BELLEVUE, WA – The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms has filed a federal lawsuit in Texas challenging the constitutionality of the National Firearms Act (NFA) “with respect to the untaxed firearms it purports to regulate” and “with respect to suppressors and short-barreled rifles” on Second Amendment grounds.
CCRKBA is joined by the FPC Action Foundation, Texas State Rifle Association, Hot Shots Custom, and three private citizens, all Texas residents. They are represented by attorneys R. Brent Cooper at Cooper & Scully in Dallas, Texas, and David H. Thompson, Peter A. Patterson and Nicholas A. Varone at Cooper & Kirk in Washington, D.C.
Named as defendants are the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Department of Justice, and Acting ATF Director Daniel P. Driscoll and Attorney General Pamela Bondi, in their official capacities. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Amarillo Division.
The 32-page complaint alleges the NFA, which is described by the court as “an interrelated statutory system for the taxation of certain firearms,” no longer meets its purpose under the constitution because passage of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” eliminated taxes with respect to manufacturing, transferring and receiving products defined as “firearms” or “any other weapons” under the NFA. However, now that the taxes have been eliminated for nearly all firearms covered by the NFA except for machineguns and “destructive devices,” the firearms are still subject to registration and regulation under provisions in the NFA.
“Simply put,” explained CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, “because the taxes have been eliminated, the NFA, with regard to nearly all of the affected firearms, has really outlived its regulatory usefulness under Congress’ enumerated powers.
“Likewise,” he added, “if suppressors and short-barreled rifles qualify as arms, they are protected by the Second Amendment, and the government must now prove a historical tradition of regulating such arms. However, no such regulatory tradition exists, so further regulation by the ATF is unconstitutional. We’re asking the court to declare further regulation of these now-untaxed firearms, and of suppressors and short-barreled rifles is unconstitutional, and should be enjoined.”