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PaperclipPerfector  2d ago (text post)   8743 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of August 3, 2026

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Some (potentially) big news in the gun world just happened, and I'm surprised @gattsuru hasn't already beaten me to the punch with a thoroughly researched and detailed novel: https://saf.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/TX-NFA-opinion.pdf

A federal district court just ruled that short barreled rifles, short barreled shotguns, and suppressors no longer need to be registered under the National Firearms Act (NFA). I need to dig through the ruling and see if AOWs are covered as well before I go put a vertical foregrip on one of my pistols. The gist of their reasoning is that the constitution allows the federal government to tax, and since congress recently changed the amount of the tax for several NFA items down to $0, the accompanying registration requirement is no longer constitutional since it is not part of a tax.

Thanks to recent changes in how injunctions work, this ruling currently only applies to the plaintiffs. But the plaintiffs are the Second Amendment Foundation and Gun Owners of America, so if you're a member of either you are covered by the ruling. Also several red states joined the ruling as plaintiffs so if you're a resident of those states you're covered as well.

Big caveat: the ruling doesn't take effect for a week, pending appeal. Also good luck finding too many gun store or other retailers willing to sell you these items until any and all legal questions around them are resolved more permanently (see the guy in California who got prosecuted for buying a standard capacity magazine during "freedom week" for an example of why).

Other than my own personal excitement over this as a gun nut (going to finally get a suppressor for my .308), I'm tentatively excited about this ruling as possible proof that Cthulhu doesn't just swim left and there may be a possible future for conservatism (that doesn't require global economic collapse and/or nuclear war first). There's a decent chance this gets destroyed in an appeal, so I won't get my hopes up too much, but it's a strong sign of some real vitality in at least some sectors of the right that are still able to fight against the constant drift towards both the left and collectivism.

EDIT: After checking the ruling it appears AOWs are covered as well.

Second Amendment Foundation link

RECAP link with other court documents

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