Federal Judge Rules NFA Gun Registration Requirements Unconstitutional

It wasn't the Second Amendment that brought down the federal registry for suppressors and short-barreled rifles. It was the tax code. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix ruled that key registration requirements of the 1934 National Firearms Act (NFA) are unconstitutional, dismantling decades of federal oversight on the grounds that Congress lost its authority to mandate the paperwork when it eliminated the associated tax.[1]

For nearly a century, the NFA has required buyers of suppressors, short-barreled rifles, and short-barreled shotguns to submit fingerprints, photographs, and detailed applications to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). The entire regulatory apparatus was historically anchored by a $200 transfer and making tax. However, in 2025, Congress passed the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," which reduced the taxes on these specific items to zero while leaving the registration requirements intact.[1]

That legislative choice created a fatal constitutional vulnerability. Hendrix concluded that the NFA was originally enacted strictly under Congress's Article I taxing power. With the tax zeroed out, the judge ruled that the extensive regulatory and registration requirements lost their constitutional foundation. Because the modern NFA does not generate any revenue from untaxed firearms, the court determined its regulatory provisions can no longer be upheld as a tax-collection mechanism.

The Department of Justice attempted to save the registry by arguing it could be justified under the Commerce Clause, which grants Congress broad authority over interstate trade. Hendrix firmly rejected this defense, noting that Congress explicitly designed the NFA as a tax statute, not a general regulation of interstate commerce, and that the government cannot retroactively swap its constitutional justifications to save a failing law.[2]

The resulting injunction permanently bars the ATF from enforcing the registration requirements against the plaintiffs in the consolidated cases. Because the plaintiffs include major gun rights organizations like Gun Owners of America, the Second Amendment Foundation, and the National Rifle Association, as well as 15 states including Texas and Kansas, the ruling's protective umbrella covers millions of their members and residents.[2][3]

Notably, Hendrix dismissed the plaintiffs' Second Amendment claims without prejudice, deciding the case entirely on enumerated powers. This narrow path achieved the plaintiffs' goal of halting the registry without requiring the court to weigh in on whether suppressors and short-barreled rifles are protected "arms" under the Supreme Court's historical-tradition standard.

The ruling does not immediately eliminate the NFA nationwide, nor does it affect the regulation of machine guns, which are governed by separate statutes anchored in the Commerce Clause. Hendrix stayed his order for seven days to allow the Department of Justice time to seek an emergency appeal at the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Until that stay expires or an appellate court intervenes, the ATF's existing NFA registration process remains in effect.[1]

The decision sets up a high-stakes appellate battle over the limits of federal regulatory power. If the Fifth Circuit upholds Hendrix's ruling, it could force Congress to either rewrite the National Firearms Act under a different constitutional authority or accept the end of federal registration for millions of firearms and accessories.[1]