A federal judge in Texas on Wednesday struck down a 1930s law that imposed regulations on firearm suppressors and guns considered the most dangerous. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Associated Press.
U.S. District Judge James Hendrix ruled that the law, which required registration and a $200 tax on items like silencers, short-barreled rifles, and short-barreled shotguns, can no longer be enforced. The ruling comes more than a year after President Donald Trump signed a bill eliminating taxes on those items.
Judge Hendrix said that because there were no longer taxes under the act, the regulation should not continue either. "No longer can the challenged NFA provisions be justified — as they have been for nearly 90 years — under Congress's taxing power," Hendrix wrote.
The National Firearms Act, passed in 1934, established regulations for firearms considered the most dangerous. Gun rights groups hailed the ruling as a major victory. The Second Amendment Foundation said in a statement: "This ruling will set a precedent we can now argue in courts across the country to allow Americans to exercise their Second Amendment rights without fear of being placed on some government registry."
However, gun control advocates criticized the decision. Adam Skaggs, Chief Counsel at Giffords Law Center, said: "That process effectively functioned as a heightened background check for NFA weapons, and that process is no longer enforceable." The Giffords Law Center stated: "Today's ruling is a dangerous step backward for public safety."
According to the ATF, there were more than 6.4 million registered firearm suppressors in the U.S. as of June. The ruling could potentially be appealed to the Supreme Court.