Senechal dismisses Stish NFA case after law change

Owen Stish, 27, no longer faces a federal gun charge after U.S. District Judge Alice Senechal dismissed the case on Monday, Nov. 2. The decision resolves the legal fight that started when Stish was arrested at the Fargo Street Fair in July for carrying an unregistered short-barreled rifle.

Stish was originally charged on July 17 with illegally possessing guns as a person with mental disorders. Prosecutors dropped that count ten days later and replaced it with a charge under the National Firearms Act. The new count alleged he possessed a regulated firearm without registering it with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The dismissal follows a legal shift triggered by the One Big Beautiful Bill, which Congress signed into law last July. That legislation removed taxes on most firearms, including those subject to NFA restrictions. A Texas judge subsequently ruled that removing the tax rendered the NFA's registration requirements unconstitutional. Federal prosecutors in Fargo confirmed to The Forum in late August that they did not intend to dismiss Stish's case despite that Texas ruling.

U.S. Attorney Nick Chase stated on Monday that the one-page motion to dismiss filed Friday was due to a change in the law. The motion did not list a specific reason for the request. Chase confirmed the decision to reporters on Monday afternoon, following the judge's morning order.

The NFA had required owners of short-barreled rifles to pass extensive background checks, register the weapons with the federal government, and pay a tax. Stish's case was one of several affected by the new legal standard. In Cass County, a separate case involving a man with a silencer was dismissed in late August based on the same Texas decision.

Stish is from Minot. He was 27 at the time of his arrest. The street fair incident occurred in July. The federal court case concluded with the dismissal of the single remaining charge.