A coalition of nearly two dozen members of the U.S. House of Representatives, led by Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Georgia, recently sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi urging the Trump Administration to support their push to eliminate the National Firearms Act (NFA).d
As most readers are aware, the $200 tax on ?? was eliminated in President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, but the NFA remains as an unnecessary paperwork hassle and hurdle for purchasers. Several in Congress, along with all gun-rights groups, are now trying to eliminate the NFA through both legislation and litigation.
On November 10, Rep. Clyde and the other 19 members of Congress sent the letter to AG Bondi, urging her and others in the administration to align with Congressional intent to remove NFA registration requirements. He also posted the letter on X, formerly Twitter, with an explanation.
“Thanks to the OBBB, the $200 NFA tax is now $0,” Clyde said in the X post. “But registration requirements remain. Yet it was Congress’s clear intent to repeal NFA registration by eliminating NFA taxes. That’s why I’m urging the DOJ to adopt our position in all litigation concerning this critical matter.
In the letter, Clyde explained how the NFA is no longer pertinent now that the $200 tax is gone.
“The registration requirements under the NFA are, in fact, inseparably linked to its taxation provisions,” the letter explained. “Registration serves as the mechanism by which the ATF accounts for the tax paid on each firearm, identified by its serial number. The tax stamp affixed by the ATF to an NFA transfer and registration application reflects both the firearm’s serial number and the amount of tax paid for the transfer. Moreover, the NFA’s criminal provisions pertain exclusively to the failure to pay or register the payment of this tax with the ATF.”
Consequently, Clyde explained, there no longer exists a basis for NFA registration of firearms.
“Following the OBBBA’s elimination of the tax on a broad class of firearms regulated under the NFA, the constitutional foundation for applying the NFA’s transfer and registration requirements to those $0-tax firearms no longer exists,” the letter stated. “These requirements now operate without any corresponding exercise of Congress’s taxing power. As the Supreme Court upheld the NFA’s provisions only as ‘in aid’ of that power, and since the relevant excise taxes have been repealed, the transfer and registration requirements should likewise be understood as repealed with respect to firearms now subject to a $0 tax.”
Ultimately, Clyde and the other House members requested that AG Bondi take their side on the issue, meaning she support complete elimination of the NFA.
“We urge the Department of Justice to adopt the position of the drafters of this provision: that the transfer and registration requirements cannot stand without the corresponding excise tax,” the letter concluded. “We further urge the Department to assert this position in all litigation concerning this specific section of the OBBBA. President Trump has been the most pro-Second Amendment President in our nation’s history, and the Department of Justice has an opportunity to uphold his strong record of protecting gun owners from burdensome regulations.”
Other members of the House joining Rep. Clyde in sending the letter included Reps. Eric Burleson of Missouri, Scott Perry and Guy Reschenthaler of Pennsylvania, Andy Ogles, Diana Harshbarger and John Rose of Tennessee, Ralph Norman of South Carolina, Clay Higgins of Louisiana, Richard Hudson and Mark Harris of North Carolina, Mary E. Miller of Illinois, Chip Roy, Wesley P. Hunt and Michael Cloud of Texas, Russ Fulcher of Idaho, Byron Donalds of Florida, Ben Cline of Virginia, Barry Moore of Alabama and Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma.
