Legal/Law/Criminal Justice and Reform

ATF Backtracks On Permit Denials After Backlash From Pro-Second Amendment Group

Peretz Partensky/Flickr

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) backtracked Tuesday after Gun Owners of America (GOA) posted screenshots on X of the denial of an application for items covered by the National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA).

The reconciliation bill signed into law by President Donald Trump in July 2025 contained provisions that reduced the taxes on suppressors, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns and guns described as “any other weapon” to $0. According to screenshots posted on X by GOA from legal documents filed Monday, a member of the gun-rights group requested tax stamps for a suppressor and a short-barreled Winchester 1300 shotgun, leading ATF to respond on the social media site.

“On January 28, 2026, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (‘ATF’) ‘disapproved’ two Form 1 Applications to Make and Register NFA Firearms related to making a suppressor and a short-barreled rifle that had been submitted by a member of Plaintiff Gun Owners of America,” GOA said in its Monday filing. “As Plaintiffs explain in the attached notice of supplemental authority, ATF’s disapproval of these Form 1s demonstrates that the National Firearms Act is not a ‘shall-issue’ scheme as Defendants argue. And it shows that ATF determined that the exercise of Second Amendment rights an illegitimate reason to acquire a firearm.”

🚨$0 NFA UPDATE🚨

ATF just DENIED a GOA member’s Form 1 because he wanted a suppressor to “exercise my God-given right.” @ATFHQ said this was an “insufficient answer.”

In other words, ATF openly, brazenly, arbitrarily, & tyrannically denied the exercise of a God-given right. pic.twitter.com/5KGa6Kye3x

— Gun Owners of America (@GunOwners) February 9, 2026

“This is why I spent the last year lobbying for the repeal of the National Firearms Act using the one big beautiful bill in the budget reconciliation process, because you shouldn’t have to ask the government for permission to exercise your right to make a firearm or transfer a firearm, and especially when the government can just deny you arbitrarily, whether it’s on purpose, whether it’s a mistake, it’s not a right if you have to ask permission to do it,” GOA director of federal affairs Aidan Johnston told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The Form 1 applications had a box, listed as “4I” asking for a reason why the applicant, whose name is redacted, wanted the NFA items.

“EXERCISE MY GOD GIVEN RIGHT,” was the explanation provided in both documents by the GOA member. ATF denied the applications, citing, “INSUFFICENT REASON – 4I – STATE REASON, NOT ACTUAL.”

ATF posted on X Tuesday claiming that the issue was being rectified after GOA’s post from Monday received over 270,000 views.

“ATF is aware of the report regarding a Form 1 denial for ‘insufficient answer,’” the agency said. “With high application volumes, occasional admin errors occur, which we promptly correct when identified. This specific matter has been resolved.”

The Department of Justice (DOJ) argued that the decision to grant permits under the NFA worked similarly to laws that mandated agencies “shall issue” concealed carry permits in a Nov. 20 filing responding to GOA’s lawsuit asking that the law be thrown out on Second Amendment grounds.

ATF is aware of the report regarding a Form 1 denial for “insufficient answer.” With high application volumes, occasional admin errors occur, which we promptly correct when identified. This specific matter has been resolved. Learn more at https://t.co/G7uAU4QUif. https://t.co/PszxpraPEX pic.twitter.com/zhU8tAyDbm

— ATF HQ (@ATFHQ) February 10, 2026

“When this GOA member followed up with ATF by email, asking ‘[p]lease provide me with a complete list of acceptable reasons to ATF to make a firearm because my reason is obviously not what the examiner wanted to read,” ATF doubled down, stating that ‘Box 4i needs a clear, legal reason why you are manufacturing the weapon,’” GOA said in another document filed Monday, which included the email from ATF that apparently admitted the denial of at least the suppressor was erroneous.

“The silencer should not have been disapproved for the reason stated,” ATF said in the email. “You will need to resubmit the form and supporting documentation again as we are unable to open or amend a form once final determination is made on it.”

The Supreme Court invalidated New York’s “good cause” requirement for pistol permits in June 2022, with Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, who authored the court’s opinion, citing historical gun laws and the debate around the ratification of the 14th Amendment as reasons New York’s concealed carry law, which was characterized as “discretionary issue,” was unconstitutional.

The DOJ and the National Rifle Association did not immediately respond to requests for comment from the DCNF.