Missouri – Missouri is taking the federal government to court over gun regulations that Attorney General Catherine Hanaway says survived even after their original tax structure was stripped away.
The lawsuit targets federal registration rules for suppressors and short-barreled rifles, setting up a constitutional fight over whether the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives can continue requiring paperwork and collecting ownership data for firearms and accessories that Missouri argues are protected by the Second Amendment.
Hanaway, joined by plaintiff Dave Marshak, filed the case against the ATF seeking to stop enforcement of the requirements against law-abiding Missourians.
“Law and order and the Second Amendment go hand in hand. A government that respects the Constitution has empowered, law-abiding citizens who can protect themselves and their families. It does not paper over rights with red tape,” Hanaway said.
“The ATF’s heavy-handed restrictions on suppressors threaten lawful firearm use and undermine the rights protected by the Second Amendment.”
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At the center of the complaint is the National Firearms Act, or NFA. Hanaway argues that Congress eliminated the NFA making and transfer taxes for suppressors, short-barreled rifles and short-barreled shotguns, removing what Missouri describes as the constitutional foundation for regulating those items through a federal tax system.
Despite that change, the lawsuit says federal authorities continue to impose registration and data-collection requirements backed by criminal penalties.
Missouri argues those requirements are unconstitutional when applied to suppressors and short-barreled rifles. The complaint points to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, which recognized an individual right to keep and bear arms for self-defense, as well as the later framework established in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen.
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Under that framework, Missouri says the federal government cannot identify a historical American tradition of requiring people to register protected arms. The lawsuit also argues that suppressors and short-barreled rifles are used for lawful purposes, including hunting, training and self-defense.
The state is asking the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri to declare the disputed NFA provisions unconstitutional as applied to those firearms and accessories and beyond Congress’s lawful authority.
Missouri also wants the court to block the ATF and Department of Justice from enforcing the challenged registration rules and related regulations.
The full filed complaint is available here.
