On August 5, 2026, a federal judge for the Northern District of Texas ruled that key enforcement provisions of the National Firearms Act (NFA) of 1934 are unconstitutional as applied to silencers, short-barreled rifles and shotguns, and other easily concealed weapons, including pen guns and cane guns. The Department of Justice has 60 days to appeal the decision, and the court gave it only one week to request a stay before the ruling went into effect for the plaintiffs.
The DOJ missed the deadline to request a stay, opening the door for the plaintiffs to make and purchase those NFA weapons and devices without registering them in accordance with the NFA — for the first time in 92 years.1Other federal statutes such as 18 U.S.C. § 922(b)(4), which makes it unlawful for federal firearms licensees to sell or deliver short-barreled rifles and shotguns to others without specific authorization from the Attorney General, were not affected by the court’s decision. Several states also have their own restrictions on silencers, short-barreled rifles and shotguns, and other NFA items, which are not affected by the court’s decision. As discussed below, several gun groups, industry members, and influencers were quick to celebrate the news, including by staging the purchase of a silencer without following NFA procedures.
The DOJ’s inaction comes just days after Attorney General Todd Blanche was sworn into office, and it sets a dangerous precedent that could potentially invalidate NFA protections more broadly, particularly in pending lawsuits like the ongoing challenges in Missouri and Kentucky. Notably, Blanche was confirmed despite his family ties to the gun industry.
CHALLENGING THE NFA
The gun industry and its backers filed several lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the NFA after President Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act into law, which changed the longstanding tax that had been required to make or purchase silencers, short-barreled rifles and shotguns, and “any other weapons” from $200 to $0. The lawsuits, including two at issue here — Silencer Shop Foundation v. ATF and Jensen v. ATF — have generally argued that the challenged provisions of the NFA were enacted by Congress as part of its taxing power and are no longer valid.
In court filings for over a year, the DOJ had consistently rejected that argument, asserting that the NFA’s registration requirements remained a valid use of Congress’ taxing power because registration aids the ATF in the collection and enforcement of the special occupational tax (SOT) paid by businesses who import, manufacture, or deal in NFA weapons or devices. The DOJ had also contended that these NFA protections could be upheld as a valid use of Congress’ power to regulate interstate commerce. U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix disagreed with the DOJ’s arguments, enjoining the government from enforcing several NFA provisions against the plaintiffs, including the Silencer Shop, the far-right gun group Gun Owners of America (GOA) and its members, and assault weapon manufacturer Palmetto State Armory.
The lawsuits are part of a larger effort to help the gun industry sell more silencers (or sound suppressors) and short-barreled rifles. For example, in addition to cutting those NFA taxes, the Trump administration has put forward proposals to undercut the NFA application process and make it easier for companies to export silencers. According to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Americans now own over 6.5 million silencers as of July 1, 2026 — a stunning 2,419-percent increase from the roughly 285,000 owned nationwide in 2010. Similarly, there were 532,725 short-barreled rifles in the federal NFA registry as of May 2021, but that number has more than doubled, to 1.19 million, as of July 1, 2026.
THE FIRST UNREGISTERED SILENCER SALES
Just after midnight on August 13, GOA hosted an event at the Silencer Shop’s retail location in Leander, Texas, in which Texas State Representative Wes Virdell and guntuber Brandon Herrera were “the first to lawfully purchase unregistered suppressors since June 26th, 1934.” GOA said the attendees were “making history as we restore our God-given Second Amendment rights!” According to GOA, both sales were handled as they would be for a conventional firearm but without the additional steps required by the NFA.
U.S. Representative Andrew Clyde — who owns gun shops that sell NFA weapons and has publicly urged Attorney General Blanche not to appeal the Texas ruling — was also on hand to celebrate what he described as “literally the greatest win for the Second Amendment in the history of our country.” Hours earlier, Rep. Clyde tweeted that he had received confirmation from the DOJ that it will not appeal the Texas ruling.2The New York Times reported that the DOJ “disputed” this claim, and in an unsigned statement the DOJ stated, “Not staying the case is different than not appealing. We are not going to stay the case.”
In an email blast, the Silencer Shop announced that it had “won” against the ATF, which is tasked with enforcing and administering the NFA, and urged customers to check their state silencer laws.
Another retailer, Silencer Central, celebrated when a South Dakota resident became its “first customer to receive a lawful, unregistered suppressor.” In a video, the company’s CEO, Brandon Maddox, said, “I think you’re going to see the silencer market absolutely explode, and I think that was the judge’s intent.”
For its part, Palmetto State Armory published two videos explaining that the “win is here,” allowing customers who are also GOA members to purchase silencers or make short-barreled rifles and shotguns without an NFA background check or registration.
Another gun group, the National Association for Gun Rights, posted a video filmed at Palmetto State Armory’s Greenville, South Carolina, store supposedly “packed to the door with people transferring suppressors WITHOUT [NFA approval] for the first time in over 90 years!” In two other videos, the group claimed silencers were “flying off the shelves” and that “people were very excited,” but never showed any crowds inside the store — mirroring a Palmetto State Armory video showing few customers.
As of this writing, the DOJ has stated that it is “currently assessing the impact of the court’s ruling” and will not request a stay, but made no indication whether it will appeal. (The deadline to file an appeal is October 5.) It is also unclear what will happen to those who obtained unregistered NFA items if the Texas ruling is later overturned. The ATF, which is tasked with enforcing and administering the NFA, has so far been silent and has not provided any guidance to gun dealers about the impact of this ruling on sales of these NFA items or for those individuals seeking to purchase them.