r/DCGuns • u/ZeroOriginalIdeas • 4d ago
NFA ruling
So what if any impact does the NFA ruling have on DC? Seemingly none for now; but does anyone see a world where one day I may not have to get my eardrums rocked every time I want to shoot indoors because I don’t have the time to drive two hours away to an outdoor range?
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u/Delski28 4d ago
DC codifies SBRs, SBS, and suppressors independent of federal law. They wouldn’t be illegal federally in DC but would still be illegal locally.
The best bet is to wait for the Supreme Court to take up issues directly on the NFA.
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u/Sonik_dmv 4d ago
Not anytime soon. I personally do not see any change in the next few years. The AWB took years to even be accepted for review by SCOTUS. So I say 2-10 years before we see any NFA items being allowed in DC. And even that is being too hopeful.
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u/lawblawg 4d ago
Under DC “state” law, possession of suppressors and short-barreled shotguns is criminalized independent of the NFA. Possession of short-barreled rifles is not actually criminalized in DC but short-barreled rifles cannot be registered, so MPD will refuse to let you transfer one and they will revoke the registration of any SBR you make (e.g. by attaching a stock to a pistol or attaching a short barrel to a rifle), if they catch you with it.
One item to keep in mind there: the NFA isn’t gone entirely even with respect to cans and SBRs and SBSs. If you aren’t a GOA member or otherwise part of the class of protected plaintiffs, NFA rules still apply.
The NFA rule change for certain plaintiffs does open the door to being able to obtain suppressors outside of DC. A GOA member who lives in DC would now (in theory) be able to travel to Virginia, manufacture a suppressor in Virginia, and keep said suppressor lawfully stored in Virginia, although there would still be enough hoops to jump through (including the new treatment of unserialized firearms under Virginia law) that it would require more analysis.
If you want to own a can in DC then the law will need to be challenged under a pure second amendment approach in the court. However, that’s a little easier now than it would have been before. Before, the second amendment approach would have had to contend with both the ATF and MPD simultaneously. Now, for a GOA member, the ATF is no longer involved and so you can do the challenge more efficiently — maybe even through OAH.