It was bound to happen and finally did.
Roughly a year after Congress erased the hated $200 tax on suppressors and short-barreled rifles (SBRs), a U.S. District Court Judge in Texas ruled on Wednesday that the registration requirement based on the collection of these funds is unconstitutional.
A coalition of Second Amendment supporters, including the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA), the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), and the Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC), successfully brought Jensen v. ATF to a celebration-worthy conclusion.
Justification for registering NFA items disappeared with tax’s elimination
Judge James Wesley Hendrix agreed with the plaintiffs that Congress’ elimination of NFA taxes erased the legal basis for federal registration.
CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb applauded the court’s ruling.
“With the tax no longer in existence, there was no logical reason for the ATF’s registration requirement to continue…and our victory will ideally lead to other successful rulings across the country,” Gottlieb declared before reasserting that law-abiding citizens should not be subject to a government gun registry.
Ruling’s scope is limited but laid groundwork for more challenges
Judge Hendrix wrote that, while the NFA provisions are unconstitutional, Congress has the power to resurrect them if it chooses. He added, “not this Court.”
The jurist stopped short of giving the plaintiffs the universal injunction they sought, so the lawsuit’s parties and members are the only Americans no longer subject to NFA registration requirements.
Hendrix explained his position. “Remedy-wise, the plaintiffs in both cases are entitled to a permanent injunction barring enforcement of the challenged NFA provisions against them, their members, and their customers. But that is as far as it goes. Federal courts lack power to issue universal injunctions that provide relief to parties not before the Court.”
Still, the blueprint is established for further legal challenges and eradicating the NFA registration requirement for good.
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