Look, I've been saying it for years—the NFA's registration requirements were always about government overreach, and now Missouri's Attorney General is finally calling their bluff.
Catherine Hanaway just filed a lawsuit against the ATF and DOJ, challenging the National Firearms Act registration requirements for suppressors, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, and AOWs. The timing? Congress cut the making and transfer tax on those items to ZERO back in January. No tax, no problem—except ATF still wants you to jump through all the same hoops: registration, fingerprints, photos, and federal approval before you can own one. Miss the paperwork and you're looking at 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine. That's insane.
Here's the logic: The Supreme Court originally upheld the NFA in 1937 as a revenue measure. The registration existed to collect taxes. Well, there's no tax anymore. So what's the constitutional basis for forcing citizens to register their property with the federal government, submit biometric data, and face felony charges if they don't? That's exactly what Missouri is asking the court to rule on.
And they've got a strong Second Amendment argument too. There are roughly 6.65 million registered suppressors and 1.23 million registered SBRs in this country. That's not unusual—that's common use. Under the Bruen standard, the government can't just make up restrictions without historical justification. Colonial-era gun laws were about preventing towns from burning down, not creating a national database of lawful gun owners.
This isn't the first win. A federal judge in Texas already ruled the same way in August. But Missouri's bringing it to the Eighth Circuit, and they've got an actual citizen—Dave Marshak from Festus—as a co-plaintiff, not just a bunch of industry groups.
The bottom line: if the tax is gone, the registration requirement should go with it. It's time for the ATF to get out of the business of treating everyday gun owners like criminals. Missouri's leading the charge, and I'm here for it.