The Trump Justice Department’s decision to defend the National Firearms Act’s registration requirements in the wake of Wolford is more than a legal footnote—it’s a calculated attempt to keep the federal government’s foot in the door of private gun ownership. By insisting that the Supreme Court’s ruling only carved out a narrow exception for certain short-barreled rifles, DOJ is effectively telling the lower courts that the rest of the NFA’s tax-and-register regime remains untouched. That stance forces gun owners to shoulder the burden of proving why their firearms should not be treated like machine guns or suppressors, flipping the constitutional presumption on its head and turning every NFA application into a de-facto licensing checkpoint.
Mark Smith’s critique lands because it exposes the shell game: the government is repackaging a national firearm registry as a mere “licensing system” while leaning on the discredited logic of Miller to justify it. If the courts accept that framing, the NFA’s registration database—already the largest federal list of individual gun owners—becomes a permanent fixture rather than a historical anomaly. That database is not just an administrative convenience; it is the infrastructure for future confiscation or targeted enforcement, and the Trump DOJ’s brief signals that even a pro-2A administration is reluctant to dismantle it.
For the broader Second Amendment community, the takeaway is sobering. Wolford may have chipped away at one corner of the NFA, but the underlying architecture of federal gun registration is being actively defended by the very officials many gun owners hoped would tear it down. The fight is no longer just about short-barreled rifles or suppressors; it is about whether the federal government will be allowed to maintain a permanent, searchable list of who owns what. If DOJ’s position prevails, the NFA’s registry will remain the quiet centerpiece of federal firearms policy, and every future administration—regardless of party—will inherit a ready-made tool for tracking and ultimately controlling lawful gun owners.
