Lawsuit Targets NFA Itself

A federal lawsuit backed by the Firearms Policy Coalition is taking direct aim at the National Firearms Act, not just one provision of it.

State of play: The case, Jensen v. ATF, challenges the NFA's tax-and-register framework as unconstitutional under the Bruen standard. Plaintiffs include individual gun owners, a Texas firearms business, and the Texas State Rifle Association.

Catch up quick:

• The NFA (1934) imposes a $200 tax and federal registration requirement on suppressors, short-barreled rifles, machine guns, and other regulated items
• New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass'n v. Bruen (2022) requires gun regulations to be grounded in historical tradition at the founding — not just a government interest in public safety
• FPC has been running a coordinated litigation strategy to dismantle unconstitutional gun laws layer by layer; this is one of the more aggressive swings

The legal question: Bruen shifted the burden to the government to prove a regulation has historical roots. The NFA's registration-and-tax scheme dates to 1934 — nearly 150 years after the founding. The plaintiffs argue there's no founding-era analog for requiring Americans to register arms with the federal government and pay a fee to exercise a constitutional right.

The intrigue: This isn't a challenge to how the ATF enforces the NFA, or a narrow dispute about a specific rule. The lawsuit targets the statute itself. A win wouldn't just trim the NFA — it would gut it.

Yes, but: Federal courts have been cautious about sweeping NFA rulings even post-Bruen. Some judges have upheld NFA provisions by finding historical analogs in colonial-era restrictions on certain weapons. This case will likely face that same headwind, and appeals could take years regardless of the district court outcome.

What to watch: How the district court applies the Bruen two-step to an entire statutory framework rather than a single provision. A favorable ruling here — even a partial one — would set up a circuit split that could force the Supreme Court's hand on NFA constitutionality.