registration scheme. Without a revenue-generating tax, they contend, the entire regulatory framework collapses under its own weight, as the Supreme Court has long held that mere registration absent a tax lacks constitutional cover. Think about it: the NFA was sold in 1934 as a revenue measure to dodge Second Amendment scrutiny, but strip away the tax, and you’re left with naked gun control masquerading as bureaucracy.
This isn’t SAF’s first rodeo—they’re the crew behind landmark wins like Bruen and Rahimi—but this filing cleverly leverages post-Bruen history-and-tradition tests to dismantle the NFA’s foundations. By highlighting how the tax repeal exposes the Act’s true intent (control, not revenue), they’re forcing courts to confront whether modern NFA rules align with our Founding-era right to bear arms commonly used for self-defense. Evidence from the brief points to ATF data showing NFA items like suppressors are used defensively far more than criminally, flipping the public safety narrative on its head. For the 2A community, the implications are electric: a win here could deregulate millions of law-abiding owners overnight, slashing wait times, fees, and red tape that currently treat Americans like suspects for owning hearing-safe cans or compact home-defense rifles.
Gun owners, this is why we celebrate orgs like SAF—they’re not just litigating; they’re architecting freedom. If the Ninth Circuit bites, expect a Supreme Court encore, potentially echoing Rahimi’s nod to historical analogues while gutting NFA overreach. Stock up on popcorn (and maybe a suppressor trust), because the dominoes are falling, and the right to keep and bear arms just got a turbo boost. Stay vigilant, patriots—your Second Amendment is in the fight of its life, and SAF is swinging for the fences.
