Gun Rights Groups Hail Judge’s Reversal of Old Restrictions
Gun rights advocates began transferring firearm silencers without federal registration for the first time in 92 years following a court ruling that declared National Firearms Act restrictions unconstitutional.
Gun Owners of America (GOA) and Silencer Shop notified the Trump administration on Thursday that they would immediately begin transferring gun suppressors without completing the National Firearms Act registration and approval process, as New York Post reported.
Just after midnight Thursday, Brandon Herrera and Texas state Representative Wes Virdell became the first Americans in 92 years to lawfully acquire silencers without NFA registration, walking out of Silencer Shop in Leander, Texas, with suppressors in hand. Previously, such transfers without federal approval carried penalties of up to 10 years in federal prison and $250,000 in fines per violation.
Aidan Johnston, GOA’s director of federal affairs, emphasized the magnitude of the development, noting that gun rights groups had successfully challenged a major federal firearms law that has stood since 1934.
Representative Andrew Clyde, a Georgia Republican who attended the midnight transfers and helped draft the legislation enabling the court victory, characterized the ruling as the greatest Second Amendment win in American history. Clyde confirmed Wednesday that the Trump administration’s Justice Department would not appeal the decision.
Legislative Background and Legal Challenge
The legal battle originated from Republicans’ 2025 reconciliation package, which initially sought comprehensive rollback of National Firearms Act restrictions on suppressors and short-barreled firearms. After the Senate parliamentarian blocked portions of the deregulation effort under reconciliation rules, the final One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed by President Donald Trump reduced NFA making and transfer taxes to $0 for suppressors, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, and certain other weapons, effective January 1, 2026.
On the same day Trump signed the legislation, Gun Owners of America, the Silencer Shop Foundation, and other plaintiffs filed suit against the federal government, arguing that registration and approval requirements could not constitutionally remain for weapons on which Congress had eliminated the underlying tax. Fifteen states subsequently joined the legal challenge.
The Justice Department contended that remaining regulations could still be justified by other NFA taxes and congressional authority over interstate commerce.
Court Ruling Strikes Down Registration Requirements
US District Judge James Wesley Hendrix, a Trump appointee, ruled in favor of the challengers on August 5, determining that once Congress eliminated the making and transfer taxes, the regulations designed to collect those taxes lost their constitutional foundation. Hendrix permanently blocked federal officials from enforcing the challenged requirements against the plaintiffs and their members and customers, though he declined to issue a nationwide injunction.
Erich Pratt, senior vice president of Gun Owners of America, declared that the era of federal registration for constitutionally protected arms must end, noting that GOA had promised to continue fighting until NFA restrictions were eliminated.
The ruling represents a significant shift in federal firearms regulation after nearly a century of NFA oversight governing the transfer and possession of silencers and other restricted weapons categories.
With information from New York Post
