By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
A U.S. District Court judge in Texas has ruled the lingering registration requirement on suppressors and short-barreled rifles (SBRs), a year after Congress eliminated the $200 tax used to justify the registry, is unconstitutional, handing a victory to gun rights advocates including the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.
The 66-page ruling was handed down Wednesday by Judge James Wesley Hendrix, a 2019 Donald Trump appointee on the District Court for the Northern District of Texas. The case is known as Jensen v. ATF and was consolidated with another case.
Joining CCRKBA in the case are the FPC Action Foundation, Texas Rifle Association, Hot Shots Custom and three individuals. Judge Hendrix’s ruling applies to the plaintiffs in Jensen v. ATF, which includes CCRKBA and its members, and those in the other case which was consolidated with Jensen.
“We are delighted with the ruling from Judge Hendrix,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “With the tax no longer in existence, there was no logical reason for the ATF’s registration requirement to continue. With this victory setting a precedent, we anticipate success in the other cases involving our sister organization, SAF.
“There is no longer any reason for this government gun registry scheme to continue,” Gottlieb added, “and our victory will ideally lead to other successful court rulings across the country. American citizens should never have their names on a government registry in order to exercise their Second Amendment rights.”
The Jensen case is supported by CCRKBA’s sister organization, the Second Amendment Foundation, which has its own similar case in progress, known as Brown v. ATF. SAF is also backing another NFA challenge, known as Roberts v. ATF.
In his ruling, Judge Hendrix wrote, “By zeroing out the transfer and making taxes for most NFA firearms, Congress eliminated the constitutional basis for the regulations that formerly supported the taxes for those firearms. No longer can the challenged NFA provisions be justified—as they have been for nearly 90 years—under Congress’s taxing power.”
A few paragraphs later, the judge added, “But to be clear: The challenged NFA provisions are unconstitutional. Congress’s choice to eliminate the transfer and making taxes matters, and the defendants cannot save the NFA’s regulatory scheme by referring to a power that Congress never invoked. Efforts to render the NFA constitutional must come from Congress, not this Court.”
Adam Kraut, SAF executive director, said in a statement to the media, “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. 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 $200 tax was eliminated under provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill, passed by Congress last year after President Trump returned to office.
