Document Type
Article
Subject Area
Special Section
Abstract
The National Firearms Act (NFA) regulates certain firearms (most importantly, short-barreled rifles and suppressors) under the taxing power. The Supreme Court upheld it as such in the 1930s. But those precedents are subject to attack under Heller and Bruen, since the NFA taxes the exercise of constitutional rights the earlier precedents did not recognize—and does so without any historical precedent. Moreover, consideration of rarely considered limitations on the taxing power that the Supreme Court reaffirmed in Sebelius leads to the conclusion that several provisions of the NFA violate the taxing power, independent of any Second Amendment concerns. In sum, the NFA violates the Constitution, in total or in parts.
DOI
10.59643/1942-9916.1516
Rights
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Recommended Citation
Eldred, Charles K.
(2025)
"The National Firearms Act is an Unconstitutional Tax,"
Wyoming Law Review: Vol. 25:
No.
1, Article 6.
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.uwyo.edu/wlr/vol25/iss1/6
