DOJ Lets 92-Year Suppressor Registration Rule Lapse
DOJ Lets 92-Year Suppressor Registration Rule Lapse
The News
A federal court order deregulating firearm suppressors, short-barreled rifles and short-barreled shotguns took effect at midnight after the Justice Department declined to ask for a pause before a seven-day deadline expired.
U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix of the Northern District of Texas, sitting in Lubbock, ruled on Aug. 5 that the National Firearms Act's registration scheme for those weapons is unconstitutional, and gave the government one week to seek a stay. That deadline expired at midnight Thursday with no filing in the docket at Hendrix's court or the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, per the Washington Times.
The practical effect: covered buyers can purchase suppressors, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns and certain other firearms without registering them with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and without an extra layer of background checks.
The order is not a nationwide injunction. CBS News reported it applies only to the parties in the two consolidated lawsuits — a group that could include anyone who is a member of Gun Owners of America.
Who Brought the Case
The Texas litigation consolidated two suits, according to CBS News.
The first was filed by B&T USA, the Firearms Regulatory Accountability Coalition, Gun Owners Foundation, Gun Owners of America, Palmetto State Armory, Silencerco Weapons Research, the Silencer Shop Foundation, 15 Republican-controlled states and several individuals.
The second was filed by the Texas State Rifle Association — the NRA's Texas affiliate — the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, FPC Action Foundation, Hot Shots Custom and others.
Timeline
The National Firearms Act is enacted in response to concerns about mafia violence. It taxes certain weapons and requires that they be registered with what is now the ATF, a paper trail federal agents use to trace ownership in gun crime investigations.
Congress includes a provision in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act ending the $200 tax collected when a regulated firearm is transferred or made.
Hendrix rules the tax repeal knocked out the law's constitutional footing for these weapons. "By zeroing out the transfer and making taxes on 'any firearm' except for 'a machinegun or a destructive device,' the One Big Beautiful Bill Act eliminated the constitutional basis for the NFA's regulation of those firearms," he wrote. The order is set to take effect in seven days unless the government appeals.
The deadline day passes with no appeal or stay request on file, per the Washington Times.
The order kicks in. Gun Owners of America says two of its members acquired suppressors at Silencer Shop in Leander, Texas, without registering them — what the group called "the first unregistered suppressor transfer in 92 years."
Reactions
"The Department respects Americans' Second Amendment rights and is currently assessing the impact of the court's ruling," a Justice Department spokesman told CBS News.
"Our members are putting the historic victory into action. The era of federal registration for constitutionally protected arms must end," said Erich Pratt, senior vice president of Gun Owners of America.
Gun-control groups called it a surrender. "Today, our government is failing us," said Brady president Kris Brown. "At midnight, uniquely lethal weapons and devices — including silencers, short-barreled rifles, and shotguns — were deregulated for the first time in nearly a century."
"The Department of Justice's decision is a failure to defend public safety," said Emma Brown, executive director of Giffords. "Congress put these safeguards in place nearly 100 years ago. As a result, silencers, short-barreled rifles, and short-barreled shotguns are rarely used in crimes today. But now, silencers and dangerous, easily concealable weapons can now easily get into the wrong hands and be used to harm innocent people."
Giffords chief counsel Adam Skaggs added: "The system of regulating these weapons has been effective. The need is no less today than it was after the Prohibition era almost a century ago."
Critics on the left pointed to Attorney General Todd Blanche's written answers to senators before his confirmation, in which he said: "I defer to the measured judgment of Congress on whether the NFA should be repealed or weakened. The Department's duty is to defend the constitutionality of the laws passed by this body."
What's Next
The Justice Department can still appeal. Under court procedure it has weeks to file, even with Hendrix's order in force, the Washington Times reported, and CBS News reported it remains unclear whether the department ultimately will. Bearing Arms reported the department has hinted it may yet appeal, noting it did not ask Hendrix to extend the stay.
Two limits stay in place for now. The order covers only the parties to the lawsuits, and some states have their own bans on suppressors. Gun-rights advocates say similar challenges are pending in federal courts in other states.
The ATF, which enforces the law, did not immediately answer an emailed request for comment Thursday, per the Washington Times.
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