After last month’s ruling by a district judge that the old NFA registration requirements for suppressors were unconstitutional, shooting enthusiasts still await guidance from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to move forward.
Pressure for clarity from the federal government increased Tuesday when Missouri Attorney General Catherine L. Hanaway filed suit against the agency over lingering registration mandates on noise-reducing accessories along with short-barreled rifles and shotguns.
NFA registration mandate remains despite tax’s erasure
Hanaway said that even though the tax that justified collecting information is gone, the people still must register their items.
“Even so, the federal government continues to enforce extensive registration and data collection requirements, backed by criminal penalties, that Missouri argues no longer have a valid constitutional justification and conflict with rights guaranteed by the Second Amendment,” the release explained.
The AG also posted on X that “a government that respects the Constitution…does not paper over rights with red tape.” Exactly.
Clear and recent Supreme Court precedents demand change
What remains of the anachronistic NFA registration system, once supported through a federal tax, is nothing more than a vestige of an outdated process. In 2026 and beyond, there is no justification for mandating that law-abiding citizens register Second Amendment items with Washington.
The filing notes that suppressors and short-barreled rifles “are protected arms under the Second Amendment.” After the U.S. Supreme Court’s Heller and Bruen decisions, an honest jurist cannot deny this fundamental freedom to upstanding Americans.
But the government persists in enforcing the registration and data collection scheme–enforced by criminal penalties.
This has no justification, and pressure continues to mount on the ATF to make a significant course correction. Hanaway now asks the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri to right this wrong and block the ATF and DOJ from enforcing old NFA rules.
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