Gun-Related News Roundup for the Week of Good Friday 2026

Mississippi Debate to Provide a Sales Tax Holiday on Firearms, Sidetracked by Diapers

On Tuesday, March 31, the Mississippi Senate attempted to debate and move forward a bill that would give a break to firearms owners in the form of a tax holiday.

Lawmakers in both chambers supported the measure (House Bill 1793) which would exempt firearms sales from tax for two days.

The measure was hijacked by Senator Angela Turner-Ford (D), who asked for it to be held on a motion to reconsider because it did not include the exemption of sales tax on diapers.

This action demonstrates two very serious problems. The first is the inability for lawmakers to pass single-issue legislation, and the second – even more problematic – is conflating tax on the purchase of one retail good as equally important as that on an expression of our civil rights.

In essence, lawmakers think your ability to exercise Second Amendment rights are about as important as buying diapers.

SCOTUS Has a Litany of 2A Cases to Choose From, Yet Keeps Disappointing

The Supreme Court is petitioned each year to hear numerous firearms-related cases. Historically, it has only taken three to five cases during each term.

This week, it received another such petition, this time another case challenging the ban on firearms possession by convicted felons, in United States v. Fletcher.

The Duke Center for Firearms Law has a detailed tracker of 2A cases before the court.

It is generally the opinion of the Second Amendment community that there has never been as many cases of significant importance before the court as there are now. Those cases include cases addressing “assault weapons” and “high capacity magazine” bans; prohibitions on ownership and possession for adults under 21 years of age; prohibitions on controlled substance usage by firearms owners; and challenges to the National Firearms Act tax and registration requirement.

Rep. Burlison’s Abolish the ATF Act Finds Relevance Again… But Will It Get Support?

On March 16, the Second Amendment community learned that the Bondi Justice Department admits it is still enforcing regulations against short-barreled rifles (SBRs) and braced pistols as part of a motion submitted in a case called Texas v. ATF.

On March 31, Missouri Congressman (and staunch Second Amendment rights advocate) Eric Burlison, reminded the community why his January 2025 act entitled “Abolish the ATF” is much needed, in a strongly-worded X post:

Up to 10 years in prison for a rule the courts already killed. This is exactly why I introduced the Abolish the ATF Act. This agency is out of control.

HR 221 is perhaps one of the most simply worded pieces of legislation to ever be introduced, reading, “To abolish the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.” Unfortunately, as of this writing, it has not advanced beyond committee referral.

(New readers will appreciate our timeline that has tracked every major Second Amendment-related action from the Bondi DOJ.)

Veterans’ Names Wiped from NICS System, Confirms the National Association for Gun Rights

Until recently, United States veterans were banned from owning firearms for things as simple as requesting financial assistance.

That all changed on February 18, when the Department of Veterans Affairs announced that it would end the reporting of these activities to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).

On March 31, NAGR announced that it received confirmation directly from the House Veterans Affairs Committee that the federal NICS system had been wiped of the names of veterans who had previously been reported for these reasons, restoring their rights.

Secretary of War: Military Bases Will No Longer Be ‘Gun-Free’ Zones

Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, took to X on Thursday, April 2 to announce a major change that will remove gun-free zones from military bases, and he did so in the context of the Second Amendment.

Before today, it was virtually impossible for war department personnel to get permission to carry and store their own personal weapons, aligned with the state laws where we operate our installations. Effectively, our bases across the country were gun free zones.

Under the new policy, effective immediately, installation commanders will be required to address requests to carry a privately owned firearm with the presumption that it is necessary for personal protection.

California Does Not Like That People Want to ‘Become Ungovernable’

In February, the state of California sued two Florida-based entities for distributing free speech in the form of computer code that would allow individuals to 3D print firearms.

On April 1, they asked the court for a preliminary injunction to forcefully stop the Defendants from “distributing or causing to be distributed digital firearm manufacturing code into California.”

The state cannot believe people want to exercise their rights to free speech and being armed:

Indeed, Defendants actively encourage visitors to their websites to ‘[b]ecome [u]ngovernable [b]y owning an untraceable firearm; and provide detailed instructions to ‘print guns.’

The state calls 3D printed guns “a major threat to public safety in California,” but has not cited any correlating increase in crime, murder, or related activities.

Gun rights group 2A.org is working on projects with the 3D printing gun community to ensure files are accessible everywhere, all the time, in decentralized, censorship-proof, peer-to-peer systems.

Seventh Circuit Says That There May Be Conditions Where Felons Can Have Guns… Maybe

The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit finally issued a decision in a case on gun bans for federally-indicted felons after a hiatus of 16 months.

Their five-page decision upholds the ban as constitutional, but acknowledges that there may be “as-applied challenges by persons whose felony convictions do not suggest that firearms would be dangerous in their hands.”

The court also acknowledges something long addressed by Second Amendment legal experts: “it is chancy for an inferior court to take dicta (such as the statements in Heller) as the equivalent of holdings.”

Firearms Policy Coalition Introduces Freedom Index List of All 50 States. Where Is Yours?

The FPC says its 2026 Freedom Index is not based on “favoritism or political voodoo,” but rather uses the objective criteria standards of the “Constitution and natural law.”

They outline the methodology in a simple, four-step approach:

1. Guided by our Core Beliefs and Current Mission, we audited the laws of all 50 states (and Washington, D.C.) using 22 specific Yes/No criteria across four categories: Arms (what you can own), Acquisition (how you get it), Carry (where you can bear it), and Other (important questions that do not cleanly fit into the other three categories).
2. Each question was weighted equally, and every positive (pro-freedom) response resulted in one point being added to the state’s score.
3. The state’s total score was divided by the total possible score (22 points), and the resulting fraction was transposed into a percentage score.
4. A higher percentage represents greater respect for the right to keep and bear arms and more freedom, and a lower score represents greater disrespect and higher tyranny.