Reader question, asked March 2025
Short answer: Guns already are taxed, and courts have mostly upheld those taxes. Whether they should be is a real debate with arguments on both sides.
The details
- Federal excise tax: Under the Pittman-Robertson Act, manufacturers pay 10% on handguns and 11% on long guns and ammo. The money funds wildlife conservation and hunter education, and many hunters support it.
- NFA tax: The $200 tax from 1934 dropped to $0 on January 1, 2026 for suppressors, short-barreled rifles and shotguns, and AOWs. Machine guns and destructive devices still carry the $200 tax, and registration is still required for all of them.
- Courts: The Supreme Court upheld the NFA tax back in 1937 (Sonzinsky v. United States). On the other hand, it has ruled that states can’t charge a flat license tax just for exercising a First Amendment right (Murdock v. Pennsylvania, 1943), and gun-rights groups point to that case.
- The argument against: Taxing a right prices out people with less money.
- The argument for: Modest, general taxes that fund things like conservation or administration don’t meaningfully burden the right.
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