Judge Takes Sledgehammer To National Firearms Act

A federal judge ruled Wednesday that the National Firearms Act (NFA) no longer applies to suppressors and other items whose taxes were reduced to $0 in July 2025.

United States District Judge James Wesley Hendrix of the Northern District of Texas, a Trump appointee, granted a motion for summary judgement from attorneys representing the Silencer Shop Foundation Wednesday. In the 66-page opinion, Hendrix said that because taxes on suppressors, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns and other items had been reduced to $0 by legislation signed by President Donald Trump in July 2025, the registration and paperwork imposed by the NFA exceeded Congress’ authority under the taxation power.

“In 2025, Congress eliminated the NFA’s transfer and making taxes for four categories of firearms: short-barreled shotguns, short-barreled rifles, silencers, and a final, defined group of miscellaneous firearms,” Hendrix wrote. “Because today’s NFA does not generate any revenue from untaxed firearms, its regulatory provisions cannot be upheld under the taxing power. And there is no sign in the NFA’s text, structure, or statutory history that Congress invoked any other power in crafting the NFA provisions at issue. Thus, the regulatory provisions must be enjoined as unconstitutional because they exceed Congress’s enumerated powers.”

After the Senate parliamentarian struck language that removed those items from NFA’s purview, Congress reduced the taxes to $0.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has admitted in multiple legal filings since May 2025 that the “beneficial use” of suppressors overwhelms their misuse by criminals. The DOJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“As promised, the NRA is leading the charge to dismantle—and ultimately end—the National Firearms Act,” NRA-ILA Executive Director John Commerford said in a statement. “Our successful effort to eliminate the $200 NFA tax created the opening for our world-class attorneys to secure this historic federal court ruling that the NFA is unconstitutional. The fight to fully repeal this archaic gun-control measure is not over, but today’s decision is a major step in the right direction.”

The DOJ’s supplemental brief in Peterson v. United States, another case involving charges of possessing an unregistered suppressor, admitted that suppressors and other firearms components and accessories were protected under the Second Amendment.