Rather than create a new topic every time there's Second Amendment news, I thought I would just make one topic and post those events as they occur in the same topic. I'll start here with today's latest news.
After 34 years, the federal rights restoration process is now accepting applicants:
https://www.justice.gov/ffrr
The Justice Department has released a memorandum stating that the federal ban on handgun sales to 18- to 20-year-olds is unconstitutional and cannot be enforced:
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice- ... tional-and
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Second Amendment in the News
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Michael M
- Engineer
- Posts: 1094
- Joined: Thu Aug 25, 2022 11:53 pm
Second Amendment in the News
"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat." - Teddy Roosevelt
-
Michael M
- Engineer
- Posts: 1094
- Joined: Thu Aug 25, 2022 11:53 pm
The current status of the NFA
First, the disclaimer: IANAL, and nothing herein should be construed as legal advice.
I'm going to do my best to tell this story as accurately as possible. I will present it as a timeline.
In January of this year, the NFA (National Firearms Act) tax was removed. You were still required to register suppressors, SBRs, and SBSs with an ATF Form 4 (Form 5320.4), or an ATF Form 1 (Form 5320.1) if you were building one yourself. Now, because there was no tax, that opened up an opportunity for a challenge to the NFA. And that's exactly what happened.
Two separate lawsuits against the ATF were filed in 2025. Silencer Shop Foundation v. ATF and Jensen v. ATF. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas consolidated these two cases.
On August 5, 2026, that District Court determined that because the items are no longer taxed, the registration and recordkeeping requirements face constitutional problems. Accordingly, the court ruled that registration was no longer required, with an important caveat. It's a U.S. District Court ruling, not a Supreme Court ruling, so it only applies to a certain group of people who have a nexus to the petitioners. That would include:
Members of the Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC).
Members of Gun Owners of America (GOA).
Members of the Texas State Rifle Association (TSRA).
Members of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA).
Customers of Silencer Shop and likely customers buying from other explicitly protected entities, such as Palmetto State Armory, SilencerCo, or B&T, depending on their downstream affiliation with the dockets.
There's another caveat. The DOJ has until October to appeal that decision. Immediately, and I believe foolishly, dealers began selling suppressors with only a 4473. It was expected that the DOJ would not appeal, but I cautioned friends that perhaps it would be best to just wait it out.
It was announced a few days ago that the DOJ will not be appealing that decision, but I still would still wait for two reasons. One is the ATF first providing written guidance, and the second is economic. People are going to be rushing to buy suppressors, creating a huge demand that will drive up prices. Waiting for that to pass should yield some savings.
I'm going to add to this a narrative on what is not included here: machine guns and destructive devices. I'm also going to talk about what no one else apparently is talking about, which really surprises me.
I'm going on the record to say that fully automatic firearms will never be removed from the NFA, and the reason for that will be driven by people who are pro-gun. That sounds counterintuitive, but let me explain. That explanation will reveal a devious but extremely effective anti-gun effort.
In 1986, Congress passed the Firearm Owners Protection Act. Like many bills, the title did not accurately reflect the bill. It was anything but. Included in that bill was a provision that kept fully automatic firearms, or in some cases the sear, lawful to own, but prevented the introduction of any new fully automatic firearms into civilian ownership.
It was easy to foretell the results of that. As the years go by, the population would grow, but we would have the same number of fully automatic firearms. More people would be chasing the same amount of product. That's simple economics that would drive the price up, and that is exactly what happened. An M16 that cost $1,500 in 1986 costs $40,000 or more today.
The people who have collections of these firearms are wealthy and have influence. Were the NFA repealed, the value those collections would plummet overnight. Those owners are not going to let that happen.
Of course, what is being discussed here are federal laws. Individual state laws can be more restrictive, and many are. Although, it is worth pointing out that there were some provisions in FOPA that were preemptive, meaning the states could not be more restrictive. Included in that was the transportation of firearms between states.
Note: The NFA was passed in 1934. A similar event took place a few years later with the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937. Rather than outlawing marijuana, you needed a tax stamp to possess it, and, not surprisingly, the government didn't issue any tax stamps. In 1969, the Supreme Court struck that down as unconstitutional. The NFA remain and the Gun Control Act of 1968 was also passed.
In the coming days, I'll likely write about what has been going on in the post office, but that's enough for now.
I'm going to do my best to tell this story as accurately as possible. I will present it as a timeline.
In January of this year, the NFA (National Firearms Act) tax was removed. You were still required to register suppressors, SBRs, and SBSs with an ATF Form 4 (Form 5320.4), or an ATF Form 1 (Form 5320.1) if you were building one yourself. Now, because there was no tax, that opened up an opportunity for a challenge to the NFA. And that's exactly what happened.
Two separate lawsuits against the ATF were filed in 2025. Silencer Shop Foundation v. ATF and Jensen v. ATF. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas consolidated these two cases.
On August 5, 2026, that District Court determined that because the items are no longer taxed, the registration and recordkeeping requirements face constitutional problems. Accordingly, the court ruled that registration was no longer required, with an important caveat. It's a U.S. District Court ruling, not a Supreme Court ruling, so it only applies to a certain group of people who have a nexus to the petitioners. That would include:
Members of the Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC).
Members of Gun Owners of America (GOA).
Members of the Texas State Rifle Association (TSRA).
Members of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA).
Customers of Silencer Shop and likely customers buying from other explicitly protected entities, such as Palmetto State Armory, SilencerCo, or B&T, depending on their downstream affiliation with the dockets.
There's another caveat. The DOJ has until October to appeal that decision. Immediately, and I believe foolishly, dealers began selling suppressors with only a 4473. It was expected that the DOJ would not appeal, but I cautioned friends that perhaps it would be best to just wait it out.
It was announced a few days ago that the DOJ will not be appealing that decision, but I still would still wait for two reasons. One is the ATF first providing written guidance, and the second is economic. People are going to be rushing to buy suppressors, creating a huge demand that will drive up prices. Waiting for that to pass should yield some savings.
I'm going to add to this a narrative on what is not included here: machine guns and destructive devices. I'm also going to talk about what no one else apparently is talking about, which really surprises me.
I'm going on the record to say that fully automatic firearms will never be removed from the NFA, and the reason for that will be driven by people who are pro-gun. That sounds counterintuitive, but let me explain. That explanation will reveal a devious but extremely effective anti-gun effort.
In 1986, Congress passed the Firearm Owners Protection Act. Like many bills, the title did not accurately reflect the bill. It was anything but. Included in that bill was a provision that kept fully automatic firearms, or in some cases the sear, lawful to own, but prevented the introduction of any new fully automatic firearms into civilian ownership.
It was easy to foretell the results of that. As the years go by, the population would grow, but we would have the same number of fully automatic firearms. More people would be chasing the same amount of product. That's simple economics that would drive the price up, and that is exactly what happened. An M16 that cost $1,500 in 1986 costs $40,000 or more today.
The people who have collections of these firearms are wealthy and have influence. Were the NFA repealed, the value those collections would plummet overnight. Those owners are not going to let that happen.
Of course, what is being discussed here are federal laws. Individual state laws can be more restrictive, and many are. Although, it is worth pointing out that there were some provisions in FOPA that were preemptive, meaning the states could not be more restrictive. Included in that was the transportation of firearms between states.
Note: The NFA was passed in 1934. A similar event took place a few years later with the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937. Rather than outlawing marijuana, you needed a tax stamp to possess it, and, not surprisingly, the government didn't issue any tax stamps. In 1969, the Supreme Court struck that down as unconstitutional. The NFA remain and the Gun Control Act of 1968 was also passed.
In the coming days, I'll likely write about what has been going on in the post office, but that's enough for now.
"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat." - Teddy Roosevelt
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