A federal court injunction has just gone into effect that could have major implications for the future of the NFA.
Last year, as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the tax for certain NFA items was reduced from $200 to $0. That was already a huge win, but gun rights activism groups didn’t stop there. On August 5th, a federal court essentially ruled that aspects of the NFA are now unconstitutional.
We are not lawyers, and all of this legalese gets complicated fast, but here’s a summary of what happened and what it means for gun owners as best as we currently understand the situation.
Congress holds the broad power to lay and collect taxes. Because the extra burdens related to registering NFA items were only ostensibly in place to help facilitate the tax collection process, this was all ruled as being constitutional. Now that the “tax” being collected for silencers, short-barrel rifles (SBRs), short-barreled shotguns (SBSs), and any other weapons (AOWs) is $0, some have argued that no tax is being collected at all, so therefore the peripheral actions required to obtain these items are unconstitutional.
One case that argued this was Silencer Shop Foundation v. ATF, and a federal district court in Texas agreed with the plaintiff’s position. As a result, the judge ordered a permanent injunction that protects against the enforcement of the specific NFA provisions in question.
The DOJ then had 7 days to appeal that decision. As of today, August 13th, that window has now closed with no action taken.
Does that mean the NFA is now dead, and that you’re good to go start sawing off barrels? Not so fast, partner; things are never so simple when the government is involved.
Firstly, the legal cases in question are not challenging the entirety of the NFA, they’re challenging the regulation of NFA items that are no longer being taxed after the changes made by the Big Beautiful Bill. In other words, because machine guns and destructive devices are still being taxed $200, they are not a part of this discussion.
Secondly, the injunction does not apply to everyone nationwide and only covers the plaintiffs in the case and some associated groups. However, that category is still pretty broad, as it includes people like GOA members and Silencer Shop customers.
Thirdly, state laws still apply. Some states have their own laws that entirely ban items like silencers, while other states have laws that require these items to be federally registered to be legal. Other states have no restrictions whatsoever. The ramifications of the injunction for you will depend on where you live.
Finally, just because the temporary stay on the injunction has now expired doesn’t mean that the government can’t still file a formal appeal down the road. The fight isn’t over.
It’s also worth noting that even for the items and parties covered by the injunction, the effects are not completely deregulating the items in question. For example, buying a suppressor would still require passing a background check and submitting a 4473, just like when buying a standard firearm.
All of this to say, there’s still quite a bit of gray area and confusion. Luckily for the rest of us, Brandon Herrera and Wes Virdell volunteered to be the first guinea pigs in this ordeal. After the clock struck midnight last night, marking the end of the DOJ’s window to appeal before the injunction took effect, suppressors were transferred to these gentlemen without NFA registration at a Silencer Shop storefront in Texas. The ATF was officially notified of this plan beforehand and did not object, so the transfers took place as intended.
This is a historic moment, as a suppressor has not been legally transferred in the United States without registration since the NFA was enacted in 1934.
These are exciting times, and we’re as hopeful as you are that these changes stick and eventually have sweeping consequences for the NFA. If it all works out for the best, being able to walk into a gun shop and walk out with a suppressor or SBR like any other gun may be in our future.
For more information, visit the GOA’s website at gunowners.org.
And for those who want to dig into the legalese deeper (we’re not lawyers, and even if we were, we’re not your lawyers), check out this article: johnpierceesq.com.
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