Gun-Rights Groups React To NFA Court Ruling
Gun-Rights Groups React To NFA Court Ruling
The ruling: Congress lost the constitutional basis when it zeroed out the tax
On August 5, U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix of the Northern District of Texas granted summary judgment for the plaintiffs in the consolidated cases Jensen v. ATF and Silencer Shop Foundation v. ATF, ruling that the NFA’s registration, application, approval, and enforcement provisions exceed Congress’s enumerated powers as applied to the firearms Congress stopped taxing. That means suppressors, short-barreled rifles (SBRs), short-barreled shotguns (SBSs), and “any other weapons” (AOWs) will now be treated like other firearms for sales purposes.
In the decision, U.S. District Court Judge James Wesley Hendrix ruled that “by zeroing out the transfer and making taxes for most NFA firearms, Congress eliminated the constitutional basis for the regulations that formerly supported the taxes for those firearms.”
FPC’s Combs: This is a massive step in the plan to end the NFA
The ruling drew applause from members of the gun-rights community, including the Firearms Policy Coalition, which had backed one of the lawsuits.
“This is a massive win and an important step forward in our strategic plan to end the NFA,” Brandon Combs, FPC president, said in a news release announcing the ruling. “We cannot wait to fully and finally eliminate this unconstitutional scheme so people can exercise their rights when, where and how they choose.”