Suppressor law just got better, and more complicated, at the same time
About a week ago, a Federal judge issued an injunction against the NFA, barring the ATF from enforcing the NFA requirements for suppressor purchases and transfers for specific groups of people.
Wondering if you’re covered? I made a quiz.
As a reminder for those unfamiliar, the ATF is the criminal organization responsible for the Ruby Ridge and Waco massacres as well as countless other crimes, and exists in direct violation of the 2nd amendment.
What is the NFA?
The NFA, an unconstitutional piece of legislation, has for 92 years mandated that purchasing a silencer, a device used to reduce hearing damage, required paying a $200 tax stamp, submitting fingerprints to the FBI and ATF, going through a bunch of paperwork, and then waiting for about a year for approval. Oh and of course you’re now in a Federal registry, another unconstitutional monster.
When it was first written in 1934, the $200 tax was a big deal. Back then, new cars cost $450! The law essentially made it completely unaffordable to purchase silencers for the average American. Luckily, the politicians who drafted it were stupid and forgot to account for inflation, and as a side-effect of the Federal Reserve destroying the U.S. currency, $200 in 2026 isn’t unaffordable anymore. See - everything has a silver lining!
For many years now, Gun Owners of America, SilencerShop, and several other organizations and companies have been fighting to repeal the NFA. Last year, Congress removed the $200 tax stamp, and in the last week we had another major victory; since the ATF has been collecting absurd $0 tax stamps and maintaining an illegal registry, the Federal judge in this case has finally issued an injunction and ruled this practice illegal.
The DOJ decided not to appeal, and declared that publicly. Some people think this is a concession from the DOJ, but I suspect they just didn’t want the appeal going to the Supreme Court, which would have struck down the illegal NFA registry at a national level.
Legal Double Standards
Instead, what we now have is a complicated patchwork of who can and cannot purchase silencers without going through the NFA registry. That’s because the injunction only covers certain people. For instance, are you a member of Gun Owners of America? Great, you’re covered. But wait - do you live in California? Sorry, suppressors are still banned there. Do you live in Texas? Great. Georgia? Georgia still has state laws requiring you comply with the NFA and file a Form 4 with the ATF.
Are you in a covered state like Texas but purchasing a suppressor from a local gun store and not a member of Gun Owners of America? You’re also not covered.
This injunction has increased freedom for some Americans while vastly complicating the suppressor legal framework and landscape. And that’s not an accident, folks. The whole point of these laws is to confuse Americans and lay traps for them, so that the average American commits an average of 3 felonies per day without even knowing it. The idea is to criminalize normal behavior so that if the government ever wants to target you, they can.
I Made a Silencer NFA Quiz
So I’ve decided to try to help people figure out if they’re covered by this new injunction or not. I created this guide page which has a quiz. Answer the questions and it’ll tell you if you’re covered (mind you, this is not legal advice!).
I also added a new map layer to Lookout Map that shows suppressor freedom in the 50 states (alongside many other awesome layers like raw milk freedom, homeschooling freedom, and others).
Hopefully these help and we can keep moving towards abolishing these stupid laws that prevent Americans from legally protecting their hearing. A silencer is a tube of metal. You should be able to buy it like anything else and have it shipped to your door. Maybe we’ll get there one day.
I know I’m not generally an advocate for legal or political solutions to problems, but credit where credit is due - GOA has been doing an excellent job of fighting for Americans’ gun rights, and therefore their right to protect their life, liberty, and property, for decades now. And while I urge readers to focus on Exiting & Building, I do appreciate when the other methods move the needle towards freedom, too.
