By Alex Morgan August 18, 2026
For nearly a century, the National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA) has stood between law-abiding Americans and the right to keep and bear arms. To purchase suppressors and short-barreled firearms, Americans have been required to undergo federal registration, application, fingerprinting, photograph regulations, and pay a $200 tax stamp.
These restrictions faced a historic setback in August 2026 following a lawsuit by Gun Owners of America (GOA), the Gun Owners Foundation, Silencer Shop, manufacturers, individuals, and 15 states. On August 5, 2026, Judge James Wesley Hendrix of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas issued a permanent injunction in Silencer Shop Foundation v. ATF, prohibiting the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) from enforcing the challenged requirements against plaintiffs, their members, and customers of commercial plaintiffs.
The Department of Justice did not seek a stay within the seven-day window provided by the judge, allowing the injunction to take effect on August 13. The ruling stems from changes enacted by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025 (OBBBA), which eliminated the $200 NFA tax on suppressors, short-barreled rifles, shotguns, and “any other weapons.” Judge Hendrix rejected government efforts to salvage the NFA scheme under the U.S. Constitution’s Commerce Clause, determining that without the tax used to justify the NFA, the remaining registration requirements became unenforceable.
In his ruling, Judge Hendrix wrote: “The challenged NFA provisions are unconstitutional. Congress’s choice to eliminate the transfer and making taxes matters, and the defendants cannot save the NFA’s regulatory scheme by referring to a power that Congress never invoked.”
Shortly after midnight on August 13, 2026, GOA members Brandon Herrera, candidate for Texas’ 23rd Congressional District, and Texas state Representative Wesley Virdell (R-Junction) completed the first suppressor transfers without NFA registration since the Act took effect in 1934. The transfers occurred at Silencer Shop’s storefront in Leander, Texas, after formal notice was provided to the DOJ and ATF.
Erich Pratt, senior vice president of GOA, stated: “GOA fought to crush the NFA’s unconstitutional restrictions through the One Big Beautiful Bill, but we didn’t stop there. We promised to keep fighting until these restrictions were gone…. The era of federal registration for constitutionally protected arms must end.”
U.S. Representative Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.), who authored the OBBBA’s provision zeroing the NFA tax, said: “Today marks a tremendous milestone … a restoration of our constitutional right to keep and bear arms that has been violated since 1934.”
The permanent injunction currently applies only to plaintiffs and their members and customers. A nationwide end to the NFA would require broader legal action or congressional intervention. Nevertheless, this development is unprecedented: for the first time in 92 years, Americans have acquired suppressors without federal registration.
Herrera indicated he will continue working with GOA “to help be the tip of the spear fighting for gun owners, constitutional rights, and civil rights of not only Texans, but all Americans.”
Meanwhile, Attorney General Todd Blanche announced a new process enabling eligible Americans to seek restoration of their federal firearm rights. This rule revives the relief process under 18 U.S.C. § 925(c), which had been unavailable for over three decades. More than 30 million Americans who have lost Second Amendment rights can now petition for restoration.
Blanche stated: “The Second Amendment is not a second-class right, and the federal government should not permanently deprive Americans of a constitutional right without regard to whether they pose a danger to public safety.”
This reform, combined with the recent court victory against NFA registration requirements, represents further progress in restoring the right to keep and bear arms for law-abiding citizens.
