Days after joining a coalition of gun rights groups in a landmark legal challenge which seeks to undo the 1934 National Firearms Act (NFA), the Second Amendment Foundation has launched an effort to raise a litigation war chest with the ultimate goal of “delivering the knockout blow to one of the most restrictive federal gun laws in American history.”
In an open letter to supporters announcing this new effort, SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb noted, “When Congress eliminated the NFA excise taxes, it inadvertently gave us the opening we’ve been waiting for since 1934. For 90 years, bureaucrats have hidden behind the fiction that registration was necessary for tax collection. That excuse is gone. What remains is a naked attempt to create a federal registry of lawful gun owners — something the Founding Fathers would have found abhorrent.”
According to SAF, the stakes have never been higher.
“This case isn’t just about the NFA,” the organization says. “It’s about whether the federal government can maintain a registry system that serves as a blueprint for future confiscation schemes. It’s about whether bureaucratic convenience takes precedence over constitutional rights. It’s about the kind of America we leave to our children and grandchildren.”
SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut, a practicing attorney in Pennsylvania, explained, “As someone who has spent years navigating the labyrinthine federal firearms law, worked behind the counter of an FFL, and as the owner of many NFA firearms, I can attest that the NFA registration system serves no legitimate government interest. It exists solely to discourage lawful gun ownership through bureaucratic intimidation, delay, and inconvenience.
“Our legal strategy is sound,” Kraut continued. “The Supreme Court’s recent Bruen decision has significantly altered how courts must evaluate gun regulations. Historical tradition matters now, and there is no historical tradition in America of requiring citizens to register their firearms with the federal government before exercising their constitutional rights.
“But winning this case requires resources that match the magnitude of the challenge,” Kraut said. “The government will deploy teams of attorneys, utilize its unlimited budget (funded by our tax dollars), and employ every legal maneuver at its disposal. On top of that, anti-gun organizations are already mobilizing their resources to defend this relic of the New Deal era.”
The SAF leaders stress in their open letter that the case challenging the constitutionality of the NFA isn’t just about the federal law.
“It’s about whether the federal government can maintain a registry system that serves as a blueprint for future confiscation schemes,” SAF says. “It’s about whether bureaucratic convenience takes precedence over constitutional rights. It’s about the kind of America we leave to our children and grandchildren.”
Over the past 15-plus years, SAF has become a litigation powerhouse, starting with the Supreme Court victory in 2010 known as McDonald v. City of Chicago. That case, which incorporated the Second Amendment to the states via the 14th Amendment, literally opened the floodgate for legal challenges to restrictive gun control laws across the country. Currently, SAF is involved in nearly 60 different state and federal lawsuits.
“Every dollar you contribute will be used efficiently and effectively,” SAF says in its message to supporters. “Over 80% of all donations go directly to legal action and public education — not administrative overhead or executive salaries. You can verify this commitment in our annual report at saf.org… The NFA has stood unchallenged for too long.”
