One gun group is taking on Trump’s Department of Justice for the DOJ’s aggressively defending the National Firearms Act and other federal gun control in court.
The Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) announced the filing of a brief in Jensen v. ATF, an FPC-backed federal lawsuit challenging key provisions of the National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA).
The reply brief reads in part, “That the challenged NFA provisions can no longer be justified as in aid of Congress’s exercise of its taxing power should be the end of this case, but as predicted, the Government argues that the NFA can be independently justified as an exercise of Congress’s Commerce Clause powers. The Government’s arguments should fail at the start, however, because this Court should not supply a justification to the NFA that Congress itself never intended, as demonstrated by the NFA’s text, structure, and history.”
“President Trump promised to end unconstitutional gun control like the NFA, but his DOJ is in court fighting to keep every bit of it,” said Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) President Brandon Combs.
The gun-rights supporters in the case include lead plaintiff John Jensen, for whom the suit is named, Jeremy Neusch, David Lynn Smith, Hot Shots Custom LLC, Texas State Rifle Association, FPC Action Foundation, and Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.
According to the reply brief filed on January 19, Jensen wants to acquire a smooth-bore pistol that qualifies as “any other weapon” under the NFA without complying with the challenged NFA provisions.
Similarly, Neusch wants to both acquire and make smooth-bore pistols that qualify as “any other weapon” under the NFA, and Smith wants to acquire a Marble Game Getter that qualifies as “any other weapon” under the NFA and both acquire and make smooth-bore pistols that qualify as “any other weapon.” Hot Shots Custom LLC would sell firearms that qualify as “any other weapon” under the NFA without complying with the challenged NFA provisions.
FPC President Combs said, “If the Trump Administration is at all serious about restoring the right to keep and bear arms, it should immediately stop spending taxpayer resources to defend unconstitutional laws that treat peaceable gun owners like criminals.”
Jensen is just the latest example of the DOJ taking an anti-gun-rights position, FPC said. In October 2025, the Administration’s Solicitor General, D. John Sauer—the government’s top appellate lawyer, often called the “10th Justice” for his influence with the Supreme Court—urged the Court to deny review in a case challenging the National Firearms Act’s (NFA) registration and taxation scheme for short-barreled rifles. The Administration argued that the NFA’s intrusive requirements are “consistent with this Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation,” endorsing federal overreach that infringes on the Second Amendment.
FPC wants President Trump to immediately direct his Department of Justice to end its defense of federal gun control laws and to begin using the full power of the executive branch to actively protect and advance the Second Amendment rights of the American people.
Combs said, “The President can end the government’s reign of terror with a call. He should pick up the phone and do it.”
The Jensen case is being heard in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas in Amarillo.
