Federal judge voids suppressor registration rules for gun group's members, customers

A federal judge has struck down long-standing federal registration and approval requirements for gun silencers as they apply to the plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed by Gun Owners of America, the Silencer Shop Foundation and other challengers. U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix ruled Aug. 5 that once Congress reduced the National Firearms Act's making and transfer taxes to $0, the regulations that existed to help collect those taxes lost their constitutional basis. Hendrix permanently barred federal officials from enforcing the challenged requirements against the plaintiffs and, where applicable, their members and customers, but declined to issue a nationwide injunction. He rejected a separate Second Amendment argument, writing that "Efforts to render the NFA constitutional must come from Congress, not this Court."

The tax change came in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed by President Donald Trump, which set the making and transfer taxes at $0 for suppressors, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns and certain other weapons, effective Jan. 1, 2026. Broader deregulation language was dropped after the Senate parliamentarian blocked portions of it under reconciliation rules. The lawsuit was filed the same day the bill was signed, and 15 states later joined the challenge. The Justice Department had argued the remaining rules were still supported by other NFA taxes and by congressional authority over interstate commerce. Gun Owners of America said two gun owners, Brandon Herrera and Texas state Rep. Wes Virdell, obtained suppressors from Silencer Shop in Leander, Texas, without completing the registration and approval process, and that the group notified the administration it would begin such transfers. Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., said he was told the Justice Department would not appeal the ruling.