CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Attorney General JB McCuskey announced a major legal victory Wednesday after a federal judge struck down key firearm registration regulations under the National Firearms Act (NFA). The ruling, issued by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, declares that federal requirements to register short‑barreled rifles, short‑barreled shotguns, silencers, and similar firearms are no longer valid.
The court found that the NFA’s registration mandates were only lawful as a means of collecting taxes. But under the One Big Beautiful Bill, those taxes were eliminated — leaving the federal government without the constitutional authority to enforce the registration system. That system previously required fingerprinting, photographs, and ATF approval.
West Virginia joined 14 other states and a coalition of individuals, gun‑rights groups, and firearms businesses in Silencer Shop Foundation v. ATF, arguing that without the tax, the federal government’s regulatory power collapsed.
“The federal government has long used its taxing power as a backdoor to impose invasive registration mandates on law‑abiding citizens,” McCuskey said. “We recognized that once the tax was eliminated, the regulations needed to go too. I am thankful that the court agreed with our arguments as we fought on behalf of gun‑owners and the principles of the Second Amendment.”
States joining West Virginia in the lawsuit include Texas, Alaska, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming.
The ruling marks one of the most significant legal challenges to federal firearms regulation in recent years and could reshape how the ATF enforces firearm classifications nationwide.
