U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde is leading seven other Republican members of Georgia’s congressional delegation in asking Attorney General Chris Carr to clarify how Georgia gun law should be applied following a recent federal court ruling involving the National Firearms Act.

Clyde and the other lawmakers sent Carr a letter Wednesday asking him to issue a legal opinion addressing what they say is now a conflict between Georgia law and federal requirements.

The issue stems from an August 5 ruling by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas in Silencer Shop Foundation v. ATF, consolidated with Jensen v. ATF. The court ruled that National Firearms Act registration requirements for suppressors, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns and certain other weapons could no longer be constitutionally supported by Congress’s taxing power after Congress reduced the applicable NFA taxes to zero.

However, the federal ruling does not simply eliminate the requirements for every gun owner nationwide. Its injunction applies to the plaintiffs covered by the lawsuit, including members of plaintiff organizations, and independent state restrictions can still apply.

That is where Clyde and the Georgia lawmakers say a problem arises.

Georgia law generally prohibits possession of certain weapons, including short-barreled rifles and shotguns, machine guns and silencers. One exemption applies to people authorized to possess them because they have registered them in accordance with the National Firearms Act.

The lawmakers argue that the language creates uncertainty because some Georgians covered by the federal court ruling may no longer be required to complete the federal registration that Georgia law references as the basis for its exemption.

Clyde said Georgia gun owners need clear guidance from Carr’s office about how the state statute applies under the new federal legal landscape.

Joining Clyde in the request are Georgia Republican U.S. Representatives Rick Allen, Buddy Carter, Mike Collins, Clay Fuller, Brian Jack, Barry Loudermilk and Rich McCormick.

Georgia was itself a plaintiff in the federal lawsuit challenging the NFA requirements.

The case followed congressional action that eliminated the longstanding $200 federal tax on suppressors and short-barreled firearms while initially leaving associated registration requirements in place. The Texas court subsequently found that the challenged registration scheme could not be justified under Congress’s taxing power once the underlying tax was eliminated.

The lawmakers are asking Carr for a legal opinion clarifying how Georgia’s existing statute should now be interpreted rather than leaving gun owners to determine for themselves whether conduct permitted under the federal ruling could still violate state law.