President Trump and Republican lawmakers scored a major victory with the passage of the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” a sweeping piece of legislation that includes tax relief for law-abiding gun owners.
Originally, the bill sought to overhaul key provisions of the National Firearms Act (NFA)—a law that has long imposed restrictive regulations and a $200 federal tax on items such as short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, suppressors, and “any other weapons” (AOWs). The proposed language would have eliminated both the tax and the burdensome registration process associated with these firearms.
However, that provision was struck down by a Senate parliamentarian appointed during the Obama era, who invoked the “Byrd Rule” to disqualify the NFA-related reform from inclusion in the Senate’s budget reconciliation process. Despite the fact that the NFA was originally passed as a tax statute—a point upheld by the Supreme Court—the ruling appeared to reflect political bias rather than a neutral interpretation of legislative procedure.
Rather than let an unelected official derail the effort, Republican leadership worked with the NRA to revise the language. Though the final version is narrower than originally intended, it succeeded in eliminating the NFA’s $200 tax on affected items—marking the most significant legislative challenge to the Act in nearly 90 years.
While the law still retains the administrative and registration requirements of the NFA, this tax repeal could lay the legal foundation for a broader constitutional challenge. With the tax provision nullified, the central justification for the NFA—Congress’s taxing authority—may no longer hold up in court.
That’s why the NRA, alongside groups like the American Suppressor Association, Firearms Policy Coalition, and Second Amendment Foundation, is supporting litigation aimed at dismantling the NFA entirely. Multiple lawsuits are already in motion.
The NRA remains committed to advancing the rights of lawful gun owners, using every available means—legislative, judicial, and grassroots—to roll back unconstitutional firearm restrictions and restore Second Amendment protections across the country.
