It's not like this month isn't busy enough — but if you want some some news that's at least tentatively good, gather around.
The National Firearms Act (NFA) is on the ropes.
The NFA — which was passed as part of the Franklin Roosevelt administration's ratcheting up of social control in 1934 — was America's first attempt at national gun control. In and among its other administrative intricacies, it required owners of fully automatic weapons (colloquially known as "machine guns"), short barreled rifles (SBRs) and short barreled shotguns (SB Ses) with barrels shorter than 16 inches, short barreled shotguns (SBSes) and suppressors — often erroneously called "Silencers". The law added some background checking and legal phumphering, but the big feature was a $200 "tax stamp" that had to be obtained before taking possession of any of those accessories.
Now, $200 is a chunk of change today — and in 1934 it was moreso, being worth almost $5,000 in today's money. Today it's a minor but significant deterrent; back then, it pretty much shut legal ownership down.
(And you'll note how scarce sawed-off shotguns have been among robbers, or machine guns among cartel members and gang bangers. That was sarcasm.)
But that's all in the past tense, at least for now. After a year-long reversal of historic course, the Department of Justice and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have reverse course and focused more on criminals and less on harassing law-abiding gun owners, and a series of successful lawsuits by gun rights groups, the Feds are suspending enforcement of the NFA's registration, approval and tax requirements for SBRs, SBSes, suppressors and automatic weapons:
🚨BREAKING🚨 ATF has finally issued guidance following GOA’s historic NFA victory. The agency says it will no longer enforce federal registration and approval requirements for suppressors and short-barreled firearms for everyone, nationwide. https://t.co/iCWiLJIXMZ
— Gun Owners of America (@GunOwners) October 9, 2026
According to American Rifleman (the NRA house magazine):
On August 5, 2026, U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix of the Northern District of Texas entered final judgment for the plaintiffs in the consolidated cases of Jensen v. ATF and Silencer Shop Foundation v. ATF. The court held that once Congress eliminated the making and transfer taxes on these firearms in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the remaining registration and pre-approval scheme could no longer be justified under Congress’s taxing power. NRA filed Jensen with the American Suppressor Association, Firearms Policy Coalition, and Second Amendment Foundation. Plaintiffs included the Texas State Rifle Association, individual gun owners, and a Texas federal firearms licensee.
Attorney General Todd Blanche announced that the Department of Justice would not appeal and would apply the ruling’s logic through enforcement discretion to everyone, not only the parties covered by the injunction. ATF’s open letter and frequently asked questions put that decision into practice.
You could say the reforms are broad — but only if you haven't been following this issue since the 1980s, in which case a better adjective is "overwhelming":
Under the guidance:
- ATF will not require individuals to apply for or receive approval before making or transferring short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, suppressors, and certain “any other weapons.”
- ATF will not enforce NFA registration or tax-stamp requirements for those items.
- The $200 NFA tax, and the full NFA regime, remain in place for machine guns and destructive devices.
- Licensed dealers must still complete Form 4473s, run NICS background checks, and keep required records under the Gun Control Act.
- Interstate transportation of short-barreled rifles and short-barreled shotguns still requires ATF approval on a Form 20.
- State and local laws are unaffected. Where a state still requires registration or imposes its own restrictions, those laws continue to apply, and ATF will continue to process NFA applications submitted for that purpose.
Brandon Herrera — a YouTube 2nd Amendment influencer and Texas congressional candidate — breaks it down for those of you who prefer sound and pictures.
Now, let's keep this in perspective; the NFA is not dead - not really, not yet. Dorothy had to pour water on the Wicked Witch, and - as with so many of the Trump Administration's executive accomplishments — Congress will have to do the same with the NFA to make it really most sincerely dead. A Democrat administration in 2029 could reverse it all on day 1 — and if the Democrats manage to control the House and Senate as well, much more and much worse.But that's a problem for future you and me.
'Til then, I'll see you at the suppressor store.
