National Firearms Act (NFA)
The National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA) requires the registration, with the federal government, of fully-automatic firearms (termed “machineguns”), rifles and shotguns that have an overall length under 26 inches, rifles with a barrel under 16 inches, shotguns with a barrel under 18 inches, and firearm sound suppressors (termed “silencers”). The Gun Control Act of 1968 (GCA) placed “destructive devices” (primarily explosives and the like, but also including firearms over .50 caliber, other than most shotguns) under the provisions of the NFA. In 1994, the Treasury Department placed revolving-cylinder shotguns and one semi-automatic shotgun under the NFA.
The GCA prohibited the importation of fully-automatic firearms for private purposes and a 1986 amendment to the Act prohibited the domestic manufacture of fully-automatics for private purposes. However, short-barreled rifles and shotguns have becoming increasingly popular for home defense and defensive-skills-based marksmanship training and competitions, and sound suppressors have become increasingly popular for marksmanship training and competitions, and for hunting.
Wednesday, June 4, 2025
Yesterday, the National Rifle Association, Firearms Policy Coalition, and FPC Action Foundation filed an amicus brief arguing that the federal ...
Thursday, May 29, 2025
This week, the Texas House and Senate passed several important pro-Second Amendment bills. These bills had previously passed ...
Thursday, May 22, 2025
Earlier today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R.1 the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which included Section ...
Thursday, May 22, 2025
"This morning, the U.S. House of Representatives passed President Trump's One, Big, Beautiful Bill, which includes the complete ...
Monday, April 21, 2025
Last February, NRA-ILA’s reporting exposed the case of Taylor Taranto, a pardoned January 6 protestor separately arrested on firearm charges ...
Monday, February 10, 2025
Documents filed in an ongoing prosecution for illegal possession of a short-barreled rifle are raising new concerns about ...
Tuesday, January 21, 2025
Last week, we reported that an unnamed ATF official, speaking for the agency’s Firearms Industry Programs Branch (FIPB), ...
Monday, January 13, 2025
On Friday, Gun Owners of America published an email reportedly received by one of its members in response ...
Monday, September 30, 2024
On September 26, President Joe Biden signed an executive order “combatting emerging firearm threats.”
Tuesday, September 3, 2024
A district court in Kansas has ruled that the federal law prohibiting the possession of “machineguns” failed the ...
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