Latest news with #GunOwnersofAmerica
Epoch Times
6 days ago
- Politics
- Epoch Times
Attorneys General From 15 States Sue to Abolish National Firearms Act
Fifteen states have joined a federal lawsuit calling for the National Firearms Act of 1934 to be abolished as an unconstitutional gun registry. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton made the announcement at the Gun Owners of America Gun Owners Advocacy and Leadership Summit in Knoxville, Tennessee, on Aug. 9.
Epoch Times
7 days ago
- Politics
- Epoch Times
Gun Rights Groups Set Sights on National Firearms Act
KNOXVILLE, Tenn.—At the Gun Owners of America's (GOA) second annual Gun Owners Advocacy and Leadership Summit in Knoxville, Tennessee—held Aug. 9 to 10—one GOA official told The Epoch Times that the organization is committed to abolishing the National Firearms Act (NFA) of 1934. While the 1934 law regulating fully automatic firearms and other devices was substantially neutered in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed by President Donald Trump on July 4, GOA leaders said their work was not done.
USA Today
16-07-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
Gun groups want law reversed on mailing through postal service
Two gun organizations are challenging a 1927 federal law prohibiting mailing handguns through the U.S. Postal Service. Gun Owners of America and Gun Owners Foundation, together with Pennsylvania resident Bonita Shreve have filed a lawsuit in the Western District of Pennsylvania against the United States Postal Service. The Pennsylvania resident wants to mail her father a handgun as a gift, according to the filing, but is prohibited by federal law and Postal Service regulations. In their filing the plaintiffs argue that the Postal Service allows businesses and government officials to ship handgun and that individual Americans should have the same ability. Private shipping companies like UPS and FedEx have policies prohibiting shipping a handgun, the filing states. "The federal government's Prohibition-era ban on mailing handguns violates the Second Amendment," Erich Pratt, Senior Vice President of Gun Owners of America, said in a statement. Sam Paredes, with the Gun Owners Foundation, said in a statement that the law was passed in a different time. "Every day this ban remains in effect, it infringes on the rights of law-abiding Americans who are fully entitled to exercise all of their Second Amendment freedoms," Paredes said. Mailing a handgun is currently a Class E felony punishable by up to $250,000 fine and two years in prison. A spokesperson for the Postal Service did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Reuters
16-07-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Gun group sues to end US Postal Service's ban on mailing handguns
July 15 (Reuters) - A gun rights lobbying group is suing the U.S. Postal Service in a bid to overturn its nearly 100-year-old ban on mailing handguns, arguing that the law wasn't contemplated when the country's founders drafted the 2nd Amendment in the U.S. Constitution. Gun Owners of America and the Gun Owners Foundation filed the lawsuit, opens new tab on Monday in federal court in Pennsylvania, seeking to bar enforcement of the law, which makes it a felony to mail pistols, revolvers and other firearms that can be concealed on a person. The lawsuit also seeks an order declaring the law violates the 2nd Amendment's right to bear arms. Pennsylvania resident Bonita Shreve sued along with the group, claiming the law is preventing her from mailing a handgun to her father in another part of the state. The ban comes with a fine of up to $250,000, a prison sentence of up to two years, or both, according to the statute. Erich Pratt, the senior vice president of Gun Owners of America, said in a statement that the group is 'committed to ending all anti-gun 'rules for me, but not for thee,' in any form they may take.' A spokesperson for the U.S. Postal Service said it is agency policy not to comment on pending litigation. The lawsuit is the latest to challenge a law regulating guns and gun ownership brought after a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2022 that expanded gun rights. In that case, New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, the 6-3 conservative majority established a new test for assessing modern firearms laws, holding that modern gun restrictions were required to be "consistent with this nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation." The lawsuit against the U.S. Postal Service said that although the service itself has existed since 1775, the nation's founders did not contemplate a rule like the 1927 law banning the mailing of handguns. The law was enacted during a purported crime wave in the 1920s that some blamed on mail-order gun sales, according to the lawsuit. A number of laws regulating guns have been successfully challenged in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling. In January, the U.S. Appellate Court for the Fifth Circuit held that a U.S. government ban on federally licensed firearms dealers selling handguns to adults under the age of 21 is unconstitutional. Last year, the same appellate court held that a federal law prohibiting users of illegal drugs from owning firearms was unconstitutional as applied to the case of a marijuana user. The case is Shreve v. U.S. Postal Service, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, No. 3:25-cv-00214. For Shreve: Gilbert Ambler of Ambler Law Offices; and Stephen Stamboulieh of Stamboulieh Law For USPS: Not yet available
Newsweek
05-07-2025
- Politics
- Newsweek
Trump's 'Big, Beautiful Bill' Sparks Gun Group Lawsuit Within Hours
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Several gun rights groups filed a lawsuit to dismantle what is left of the National Firearms Act (NFA) shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump signed his package of tax breaks and spending cuts into law on Friday. The legislation reduced the NFA's excise tax on suppressors, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns and any other weapons to $0. Gun Owners of America (GOA) and other plaintiffs argue in the lawsuit—which they have dubbed the "One Big Beautiful Lawsuit"—that the Supreme Court had upheld the NFA as a tax statute and the constitutional justification for it no longer applies once the tax is eliminated. Newsweek has contacted the Department of Justice and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives—which are listed as defendants in the lawsuit—for comment via a contact form on the DOJ's website and email. File photo: Donald Trump signs the One Big Beautiful Bill Act into law on the South Lawn of the White House on July 4, 2025 in Washington, D.C. File photo: Donald Trump signs the One Big Beautiful Bill Act into law on the South Lawn of the White House on July 4, 2025 in Washington, Context The National Firearms Act was first enacted in 1934 to regulates firearms considered the most dangerous and crack down on gangland crime in the Prohibition era. The law had imposed a $200 tax on machine guns and shotguns and rifles with barrels shorter than 18 inches, and also required the federal registration of these types of firearms. Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act eliminates the $200 fee that gun owners are charged when purchasing silencers and short-barreled rifles, but it remains in effect for machine guns and explosive devices. What To Know In a press release on Thursday, Gun Owners of America said its team had been "working behind the scenes" with lawmakers since the November election to repeal the NFA fully. The group said congressional Republicans had allowed "an unelected bureaucrat" to block the provision. GOA added that Congress ultimately "settled for reducing the NFA's $200 excise tax to $0 on suppressors, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, and any other weapons or AOWs—teeing up GOA's legal challenge." GOA also said it has also long argued that the NFA's registration mandates "violate the Second Amendment and are an unconstitutional overreach of federal power." The authors of the NFA "left no doubt that the NFA was an exercise of the taxing power, and the Supreme Court upheld it on that basis," says the lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas. "But the NFA no longer imposes any tax on the vast majority of firearms it purports to regulate. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which Congress and the President enacted on July 4, 2025, zeros the manufacture and transfer tax on nearly all NFA-regulated firearms. That means the constitutional foundation on which the NFA rested has dissolved. And the NFA cannot be upheld under any other Article I power. With respect to the untaxed firearms, the Act is now unconstitutional." What People Are Saying Erich Pratt, senior vice president of GOA, said in a statement: "This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to dismantle one of the most abusive federal gun control laws on the books. With the tax struck down by Congress, the rest of the NFA is standing on air. We're ready to take this fight to the courts and finally end the federal registry once and for all." Sam Paredes said in a statement on behalf of the board for Gun Owners Foundation: "The Supreme Court has made clear that the NFA survives only as a tax law. Once the President signs this bill and the tax disappears, the registry becomes an unconstitutional relic. GOF is prepared to go to court and challenge every remaining provision that violates the Second Amendment." Representative Mike Thompson, a Democrat and chairman of the House Gun Violence Prevention Task Force, wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday: "Congressional Republicans are giving a handout to the gun lobby by eliminating the $200 tax on silencers and easily concealable short-barreled rifles and short-barreled shotguns. We've regulated silencers and these guns for 90+ years for a reason: to keep people safe." Emma Brown, the executive director of GIFFORDS, an organization focused on preventing gun violence, said in a statement this week: "Almost 100 years of precedent has kept silencers and short-barreled firearms out of easy reach for criminals. But with this bill, Republicans are laying the groundwork to gut safeguards that stopped criminals from getting these deadly weapons. This vote is proof that the 'law and order' rhetoric Donald Trump has pushed for years rings hollow. In siding with the gun industry CEOs, he has handed criminals a win, and communities will suffer the deadly consequences." What Happens Next The lawsuit asks the court to declare that the NFA's registration and transfer requirements pertaining to untaxed firearms "exceed Congress's enumerated powers" and block the defendants from "implementing, enforcing, or otherwise acting under the authority of the NFA with respect to untaxed firearms."
