Legal sparks are flying in the wake of the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” as the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) ramps up its fight to dismantle what remains of the National Firearms Act (NFA).
In a fresh supplemental reply brief filed in Brown v. ATF, the SAF and a coalition of high-profile partners are demanding the court strike down federal registration requirements for short-barreled rifles and silencers.
While the recently signed legislation scrapped the long-standing $200 transfer tax, the requirement for owners to register these items with the government remains on the books. This specific lawsuit is one of three separate legal challenges the SAF has launched to collapse that remaining regulatory framework.
The SAF isn’t going it alone. They are joined in the Brown case by a powerhouse lineup including the National Rifle Association, the American Suppressor Association, the Firearms Policy Coalition, Prime Protection STL Tactical Boutique, and two individual citizens.
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According to SAF Director of Legal Operations Bill Sack, the court specifically requested supplemental briefing to address the “proper Second Amendment analysis” of the law.
Sack expressed confidence in the group’s latest filing, stating, “This reply brief gave us the perfect opportunity to rebut the government’s arguments in support of the NFA. In our principle brief we laid out in detail why the answer to every question posed supported our position. And now with this reply brief we have driven home the point and dismantled each of the government’s arguments to the contrary.”
The core of the argument rests on the sheer number of these items currently in circulation. With over five million silencers and millions of short-barreled rifles owned by Americans, the SAF argues the NFA’s 90-year history of tracking these owners is fundamentally unconstitutional.
“For nearly a century the government has used the NFA to disenfranchise law-abiding Americans and it’s high time this infringement be righted,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “Registering your guns with the same government the Second Amendment is intended to protect you from runs contrary to the fundamental principles of the right to keep and bear arms. More than 90 years of constitutional injury is enough – it’s time to strike this one down.”
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