On October 30, 2025, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) published three proposed form changes that will make it easier for people to obtain silencers, short-barreled rifles and shotguns, and other dangerous firearms regulated by the National Firearms Act (NFA) without notifying police in their area — undoing a decades-old provision designed to protect communities across the country.
The move comes after the Trump administration, heeding gun groups, ordered the ATF personnel who process NFA applications to return to work in the midst of the government shutdown.
The new ATF proposals, discussed below, are yet another attempt by the Trump administration and members of Congress to weaken the NFA, which was enacted in 1934 to curb gangland violence. In May, the administration effectively legalized forced-reset triggers that allow semi-automatic firearms to fire like machine guns. Then, in July, Republicans in Congress cut the $200 tax required for most NFA applications as part of Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” in a major handout to the gun industry. And in August, the ATF reclassified the short-barreled Franklin Armory Reformation AR to remove it from the NFA’s requirements.
chipping away at the nfa
For decades, anyone interested in obtaining an NFA item — including machine guns, silencers, short-barreled rifles and shotguns, other easily concealed firearms, and destructive devices — have had to submit an application to the ATF that includes their fingerprints and a passport-style photo, pay a tax, and undergo an enhanced background check. Applicants were also required to submit a copy of their application to the chief law enforcement officer (CLEO) in their area, notifying them of the person’s intent to obtain such dangerous items.
Once in effect, the new ATF proposals will remove that law enforcement notification requirement from applications to make, purchase, or transfer NFA weapons, however. As a result of this change, state and local police will have no way of knowing if residents within their jurisdiction acquire NFA weapons, jeopardizing the safety of officers serving warrants and carrying out other assignments in the line of duty.
The proposals will also make it easier for applicants to use digital signatures and copies of photo IDs, instead of passport-style photos, as a way to further streamline the NFA approval process.
cutting out law enforcement
In the past, state and local police had to sign off on NFA applications, providing an additional layer of vetting. But as discussed here, an ATF rule finalized in 2016 changed the process so that law enforcement only had to be notified of NFA applications. In a 2013 letter, the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the gun industry’s trade association, urged the ATF to “consider shifting to a notification process” to “remove the unnecessary burden from CLEO without sacrificing security.”
The NSSF argued that “[s]hifting to a notification process from a certification process will provide local law enforcement officials with an opportunity to object to a transfer, without requiring the CLEO to use scarce time and resources.”
It appears that the ATF is now, in the NSSF’s own words, “sacrificing security” to increase NFA sales even further.
After the ATF finalized its rule in 2016, the NSSF said, “We are pleased ATF heeded our suggestion in our comment letter and did away with the unnecessary and duplicative CLEO certification.” Another gun group, the American Suppressor Association, said, “For the first time in 82 years, local law enforcement will no longer have de facto veto power over any NFA applications,” calling “the removal of this antiquated measure from the NFA process” a “major victory for the [silencer] and NFA communities.”
The Silencer Shop, a large silencer retailer, called the 2016 change “good news” because local police departments “will no longer have the power to prevent your NFA purchase.” Under the new ATF proposals, state and local law enforcement will be cut out of the process entirely.