Justice Department Holds Its Powder as Deadline Approaches To Appeal Decision Lifting Longtime Federal Gun Regulations

Gun owners and Second Amendment supporters are pressing the Department of Justice to let stand a decision by a federal judge in Texas who struck down decades-old regulations on firearm suppressors, short-barreled rifles, and short-barreled shotguns, delivering a landmark victory for gun rights groups. The Trump administration, caught between its own law and its desire to maintain some rules on tracking gun owners, has until Wednesday to decide what it will do.U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix, appointed by President Trump and serving in the Northern District of Texas, ruled last Wednesday that key regulatory provisions of the 1934 National Firearms Act can no longer be enforced. The ruling follows passage of the 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which eliminated a $200 tax on the transfer or manufacture of those firearms — the same tax that had long provided the constitutional basis for firearms registration and recordkeeping requirements. As soon as the Big Beautiful Bill was signed into law, the National Rifle Association and several other gun rights groups filed the lawsuit calling the firearms act no longer constitutional. Judge Hendrix agreed. “Because today’s NFA does not generate any revenue from untaxed firearms, its regulatory provisions cannot be upheld under the taxing power,” he wrote in his 66-page opinion. “The National Firearms Act survived 91 years because the courts called it a tax,” said Congressman Eric Burlison, a Missouri Republican. “So we killed the tax. Now the Northern District of Texas ruled the registration, the Form 1s and Form 4s, the fingerprints and the photographs are unconstitutional. No tax, no hook.”The ruling could open the way for gun owners to purchase silencers, short-barreled rifles, and short-barreled shotguns without federal registration or the heightened background check process that comes with it. Under the old system, applicants were required to notify local law enforcement and provide an opportunity to flag concerns — a process that gun control advocates argue serves as a critical safety measure.“That process effectively functioned as a heightened background check for NFA weapons, and that process is no longer enforceable,” Chief Counsel at gun-safety group the Giffords Law Center, Adam Skaggs, said in a statement.Gun rights organizations celebrated the decision and urged the Justice Department not to pursue an appeal. “This is a massive win and an important step forward in our strategic plan to end the NFA. We cannot wait to fully and finally eliminate this unconstitutional scheme so people can exercise their rights when, where, and how they choose,” said the president of the Firearms Policy Coalition, Brandon Combs, in a statement.The Second Amendment Foundation echoed that sentiment, framing the ruling as a springboard for broader legal challenges. “This ruling will set a precedent we can now argue in courts across the country to allow Americans to exercise their Second Amendment rights without fear of being placed on some government registry,” the organization said in a statement.The Justice Department has previously defended the NFA in court, arguing the law is justified under Congress’s power to regulate interstate commerce. The position puts the administration at odds with pro-Second Amendment groups. The judge delayed his order by one week to allow the government to seek an emergency appeal. The case would next head to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The Justice Department has not signaled what it plans to do.Notably, the ruling applies only to federal National Firearms Act mandates. State-level bans and restrictions on the affected weapons remain in effect, and standard federal background checks at licensed dealers still apply.

Justice Department Holds Its Powder as Deadline Approaches To Appeal Decision Lifting Longtime Federal Gun Regulations

Justice Department Holds Its Powder as Deadline Approaches To Appeal Decision Lifting Longtime Federal Gun Regulations

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