Vol. 42, No. 02
02/01/2026
2A for Today | A Step in the Right Direction, but the Fight Continues
As of January 1, the federal tax on items regulated by the National Firearms Act (NFA) has been reduced to $0 — down from the original $200, where it had been since the NFA was passed in 1934. This means firearms enthusiasts no longer have to pay a $200 tax when purchasing suppressors, short-barreled rifles (SBRs), short-barreled shotguns (SBSs), etc.
This reduction of the tax from $200 to $0, part of Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, is certainly something to celebrate. In 1934, the $200 tax was prohibitively expensive for most Americans, equivalent to more than $4,800 today. This was done, of course, to make ownership of such items as suppressors, SBRs (with a barrel length of less than 16 inches), and SBSs (with a barrel length of less than 18 inches) practically impossible for all but the well-to-do. The tax was also used as justification for the onerous registration requirements for NFA items, such as fingerprinting, a photograph, and lengthy forms. The registration was tied to the tax, enabling it to be collected, and since Congress has the power to tax, the whole scheme was constitutional (or so went the argument). Add to this the ridiculous wait times for approval of NFA items — often one year or more — and it’s no wonder that few Americans owned them until recent years. Indeed, between the NFA’s passage and 2005 — the year after the Clinton-era “assault-weapons ban” expired — there were only around 150,000 NFA items owned by Americans.
As of 2023, there were more than 7.5 million NFA items in the hands of American gun owners. Americans owned nearly five million suppressors by the end of 2024. That number is doubtless much higher now, particularly with the much-shortened approval times (sometimes only a few days) over the last couple of years owing to the new e-file system at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). During most of 2025, the ATF was approving between 40,000 and 60,000 NFA items every month. Now, with the introduction of the $0 tax, it is realistic to imagine Americans owning more than 10 million NFA items in the next couple of years.
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