Texas Judge Strikes Down NFA Registration for Suppressors, SBRs

A federal district court held that the National Firearms Act's registration and approval requirements for suppressors, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, and AOWs exceed Congress's enumerated powers and permanently enjoined ATF from enforcing them against the plaintiffs, their members, and their customers. The August 5, 2026 decision in Silencer Shop Foundation v. ATF, No. 6:25-CV-056, consolidated with Jensen v. ATF, is the most consequential NFA ruling since the statute passed in 1934.

The enjoined provisions are the operational core of the NFA for those four categories: 26 U.S.C. 5812 transfer applications, 5822 making applications, the 5841 registration mandate, and the 5861 possession and transfer offenses that criminalize an unregistered suppressor or SBR. In plain terms, the court enjoined the Form 4 and Form 1 pipeline itself for the covered parties. The Second Amendment claims were never reached; the plaintiffs dropped them at the motions hearing because the enumerated-powers win gave them everything they asked for.

Judge Hendrix stayed the judgment for seven days, through August 12, 2026, to give the Department of Justice time to seek relief at the Fifth Circuit. The government sought none: the stay lapsed at the end of August 12 with no stay motion, and the injunction now operates for the covered parties. CBS News reported on September 17 that President Trump ordered the department not to appeal, and PEOPLE reported the same confirmation on September 19. Solicitor General D. John Sauer then told Congress on September 24, in a letter under 28 U.S.C. 530D, that the department has determined not to file an appeal. The government filed that letter with the court on October 1. The October 5 notice-of-appeal deadline passed with no DOJ filing. On October 9, 2026, ATF extended the same result to everyone as a matter of enforcement discretion.

The NFA's constitutional foundation was always the taxing power, and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act removed it for these categories. The Supreme Court upheld the NFA in Sonzinsky v. United States in 1937 on the theory that Congress may attach registration machinery to a revenue-producing tax. When OBBBA zeroed the making and transfer tax on suppressors, SBRs, SBSs, and AOWs effective January 1, 2026, that machinery kept running while the revenue went to zero.

The opinion states the problem directly: because today's NFA does not generate any revenue from untaxed firearms, its regulatory provisions cannot be upheld under the taxing power. The government argued the scheme could survive under the Commerce Clause instead, and the court rejected the substitution because Congress built the NFA on the Taxing Clause alone and never invoked its commerce authority. A statute cannot be retroactively re-founded on a power its text and structure never claimed.

The timing was no accident. The Silencer Shop Foundation plaintiffs filed on July 4, 2025, the same day the President signed OBBBA, and the legal theory was visible from the moment Congress zeroed the tax instead of repealing the registration scheme outright. Machine guns and destructive devices still carry their $200 tax, still produce revenue, and are untouched by the ruling.

The injunction protects the plaintiffs and their members and customers, not the general public. Under the Supreme Court's 2025 Trump v. CASA decision, district courts cannot issue universal injunctions, so Judge Hendrix tailored relief to the parties: the individual plaintiffs, Silencer Shop Foundation, the commercial plaintiffs B&T USA, Palmetto State Armory, SilencerCo Weapons Research, and Hot Shots Custom, and the members of six organizations. Those are Gun Owners of America, Gun Owners Foundation, Firearms Regulatory Accountability Coalition, Texas State Rifle Association, FPC Action Foundation, and Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.

Customer coverage is transaction-scoped. The injunction reaches current and future customers of the plaintiff companies, and customers of the commercial members of the plaintiff organizations, but only for transactions with those businesses. It does not exempt a covered customer from the NFA for every item they own from any source, and the court declined to extend protection to organizational supporters or resident family members. One category carve-out applies: the Jensen plaintiffs lacked standing on AOWs, so their relief excludes that category, while the lead Silencer Shop plaintiffs obtained relief across all four untaxed categories. Fifteen states also won relief for their law-enforcement agencies: Texas, Alaska, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

The dealer counter answered the question before ATF did. On August 13, 2026, Silencer Shop transferred two suppressors to GOA members on a 4473 alone, and both it and Palmetto State Armory opened standing no-Form-4 suppressor programs the same day: Silencer Shop through its store and its Powered by Silencer Shop dealer network in the 27 states it counts as free of state-level NFA requirements, PSA at participating South Carolina retail stores. ATF's October 9, 2026 guidance then made the coverage question moot at the federal level by declining to enforce these provisions against anyone. Dealers, distributors, and manufacturers still operate inside a licensing and occupational-tax system the ruling leaves standing. Our practical explainer on whether you still need a Form 4 walks through how a purchase works now and where state law still requires registration.

Most of federal and state gun law is untouched. The Gun Control Act still applies to suppressors and short-barreled firearms, so a dealer transfer still means a 4473 and a NICS background check. For short-barreled rifles and shotguns the GCA goes further: 18 U.S.C. 922(b)(4) bars a dealer from selling an SBR or SBS without specific Attorney General authorization, which only an approved Form 4 supplied. ATF stopped enforcing that provision on October 9, 2026 until it writes a non-NFA approval process, but the separate Form 20 requirement for taking an SBR or SBS across state lines still applies. Machine guns and destructive devices keep the $200 tax and the full NFA process. The federal licensing system for manufacturers and dealers stands. And state law is completely unaffected: the eight state suppressor bans remain, and states that restrict SBRs keep those restrictions.

For a buyer today, the federal process is a Form 4473 and a NICS check at the dealer, laid out in our how to buy a suppressor guide. In states whose law only allows a registered suppressor, the voluntary eForm 4 is still the safe path, and ATF still processes it. If you are picking a first can, the suppressor buying guide covers hosts, mounting, and the current market.

The Department of Justice did not appeal. After the seven-day window closed on August 12, 2026 without a stay motion, ATF is barred from enforcing registration against the covered parties, and the covered parties did not wait: GOA and Silencer Shop scheduled the first no-Form-4 suppressor transfers for 12:01 a.m. CDT on August 13, 2026, the first minute the injunction operates without a stay.

The retail rollout followed. Since August 13, Silencer Shop and its Powered by Silencer Shop dealer network transfer suppressors and AOWs on a 4473 and NICS check alone, same day, in the 27 states it counts as free of state-level NFA requirements. In the 15 states whose own statutes tie legal possession to federal registration, it keeps processing traditional Form 4s while it litigates those restrictions.

On October 9, 2026, the Justice Department extended the result to everyone. ATF Director Robert Cekada signed an open letter stating that, effective that day, ATF will no longer require anyone to seek approval before making or transferring a suppressor, SBR, SBS, or AOW, and will no longer require those items to be registered. Attorney General Todd Blanche made the call as a matter of enforcement discretion after nearly 50 members of Congress led by Rep. Andrew Clyde asked for nationwide application. ATF also stopped enforcing the 922(b)(4) dealer authorization rule for SBRs and SBSs until it writes a non-NFA process. Our breakdown of ATF's nonenforcement guidance covers what still applies: the 4473 and NICS check, the Form 20 for SBR travel, state law, and the risk that a future department rescinds the policy.

The constitutional fights continue alongside it. The enumerated-powers holding sits next to the dispute over whether suppressors are Second Amendment arms, where the Fifth and Ninth Circuits split earlier this year in the Comeaux and DeBorba cases covered in our Fifth Circuit suppressor ruling analysis. The Third Circuit took a third position on September 1, 2026, holding in United States v. Berger that NFA registration is not an infringement of the Second Amendment at all, without deciding whether suppressors are arms. Congress could also settle the question in either direction, by repealing the registration scheme for untaxed items or by re-enacting it under the Commerce Clause; ATF names a new tax as one of the events that could restart enforcement. Hosts built suppressor-ready in the rifle builder work either way.

ATF's first on-the-record statement came August 29, 2026, when Director Cekada posted that the agency was following the order, would not take enforcement action against protected parties inconsistent with it, and was drafting guidance that squared federal and state law. He called a viral, anonymously sourced headline claiming ATF was planning revenge on gun owners "completely FALSE." The October 9 letter is that guidance.

A federal court has held that the NFA's registration scheme is unconstitutional for suppressors, SBRs, SBSs, and AOWs, and the reasoning is a direct consequence of the $0 tax: a registration system attached to a tax that no longer exists has no constitutional anchor. The court's relief is party-specific, DOJ did not appeal, and since October 9, 2026 ATF has declined to enforce the same provisions against anyone. None of it changes state law, background checks, or machine guns.

For owners and buyers, the federal Form 4 is now optional for these four categories, and the registry is still worth keeping: ATF says a removed item cannot be re-registered without an amnesty if enforcement ever resumes. Between this ruling, the circuit split on suppressors as arms, and ATF's own deregulatory rulemaking covered in our July 2026 fingerprint and photo proposal coverage, every pillar of the 1934 regime is now under active challenge at once.