ATF barred from enforcing registration in tax repeal case

Hendrix ruled Congress cannot rely on its taxing power to support a regulatory regime that no longer generates revenue.

The lawsuit was filed last year in the Northern District of Texas by the Texas State Rifle Association, the FPC Action Foundation, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, Hot Shots Custom LLC and several individual gun owners. Several state attorneys general also signed on as plaintiffs.

The plaintiffs challenged the NFA’s registration rules for suppressors and short‑barreled rifles after passage of federal legislation widely dubbed the “Big Beautiful Bill,” which reduced the long‑standing $200 NFA transfer tax on those items to zero and, as of January 1, 2026, eliminated the excise tax entirely for certain categories of firearms.

Although the tax was removed, ATF continued to require registration, background checks and approval for transfers, prompting the plaintiffs to argue that the NFA’s remaining requirements could no longer be justified as an exercise of the taxing power and instead operated as an unlawful gun‑registration scheme and infringement of Second Amendment rights.

In his ruling, Hendrix agreed that once Congress eliminated the tax on suppressors, short‑barreled rifles and other covered items, the federal government could not rely on the NFA’s original tax‑and‑registration structure as a valid use of Congress’s Article I taxing authority.

Because the NFA’s registration and transfer provisions for those items no longer produce revenue, Hendrix concluded they amount to free‑standing regulatory requirements that exceed Congress’s taxing power and therefore are unconstitutional as applied to the untaxed firearms and accessories at issue.

Hendrix granted summary judgment to the plaintiffs and enjoined ATF and the Justice Department from enforcing the NFA’s registration and transfer mandates against the short‑barreled rifles, suppressors and similar items covered by the recent tax repeal, effectively halting enforcement of those provisions for the parties before him.

The decision directly affects short‑barreled rifles, suppressors, short‑barreled shotguns and “any other weapon” configurations that were historically subject to the NFA’s $200 transfer tax but are no longer taxed under the new federal law.

Machine guns and destructive devices, which still carry NFA taxes, remain subject to the law’s tax and registration framework, and Hendrix’s ruling does not reach those categories.

The order leaves in place other federal firearms regulations, including licensing and record‑keeping rules for dealers, and does not alter general background check requirements applicable to non‑NFA firearms.

Gun‑rights organizations that backed the Jensen case, including the American Suppressor Association, the National Rifle Association and allied groups, hailed the ruling as a major setback for the NFA’s registration regime and a vindication of their argument that Congress cannot maintain a federal registry for constitutionally protected arms without a valid source of authority.

The basis for each lawsuit challenging the NFA registration scheme is the same – without the tax, the remaining requirements for the affected arms under the NFA have no constitutional basis,” said Adam Kraut, executive director of the Second Amendment Foundation. “And today, the first court to rule on the issue has agreed with us.

“We’re eager to continue this fight and leave major portions of the NFA in the dustbin of history. A big win is a great way to kick things off.”

The founder and executive vice president of SAF agreed.

“The removal of the $200 tax in the One Big Beautiful Bill offers the best opportunity to remove the NFA registration requirements that we’ve had in almost a century,” Alan M. Gottlieb said. “We are thrilled the court ruled in our favor and look forward to other jurisdictions following suit in our remaining NFA cases.

“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.”

Hendrix stayed the effect of Wednesday’s final judgment for a week to allow the government an opportunity to seek relief from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals if it so desires. The Justice Department is expected to appeal to Fifth Circuit, where judges have been active in reshaping firearms law under recent Supreme Court Second Amendment precedents.