The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) is making a major move to change how the federal government regulates firearm suppressors. On April 2, 2026, the group filed an amicus brief asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case George Peterson v. United States.
The legal challenge aims to dismantle the National Firearms Act’s (NFA) long-standing requirements for registering suppressors and paying a specialized tax to own them.
The SAF isn’t acting alone. A broad coalition of gun rights groups, including the National Rifle Association, the American Suppressor Association, and several state-level organizations, joined the filing.
They argue that the current federal system, which treats suppressors as highly regulated items requiring a $200 tax stamp and a lengthy background check process, violates the Second Amendment.
According to the SAF, these devices should be considered “arms” in a legal sense, which would protect them under the Supreme Court’s current interpretation of the Constitution. Kostas Moros, SAF Director of Legal Research and Education, stated that there is no historical precedent for such restrictive government oversight.
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“Suppressors are clearly ‘arms’ protected by the plain text of the Second Amendment, and there is no historical tradition supporting the NFA’s burdensome per-arm registration and taxation scheme,” Moros said. He added that the Founding generation would not have tolerated a system where every individual firearm component had to be registered with the government.
The brief argues that these NFA mandates treat the Second Amendment as a “second-class right” by placing financial and bureaucratic hurdles in the way of law-abiding owners. The SAF claims that by bringing this to the Supreme Court, they can address larger issues regarding how the government taxes and tracks the exercise of constitutional rights.
Beyond this specific brief, the SAF is currently involved in several other lawsuits across the country challenging various parts of the NFA. Alan M. Gottlieb, SAF founder and Executive Vice President, noted that the organization views suppressors as essential tools for hearing protection and safety.
“This case challenges the government’s ongoing efforts to financially burden and regulate the exercise of Second Amendment rights through the NFA,” Gottlieb said. “SAF is committed to defending the right to keep and bear arms in all its forms, including the use of suppressors for safe and effective self-defense.”
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