Missouri Attorney General Catherine L. Hanaway filed a lawsuit against the ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) Tuesday, seeking to end the requirement that law-abiding Americans must register suppressors and short barrel rifles and shotguns.
A press statement issued by Hanaway notes her argument that when Congress zeroed the National Firearms Act (NFA) taxes on suppressors and short barrel rifles and shotguns, the basis for any registration scheme was undone.
Yet, as the release points out, “Even so, the federal government continues to enforce extensive registration and data‑collection requirements, backed by criminal penalties, that Missouri argues no longer have a valid constitutional justification and conflict with the rights guaranteed by the Second Amendment.”
Hanaway said, “Law and order and the Second Amendment go hand in hand. A government that respects the Constitution has empowered, law‑abiding citizens who can protect themselves and their families. It does not paper over rights with red tape.”
She added, “The ATF’s heavy-handed restrictions on suppressors threaten lawful firearm use and undermine the rights protected by the Second Amendment.”
Hanaway’s case, in which she is joined by plaintiff Dave Marshak, is filed with the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.
On August 5, 2026, Breitbart News noted that plaintiffs in the case brought by Silencer Shop, Palmetto State Armory, and others, secured a ruling that the suppressor registration requirements were unconstitutional. The ruling was handed down in the United States District Court Northern District of Texas San Angelo Division.
All eyes are now on the ATF as those licensed for suppressor and short barrel rifle and shotgun sales await implementation guidelines.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He holds a PhD in Military History with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. He enjoys reading Philosophy and novels by Jack Carr and Nelson DeMille. He is a lever action man in an AR-15 world. Follow him on X: @awrhawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
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