The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), flanked by heavy hitters like the American Suppressor Association (ASA), National Rifle Association (NRA), and Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC), just dropped a bombshell response brief in *Brown v. ATF*—their latest frontal assault on the National Firearms Act (NFA) of 1934. This isn’t some rehash of old gripes; it’s a precision strike timed perfectly after the One Big Beautiful Bill Act gutted the NFA’s infamous $200 tax stamp, stripping away the government’s last fig leaf for claiming the law was just a revenue measure. SAF argues that without the tax, the NFA’s registration mandates, transfer restrictions, and outright bans on items like suppressors, short-barreled rifles (SBRs), and machine guns are naked infringements on the right to keep and bear arms, plain and simple. Drawing from *Bruen*’s text-history-and-tradition test, the brief dismantles the ATF’s historical analogs as flimsy relics of a bygone era, emphasizing how modern NFA rules criminalize common arms that were everyday carry in the Founding period.
What makes this filing a game-changer? Context is king here: post-*Rahimi* and *Garland v. Cargill* (ditching the bump stock ban), the courts are ripe for a seismic shift, and this brief weaponizes that momentum. The coalition’s star power—SAF’s litigation prowess, ASA’s suppressor expertise, NRA’s firepower, and FPC’s aggressive edge—signals a united front that could force the feds into retreat. Implications for the 2A community are massive: victory would shatter the NFA’s stranglehold, normalizing suppressors as hearing protection (not silencers), freeing SBRs and SBSs from ATF purgatory, and potentially paving the way for broader challenges to assault weapon bans. Imagine ditching months-long waits and $200+ fees for tools that enhance safety and utility—it’s not just deregulation; it’s restoration of rights. Gun owners should watch this docket like hawks; if SAF prevails, the NFA’s empire crumbles, and the dominoes fall toward a freer Republic.
This fight underscores a brutal truth: the NFA was never about taxes; it was always about control. With the tax gone, the emperor has no clothes, and the 2A community stands stronger united. Stay tuned—*Brown v. ATF* could be the shot heard ’round the ranges.
