Gun Owners of America (GOA), one of the nation’s most uncompromising gun-rights organizations, tore into Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Trump administration after the Department of Justice filed a legal memo defending the National Firearms Act (NFA) — a move GOA blasted as a historic betrayal of the Second Amendment.
GOA, founded in 1976 and long critical of what it considers the National Rifle Association’s softer approach to gun rights, erupted on social media over the DOJ’s arguments in the ongoing lawsuit filed by the Silencer Shop Foundation (SSF), GOA, and several other plaintiffs. The suit challenges the NFA as amended by the “Big Beautiful Bill,” which eliminated the tax stamp for suppressors, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, and “any other weapons,” but left intact the paperwork and federal registry requirements.
Plaintiffs argue that because the tax is now zero, the NFA no longer produces federal revenue — stripping away the sole constitutional justification the government has historically relied on to defend it. SSF said the law now only produces “burdensome regulations, slow approval times, and a federal registry of law-abiding citizens who wish to exercise their rights,” calling it a pure “restriction and registration scheme.”
But in a 48-page memorandum filed Thursday, the DOJ moved for summary judgment and defended the NFA by claiming it remains a “valid” tax — despite the tax now being zero dollars.
GOA’s response was immediate and furious.
In one post, GOA shared the DOJ memo with “BREAKING” and red siren emojis, writing: “In an ultimate betrayal of the 2nd Amendment, the Trump admin is DEFENDING the archaic National Firearms Act of 1934.”
Other posts accused Bondi of embracing the most aggressive federal power grab “since FDR” and “channeling the [Brady Foundation] and [Everytown] hysteria.” GOA highlighted that the DOJ memo invoked language describing certain NFA-regulated items as “weapons of war,” a characterization GOA says mirrors talking points from liberal gun-control groups.
One passage in particular enraged the group. Citing past court decisions, the DOJ memo asserted that the NFA targeted “dangerous and easily concealable weapons” that “could be used readily and efficiently by criminals” and were “likely to be used for criminal purposes.” GOA argued that this logic — if accepted — could justify banning nearly every handgun in America.
The group warned that Bondi’s argument essentially hands gun-control activists the blueprint they’ve long sought. GOA wrote that the DOJ had effectively “made the argument for banning EVERY HANDGUN IN AMERICA.”
The backlash from GOA underscores a growing rift within the gun-rights community, as hardline advocates demand that Republican administrations go beyond rhetoric and actively roll back decades of federal firearms regulations. Instead, they now face a DOJ defending a nearly century-old law that many see as the original federal gun-control scheme.
For a segment of Trump’s most loyal supporters — particularly those who prioritize Second Amendment absolutism — this fight could become a defining test of whether the administration is truly committed to dismantling burdensome gun regulations, or whether bureaucratic agencies are still calling the shots.
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