As most gun owners are aware, if you have to provide a reason in order to practice a Constitutionally protected right, that right isn’t very well protected. In fact, it’s more of a privilege than a right.
Such has been the case with applications under the National Firearms Act (NFA) where the citizens filling out the application decided to try to explain that concept on Form 1, Box 4 I, a question which many consider to be government overstepping its bounds. That question asks applicants, “Reason for Application” or “Reason for Requesting to Make the Firearm.”
The commonly accepted answer is “Any Lawful Purpose.” However, some applicants have taken it a little further, with more than a few referencing constitutionally protected activity as a legitimate reason for possessing NFA items. Some answers have included, “Exercise my God-given rights” and, “For all lawful purposes, including justifiable homicide.”
Few were really surprised when the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) chose to reject those applications. According to a report at ammoland.com, there were two outright denials where applicants’ cited intent to “exercise God-given rights” was deemed “insufficient” by ATF examiners, despite no statute requiring a specific “acceptable” purpose beyond lawful use.
Additionally, a third case involving an initial approval (dated January 25, 2026) for an SBR build was later voided during “routine quality control” because the purpose statement, “FOR ALL LAWFUL PURPOSES INCLUDING JUSTIFIABLE HOMICIDE,” wasn’t palatable enough. The email from Supervisory Legal Instruments Examiner Shannon Siviero instructed resubmission, treating honest self-defense language as disqualifying.
Some gun-rights supporters believe the dismissals weren’t clerical slip-ups, but rather blatant discrimination against what the ATF saw as an unacceptable viewpoint. They believe the ATF effectively punished applicants for refusing to sanitize their Second Amendment motivations into bland bureaucratic talk like “target shooting” or “hunting.”
In fact, Gun Owners of America posted on X: “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.’”
Now, however, the ATF has suddenly reversed course and approved the applications with the once-questionable answers.
“ATF is aware of the report regarding a Form 1 denial for ‘insufficient answer,’” the ATF posted on X in response to the GOA post. “With high application volumes, occasional admin errors occur, which we promptly correct when identified. This specific matter has been resolved.”
For its part, GOA didn’t buy the talk of admin errors and prompt corrections.
“That error was only corrected because angry gun owners applied overwhelming pressure,” GOA posted in a subsequent X entry. “Most people who are unjustly denied never get that opportunity. The real solution is simple: abolish the NFA and your entire unconstitutional agency along with it.”
Ultimately, hasty Form 1 rejections for questionable reasons are yet another reason to hope that the One Big Beautiful Lawsuit filed by GOA and its partners finally marks an end to the NFA and all the restrictions tied to it.