Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway has filed a lawsuit against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, challenging federal registration requirements for suppressors and short-barreled rifles.
The lawsuit, filed with plaintiff Dave Marshak, asks the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri to declare that certain National Firearms Act regulations exceed Congress’s authority and violate the Second Amendment as applied to those firearms accessories and weapons.
Missouri Targets Federal Registration Rules
According to the source material, Hanaway argues that the ATF’s requirements restrain law-abiding Missourians who want to own suppressors and short-barreled rifles.
“Law and order and the Second Amendment go hand in hand,” Hanaway said in a quoted statement. “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.”
She also said the ATF’s restrictions on suppressors “threaten lawful firearm use and undermine the rights protected by the Second Amendment.”
The Constitutional Argument
The complaint reportedly argues that suppressors and short-barreled rifles are protected arms under the Second Amendment. It cites the Supreme Court’s decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, which recognized an individual right to keep and bear arms for self-defense, and refers to the historical-tradition framework later used in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen.
Missouri’s position, as described in the source, is that there is no historical tradition of requiring Americans to register protected arms and that suppressors and short-barreled rifles are commonly used for lawful purposes such as training, hunting, and self-defense.
Tax Question at the Center of the Case
Hanaway’s office also argues that once Congress set the National Firearms Act making and transfer taxes at zero for suppressors, short-barreled rifles, and short-barreled shotguns, the law’s constitutional footing as a tax measure was undermined.
Despite that change, the lawsuit says the federal government continues to enforce registration and data-collection requirements backed by criminal penalties. Missouri contends those rules no longer have a valid constitutional justification and conflict with Second Amendment protections.
What Missouri Wants From the Court
The state is asking the court to block the ATF and Department of Justice from enforcing the challenged provisions and related regulations.
The case joins other legal challenges aimed at federal firearm restrictions. Its outcome could affect how federal courts view the continued enforcement of NFA rules when the taxes tied to those rules are no longer being collected for the covered items, though any broader impact will depend on how the court rules.
