The ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives) just changed a gun control rule that had been in place for almost a century. In an open letter released Friday, October 9, the law enforcement agency explained that it would no longer be enforcing part of the nation’s first gun control law, the National Firearms Act of 1934.
If you’re alive to read this today, chances are you’re younger than the law, commonly abbreviated to NFA. If you’re a teen today, you’re definitely younger than it, but the most recent gun control law was passed in 2022! But our country is old – and it’s easy to forget that, for most of its existence, federal gun control was not the norm. In fact, it didn’t exist at all until well after the last of the Founding Fathers had died.
From the Founding Fathers to the NFA
To understand the significance of what the ATF has done, we first must learn a little history. The men we call the Founding Fathers wrote and signed the Declaration of Independence, led the fight for freedom from the British Empire, then created the United States with a series of other founding documents to be a nation of self-governed people, never to be ruled by kings or queens again.
They did this because they lived under a government that tried to watch their every move, control every action, and tax them mercilessly – all while offering very little protection or assistance and no chance to have a say in the laws they must obey.
After breaking free of this totalitarian rule, they eventually created what we call the Bill of Rights – the first ten amendments to the US Constitution. The Second Amendment guarantees Americans the right to own and carry weapons, including guns, to protect the young nation from foreign invasion or even from its own government taking the power of self-rule away from the people. It reads:
“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
This was ratified in December of 1791 – that’s almost 235 years ago! Then, for more than 142 years, the young nation existed without infringement on that right. It wasn’t until June of 1934 that the Democrat-controlled Congress and President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who worked together to significantly grow the power of the federal government during what was called the New Deal era, established America’s gun control law: the National Firearms Act. That’s 98 years after the last surviving signer of the Constitution – James Madison, the man who actually wrote the original draft of the Second Amendment – had died.
By comparison, it has only been 92 years since the NFA took effect. It’s an old law now, yes – but it was not the norm, nor was it what the Founding Fathers wanted.
In fact, it was clear even in the 1930s that banning certain firearms outright wouldn’t work because of the Second Amendment protections. Instead, the lawmakers at the time created a legal definition of firearms, then established a tax on certain ones. That list included machine guns, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, silencers, and a category called “any other weapon” that included whatever anyone might come up with that didn’t fit the normal category of pistol, shotgun, or rifle. Later, with the Gun Control Act of 1968, “destructive devices” was added to the list, which includes explosives.
Of course, the tax wasn’t just a tax – in order to own such an item, one must file an application to basically ask permission and pay the tax. Then, because there was a tax for the items, the government required people to register for them.
Gun Control Through the Years
The next big gun control law was the GCA, or Gun Control Act of 1968. It amended the NFA as previously mentioned, but also established categories of “prohibited persons” who weren’t allowed to buy firearms at all. It also required sellers to get federal licenses and it restricted interstate transfers: If you want to buy a gun from out of state, it has to go through a licensed dealer in your home state. It also ended mail-order guns and the import of firearms not deemed to have a sporting use.
Then, in 1986, the Firearms Owners’ Protection Act, or FOPA, amended the GCA, easing some of the restrictions and pulling back some of the power of the federal government to register and regulate guns. But it also added new restrictions of its own. It expanded the NFA’s silencer definition to include parts, and it banned outright any new machine guns made after May 19, 1986, except for government use.
In 1994, the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act created the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), and starting in November of 1998, all licensed dealers had to run background checks on prospective buyers through this system to make sure they weren’t prohibited by the GCA from owning firearms.
In 2022, President Joe Biden and the Democrats in control of Congress at the time hoped to raise the legal age to buy firearms from 18 to 21 and establish universal background checks, which would have made it illegal to give firearms to people or sell them privately without being a licensed dealer. Republicans pushed back, and the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA) that passed instead enhanced background checks for anyone under 21 and made it just a little harder for buyers and sellers.
But in 2025, under President Donald Trump, Republicans were able to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). That wasn’t a gun control bill in its entirety, but it did strip out the tax on short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, silencers, and “any other weapon” items.
The original text would have repealed those parts of the NFA entirely – but just as Republicans stopped Democrats from banning guns outright in each of those previous acts, Democrats stopped Republicans from doing this.
That’s where the courts and the ATF come in. In a federal district court in Texas, a judge ruled in August of this year that since the tax was gone, the registration and application process wasn’t legal anymore. It was a limited ruling, but the ATF’s latest policy makes it universal across the nation.
Why It Matters
Before the US existed, the British government ruled its colonists in America with an iron fist, but those early Americans were eventually able to throw off that rule. The people who signed the Declaration of Independence and led that fight – and those who later signed the Constitution and the Bill of Rights – knew that, without an armed civilian population who could do the same again later, a government could eventually become tyrannical and take away the freedom they fought so hard for.
Despite this, more than 140 years later, a government hungry to grow its own power did exactly that – or, at least, it started the process. For the next 90 or more years, at various intervals, new gun control laws were added to that first one, restricting the right of the people to keep and bear arms slowly but surely in a way that the politicians doing it could argue didn’t technically infringe on the Second Amendment.
The ATF’s new policy, along with the OBBBA and a handful of federal court rulings that led to it, marks a major reversal of that process. It takes back some of that freedom the government slowly took from the people.
4 Questions
The story, in brief
What did the ATF change about the National Firearms Act of 1934?
In an open letter released Friday, October 9, the ATF said it would no longer enforce part of the National Firearms Act of 1934. Specifically, after the tax was removed, the agency stopped enforcing the registration and application process tied to that part of the law.
Why was the National Firearms Act created instead of banning guns outright?
According to the text, lawmakers in the 1930s understood that banning certain firearms outright would not work because of Second Amendment protections. Instead, they created a legal definition of firearms, placed a tax on certain items, and required applications and registration to own them.
Which firearms were affected by the 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act?
The 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act removed the tax on short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, silencers, and items classified as "any other weapon." The text says the original proposal would have repealed those parts of the National Firearms Act entirely, but Democrats blocked that broader repeal.
How did the Texas court ruling lead to the ATF's new nationwide policy?
A federal district court judge in Texas ruled in August that once the tax was gone, the registration and application process was no longer legal. The ruling itself was limited, but the ATF then adopted a policy that applied that conclusion across the entire country.
