U.S. Stops Requiring Silencer Registration

Washington — The federal government on 9 October stopped requiring Americans to get its approval before buying or making gun silencers, short-barreled rifles and short-barreled shotguns. It also stopped requiring those items to be registered with the federal government, a requirement in place since 1934. The law itself has not changed; the agency says it will no longer enforce those parts of it.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the federal agency that regulates guns, announced the change in an open letter to gun dealers and the public signed by its director, Robert Cekada. The policy took effect the same day and applies nationwide.

What changed

The rules come from the National Firearms Act, a 1934 law passed amid fears of mafia violence. It put a $200 tax on making or transferring certain weapons and required buyers to apply to the government, register the item and wait for approval. Buyers had to fill out an application, submit fingerprints and a photograph, and pass an extra background check, according to the gun-safety group Everytown.

Under the new policy, ATF will no longer require that approval or registration for four kinds of items:

• silencers, also called suppressors, devices that muffle the sound of a gunshot;
• short-barreled rifles, which are easier to conceal than full-length rifles;
• short-barreled shotguns;
• what the law calls "any other weapons," which ATF describes as concealable firearms other than pistols and revolvers.

People may still register these items voluntarily, ATF said.

Why now

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the tax-and-spending law Congress passed and President Trump signed last year, cut the $200 tax on these four kinds of items to zero. On 5 August, U.S. District Judge James Hendrix in Texas ruled that without the tax, the registration and approval rules could no longer stand as an exercise of Congress's power to tax. He blocked ATF from enforcing them, but only for the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, Silencer Shop Foundation v. ATF, and certain of their members and customers.

The Justice Department chose not to appeal, the Associated Press reported. Forty-seven members of the House and Senate had asked ATF to apply the ruling nationwide, the agency said. In its letter, ATF said it would use its "enforcement discretion," its power to decide which rules it enforces, to treat everyone the same way.

"The direction from the President, Congress, and the courts is clear," Cekada said in a statement. In an interview with the AP, he said that applying the change nationwide was "the best and fairest thing to do," to avoid a confusing patchwork of rules.

What has not changed

The letter lists several limits.

• Buying from a licensed dealer still requires the standard federal purchase form and an instant background check. People barred from owning guns still cannot have these items.
• Machine guns and what the law calls "destructive devices" are still fully covered by the 1934 law and its $200 tax.
• Businesses that make or sell these items still owe the law's special business taxes.
• Anyone taking a short-barreled rifle or shotgun across state lines must still file a form with ATF first.
• State and local laws are untouched. A minority of states ban most or all of these items, ATF said. Under the new guidance, registration still applies to buyers in about 15 states whose own laws require people to go through the federal process, the AP reported.

What it means in practice

In most of the country, a buyer can now leave a gun shop with a silencer or a short-barreled rifle after a background check, rather than waiting for federal approval. People can also make these items at home without first asking ATF, as long as they are allowed to own guns and their state allows it.

There is a risk for owners. ATF warned that enforcement could resume if Congress restores the tax, if a court overturns the Texas ruling, or if the department changes its policy. Unregistered items would then be illegal contraband, and the law carries felony penalties. There is no automatic protection for items bought in the meantime, ATF said. The attorney general can hold an amnesty of up to 90 days for owners to register them, but is not required to.

The reaction

Gun-rights groups have long called the registration process overly burdensome, the AP reported. Gun-safety groups condemned the change. John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety, said Cekada had embraced the "smash-and-grab lawlessness of the Trump administration by attempting to pick and choose which federal gun laws he enforces."

What happens next

ATF said it is writing new rules so that dealers can sell short-barreled rifles and shotguns outside the old approval process. Until those rules are in place, it will not enforce the requirement for that approval.