ST. LOUIS (November 14, 2025) – Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) today announced that it and its co-plaintiffs have filed a motion for summary judgment in Brown v. ATF, a landmark federal case challenging provisions of the National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA) and asking the court to strike down and enjoin the government’s continued enforcement of the Act’s unconstitutional requirements.
The motion—filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri—argues that because Congress eliminated the making and transfer taxes on most NFA-regulated firearms in 2025, the NFA’s remaining registration and recordkeeping mandates are now unconstitutional. The NFA was upheld in 1937 only as a taxing measure, but with no tax left to collect, its regulatory web no longer rests on any constitutional foundation. The filing further argues that the NFA’s restrictions on suppressors and short-barreled rifles (SBRs) are—and always have been—unconstitutional under the Second Amendment.
“That the NFA can no longer be justified as an exercise of Congress’s taxing power and is thus unconstitutional should be the end of this matter,” explained the challengers in their brief. Even if the NFA is considered under the Commerce Clause, they say, “the Court should determine that the NFA is not constitutional on that basis either” because the NFA “is plainly not a regulation of the channels of interstate commerce or the instrumentalities of interstate commerce, and it is not a regulation of intrastate commerce with substantial effects on interstate commerce.” Moreover, they argue, “the NFA’s restrictions also constitute an unconstitutional regulatory scheme as pertains to suppressors and short-barreled rifles under the Second Amendment.”
“The NFA’s tax on most firearms is dead, and so is the excuse that kept this unconstitutional and immoral scheme alive,” said FPC President Brandon Combs. “For generations, the federal government has forced peaceable Americans to be tracked in federal databases simply for owning tools protected by the Second Amendment. That era is over.”
Combs continued, “Congress built this law on its taxing power, and when that foundation collapsed, so did any claim of constitutional authority. What remains is nothing but a relic of fear and control—a law that survives only through bureaucratic inertia and intimidation. The Constitution is not a permission slip. The right to keep and bear arms is not contingent on paying tribute, registering property, or seeking government approval. The NFA’s days are numbered, and we intend to make sure its end marks a new chapter of freedom for every American who values liberty.”
To help strike down the NFA and support dozens of other important lawsuits to end gun control laws across the country, join the FPC Grassroots Army at JoinFPC.org.
The brief in Brown v. ATF can be viewed at firearmspolicy.org/brown. FPC is joined in the litigation by individual FPC members, Prime Protection STL, National Rifle Association of America, Second Amendment Foundation, and American Suppressor Association. The plaintiffs are represented by Cooper & Kirk. FPC thanks FPC Action Foundation for its strategic support of this FPC Law case.
About Firearms Policy Coalition
Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) — a 501(c)(4) nonprofit membership organization — exists to create a world of maximal individual liberty, defend constitutional rights, and restore the freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution. FPC pursues these goals through strategic litigation, legal scholarship, amicus briefing, legislative and regulatory advocacy, grassroots activism, education, and outreach. FPC’s legal arm, FPC Law, is the nation’s leading initiative dedicated to restoring the right to keep and bear arms across the United States. To learn more about FPC’s lawsuits and pro–Second Amendment efforts, sign up for FPC news alerts at firearmspolicy.org and follow FPC on X, Instagram, and Facebook.
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