Firearms groups are going to court to eliminate a rule that was originally covered in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act but then pulled from the Senate's version of the spending reduction and permanent tax cut legislation.
The language originally in the House version of the bill eliminated the tax and registration requirement for suppressors included in the National Firearms Act. However, the Senate parliamentarian ruled that the change would not be allowed under the process used to manage the bill by Congress, and it was subsequently pulled.
Gun groups, such as the National Association for Gun Rights, cried foul, posting, "BREAKING: The Parliamentarian just sided with the anti-gun left and ruled against SHORT & HPA. This is a gut punch — but not the end."
The final version of the bill signed into law on the July 4 holiday by President Donald Trump eliminated the federal tax stamp, removing the $200 per covered item tax imposed by the Act, but the burdensome regulation language was kept intact.
The Gun Owners of America said it was time to finish the issue once and for all. "With the tax mechanism gutted and reduced to an unworkable state by Congress, GOA's forthcoming legal challenge will aim to strike down what remains of this obsolete and abusive law."
The GOA has long argued that the NFA registration requirement violates the Second Amendment and could only be viewed as an overreach of government restrictions and negatively impacting the right to bear arms.
The GOA, an individual member, and several additional firearms groups and businesses filed a federal lawsuit against the NFA regulation in a district court in Texas. The premise of the lawsuit is simple: Without charging a tax on suppressors, "that means the constitutional foundation on which the NFA rested has dissolved."
Jim Mishler ✉
Jim Mishler, a seasoned reporter, anchor and news director, has decades of experience covering crime, politics and environmental issues.
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