Daines Pushes to End NFA Registration Requirements

U.S. Senator Steve Daines (R-Mont.) and Representative Andrew Clyde (R-GA) are leading a bipartisan group of nearly 50 Republican lawmakers in calling on the Department of Justice to fully accept a recent federal court ruling that struck down key National Firearms Act (NFA) registration requirements.

On August 5, 2026, U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix of the Northern District of Texas ruled in Silencer Shop Foundation v. ATF (consolidated with Jensen v. ATF) that the NFA’s registration, application, fingerprinting, and related requirements for suppressors, short-barreled rifles (SBRs), short-barreled shotguns (SBSs), and certain other weapons are unconstitutional as applied to those items.

Why the Court Ruled This Way

Congress originally enacted the National Firearms Act in 1934 under its taxing power. The $200 making and transfer tax supported the extensive registration and approval system administered by the ATF.

Last year, Senator Daines helped secure a provision in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that reduced that tax to $0 for suppressors, SBRs, SBSs, and AOWs, effective January 1, 2026. Once the tax was eliminated, the court held that the remaining regulatory scheme no longer had a valid constitutional foundation under the taxing power. The court rejected arguments that the requirements could be justified under the Commerce Clause or Necessary and Proper Clause.
Judge Hendrix issued a permanent injunction against enforcement of those provisions against the plaintiffs and their members/customers, but stayed the order for seven days to allow the government time to seek appellate relief.

The Daines-Clyde Letter

In a letter sent August 11 to Attorney General Todd Blanche, Daines, Clyde, and dozens of colleagues urge the DOJ to:

Decline any appeal of the ruling
Immediately apply the court’s decision nationwide to all law-abiding gun owners (not just the parties in the case)
Promptly begin rulemaking to permanently rescind or amend the challenged NFA regulations for these untaxed firearms

“The court’s opinion tracks precisely the position this Congress articulated when we passed Section 70436 of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” the letter states. “A tax set to zero can no longer support the regulatory machinery built to collect it.”
The full text of the letter is available here:

Why This Matters for Montana

Senator Daines has long prioritized removing burdensome NFA restrictions that affect Montana hunters, sportsmen, and law-abiding gun owners. Suppressors, in particular, are widely used for hearing protection and reduced noise in rural areas. This ruling, if fully implemented nationwide, would remove significant bureaucratic barriers while leaving machine guns and destructive devices under the remaining NFA framework.
Gallatin County Republicans support strong protection of Second Amendment rights and commend Senator Daines for continuing to lead on this issue.
We will continue monitoring whether the Department of Justice chooses to appeal or follows Congress’s clear intent.

Read the full press release and letter from Senator Daines’ office:

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