This Ping List is for all news pertaining to infringes upon or victories for the 2nd Amendment.
FReepmail me if you want to be added to or deleted from this Ping List.
More 2nd Amendment related articles on FR's Bang List.
Posted on 12/21/2025 5:59:07 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum
Gun owners’ number one fighter in Washington, D.C., Representative Andrew Clyde, along with five senators and 35 other House members, have sent a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi.
In this letter, they’ve made it clear that the DOJ is out of line with Congress’ intent.
Specifically, they cite the Justice Department’s recent defense of the National Firearms Act in the Gun Owners of America case that we’re affectionately calling the “One Big Beautiful Lawsuit.”
The case itself, Silencer Shop Foundation v. ATF, centers around the recent removal of the $200 tax from items regulated by the National Firearms Act. Specifically, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, AOWs (short for “any other weapons,” a catch-all term for items that don’t fit neatly into the other categories of regulation), and silencers.
Previously, purchasing one of these highly regulated items would require a $200 tax payment, a background check including fingerprints and passport photos, and a lengthy wait.
But thanks to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed by President Trump in July, that $200 tax payment was removed from those aforementioned items.
Unfortunately, the registration requirements of the National Firearms Act remain. That’s why we at Gun Owners of America are suing ATF and the Department of Justice to remove the registration requirements on these items.
The National Firearms Act and its registry, the NFRTR or National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record, have been declared a legitimate use of Congress’ article 1 power of taxation.
Keyword: “Taxation.”
The NFA registry is a registry of tax payments, and those tax payments are associated with firearms. This is a sneaky way to get around calling it a gun registry, instead – it’s a tax registry.
But what do you do when the tax has been decreased to zero dollars?
Well, the Department of Justice wants to keep the registration requirements in place, along with the penalties for noncompliance.
That’s like if the IRS abolished the income tax but demanded that you still complete your W2 or 1099 tax forms every year, otherwise face prison time and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines.
To make matters worse, the DOJ used common anti-gun talking points to justify their defense of this unconstitutional registration scheme.
Here are some of the highlights:
Rep. Clyde and 40 other members of Congress disagree. In fact, here’s what they had to say:
The registration requirements under the NFA are, in fact, inseparably linked to its taxation provisions. Registration serves as the mechanism by which the ATF accounts for the tax paid on each firearm, identified by its serial number.
The tax stamp affixed by the ATF to an NFA transfer and registration application reflects both the firearm’s serial number and the amount of tax paid for the transfer.
Moreover, the NFA’s criminal provisions pertain exclusively to the failure to pay or register the payment of this tax with the ATF. Any reinterpretation of the NFA that allows registration to persist once taxation has been removed contradicts the statute’s text, its structure, and Supreme Court precedent.
Following the OBBBA’s elimination of the tax on a broad class of firearms regulated under the NFA, the constitutional foundation for applying the NFA’s transfer and registration requirements to those $0-tax firearms no longer exists.
These requirements now operate without any corresponding exercise of Congress’s taxing power. As the Supreme Court upheld the NFA’s provisions only as “in aid” of that power, and since the relevant excise taxes have been repealed, the transfer and registration requirements should likewise be understood as repealed with respect to firearms now subject to a $0 tax.
The Department’s recent filing ignores this reality and instead offers a theory that would convert the NFA from a tax statute into a free-standing federal gun registry – an outcome Congress has never authorized and has repeatedly rejected.
In our lawsuit, we establish that thanks to two Supreme Court cases from the 1930s, US v. Sonzinsky & US v. Constantine, the Supreme Court has said that the NFA is an exercise of Congress’ taxing power, and in addition, a tax that generates no revenue is therefore not a tax at all.
Rep. Clyde also states this plainly in his letter, saying:
As you are well aware, Congress enacted the National Firearms Act in 1934, imposing an excise tax of $200 — equivalent to nearly $5,000 today — on the manufacture and transfer of certain firearms. The NFA also established burdensome registration requirements for gun owners seeking to transfer NFA-regulated firearms…
Congress enacted the NFA pursuant to its taxing power under Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution. The Supreme Court, in Sonzinsky v. United States, held that the NFA’s registration provisions were “supportable as in aid” of Congress’s proper exercise of the taxing power. Furthermore, the Supreme Court in United States v. Constantine held that a tax that doesn’t generate revenue cannot be justified as a tax.
The National Firearms Act’s legal foundation is that it’s an outgrowth of Congress’ taxing power. But when that tax is removed, does the federal government still get to maintain a registry?
The answer is obviously no.
We want to work with the Department of Justice to abolish unconstitutional gun control, not fight them tooth and nail as they defend it. At any time, they can decide if they want to be on the side of the Second Amendment.
Maybe this letter from Congress will help the DOJ see that!
the duplicity of the “gun controllers” is exceeded by precious few things
Maybe suppressor prices will fall.
Unfortunately the tax stamp requirement for suppressors is still in effect.
41 members of congress shilling for the cartels.
In order to be in line with the Constitutions express prohibitions... the entirey of USC Title 18 Chapter 44 needs to be redacted and applied against the States via Supremacy clause, 10th and 14th Amendments as per Heller and Bruen and...
Trump is a New York business mogel.
Bondi was weak on 2A issues before being appointed AG.
Now is the time to take a stand for what is RIGHT.
ping!......
A supressor should cost no more than a decent flashlight and be sold almost everywhere you find the usual sporting goods.
Remove the onerous taxtaxless stamp and registration requirement!
On 1 Jan, that cost is $0.00. Which is why the FFL letter went out trying to get everyone to submit before the 24th so they can close down the registration system to reset the costs...
Why? I thought they repealed it.
The demand for suppressors will increase which will drive the price up....for awhile.
I always wanted to try one of those DIY, 2L pop bottle mufflers on a 22lr rifle.
The Attorney General’s job includes defending the executive branch against lawsuits.
I’m waiting to see if Pam’s actual intent is to defend the NFA, but badly enough to lose.
This Ping List is for all news pertaining to infringes upon or victories for the 2nd Amendment.
FReepmail me if you want to be added to or deleted from this Ping List.
More 2nd Amendment related articles on FR's Bang List.
I didn’t know the cartels were big defenders of the 2nd Amendment.
If the Forms/tax requirement goes away, you can make one in your garage for about $20.
The only thing stopping you now is that Federales will come and kill you if they find out.
Doesn’t work as well as you might think.. It helps... but it’s a matter of degrees.
*YouTube videos exist. Or, they did.
*in Minecraft
41 members of congress standing up for the 2A
Most of my PCP airguns have suppressors, affectionately called lead dust collectors or similar. Quite effective, some airguns are pretty loud. They are not regulated.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.