Gun rights groups have labeled legal arguments advanced by the Trump administration in an ongoing lawsuit as the “most anti-Second Amendment” ever filed by a Republican administration.
Gun Owners of America (GOA), a leading gun rights organization, has strongly condemned a brief filed by the Trump-era Department of Justice, calling it an “alarmingly expansive theory of federal authority” over firearm ownership. The DOJ’s November 21 filing was submitted in response to a lawsuit brought by GOA and the Gun Owners Foundation (GOF), which seeks to have the National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA) declared unconstitutional and nullified in its entirety.
The plaintiffs argue that when President Trump signed the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” into law on July 4, 2025—a bill that removed the NFA’s $200 transfer and manufacturing tax on silencers, short-barreled rifles, and short-barreled shotguns—the tax’s removal rendered the entire NFA unenforceable and effectively repealed it. GOA and GOF are using the tax repeal as leverage to challenge and strike down the 1934 law altogether. Fifteen states, including Texas and Florida, have joined the lawsuit in support of the organizations.
Although the bill eliminated the $200 tax, it retained the National Firearms Act’s (NFA) requirements for registration, background checks, and prior approval from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). The legislation also leaves unchanged all existing restrictions on machine guns.
The Department of Justice has asked the court to grant a summary judgment and dismiss the lawsuit, asserting that the NFA is Constitutional even without the tax requirement. In its brief, the DOJ argues that the NFA’s registration approval requirements “aid in preventing the circumvention of the NFA”.
GOA has called the DOJ’s filing the “most anti-Second Amendment brief” from a supposedly pro-gun DOJ.
“The DOJ treats Congress’ removal of the historic $200 tax as a pretext to rewrite the limits of congressional power, advancing an argument that would open the door to federal regulation far beyond anything the Framers intended,” GOA wrote in response to the filing. They accused the Trump DOJ of “doubling down” on an “archaic and unconstitutional law” while attempting to “expand federal power to historic levels”.
GOA warns that if the court accepts the DOJ’s logic, Congress and federal agencies could regulate—or even ban—”common firearms and accessories”.
“If courts accept the government’s argument, Congress could claim the power to regulate virtually anything, including firearms, on the thinnest of statutory pretexts. That’s not conservative jurisprudence. This is authoritarianism cloaked in legalese. Make no mistake, this reads exactly like something the Biden administration would have produced,” Erich Pratt, Senior Vice President of Gun Owners of America, explained.
The National Firearms Act of 1934 was originally passed as part of an effort to stop gang and mafia-related violence by heavily regulating the use of silencers, and short-barreled weapons. Gun rights groups have been attempting to overturn it for decades.
Following the passage of the 2025 appropriations bill that eliminated the $200 tax, the National Rifle Association called it “the first major reduction of taxes imposed on law-abiding gun owners in decades”. The NRA, GOA, GOF, and other gun rights groups immediately went to work attempting to dismantle what remained of the NFA.
A History of Anti-2A Sentiment
Despite the expressions of surprise and disappointment over the Trump administration’s actions, Donald Trump has never been a strong supporter of the 2nd Amendment.
During his first administration, Trump supported calls for controversial Red Flag Laws—government-approved removal of weapons based on spurious claims—and a bump stock ban on firearms.
In February 2018, while discussing school safety, Trump infamously said, “A lot of times, by the time you go to court, it takes so long to go to court to get the due process procedures. Take the guns first, go through due process second.” He reiterated a similar stance in 2025:
In reality, Donald Trump is just another government hypocrite who says what the people want to hear so he can get elected, then does whatever he and his Technocrat friends want once in office.
The Last American Vagabond will continue to follow the lawsuit for developments.
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