Silencer Shop Puts ATF on Notice: No-Form-4 Suppressor Transfers Set for Midnight
Silencer Shop is preparing to do what the federal government has forbidden Americans from doing for more than 90 years: complete commercial suppressor transfers without ATF permission, Form 4s, or entry into the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record.
In an August 12 letter to Attorney General Todd Blanche and ATF Director Robert Cekada, Gun Owners of America and Silencer Shop gave the government notice that two transfers are scheduled for midnight Central Time on August 13. One suppressor will go to Brandon Herrera, the Republican candidate for Texas’ 23rd Congressional District. The second will go to Texas state Rep. Wes Virdell.
The letter gives DOJ and ATF until 5 p.m. Eastern on August 12 to say whether they consider the transfers unlawful or intend to continue enforcing the enjoined National Firearms Act provisions.
If the government does not intervene, the parties say these will be the first lawful commercial suppressor transfers since June 26, 1934, completed without complying with the NFA’s registration and advance-approval scheme.
GOA and Silencer Shop put DOJ and ATF on notice:
At midnight tonight, Silencer Shop plans the first lawful commercial suppressor transfers since 1934 without Form 4s or NFA registration. https://t.co/N4ixx6Xme8
— AmmoLand News (@AmmoLand) August 12, 2026
No Form 4, No Registry, No ATF Permission
Silencer Shop is not proposing an off-the-books sale. The company says both transfers will comply with Texas law, the Gun Control Act, and the federal rules that still apply to ordinary firearm transactions. What it will not do is file an ATF Form 4, request advance permission, or register the suppressors under provisions that a federal judge has enjoined.
Both recipients are Texas residents legally eligible to possess firearms. Both are GOA members and will be Silencer Shop customers during the transactions. That makes them, as the letter puts it, covered “twice over” by the injunction.
As AmmoLand previously reported, U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix permanently barred ATF and DOJ from enforcing major NFA registration and approval provisions against the plaintiffs and, where applicable, their current and future members and customers.
The constitutional reasoning is straightforward. Congress enacted the NFA under its taxing power. Congress later reduced the making and transfer taxes on suppressors, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, and AOWs to zero. With no tax to collect, the registration machinery lost the constitutional power supporting it.
The federal government possesses only the powers delegated to it by the Constitution. Courts do not get to rescue a dead taxing-power justification by pretending Congress enacted the statute under some different power. Judge Hendrix accordingly rejected the government’s attempts to retrofit the scheme under the Commerce Clause and Necessary and Proper Clause.
The court did not reach the Second Amendment claim. Separately, however, the Fifth Circuit has already held that suppressors are protected “Arms” because they facilitate the use of firearms for lawful self-defense.
ATF Has a Choice to Make
The notice removes any claim of surprise. It identifies the seller, buyers, location, timing, and legal basis for the transactions. If ATF interferes, the plaintiffs will have a clean record to take back before Judge Hendrix. If the bureau stands down, Americans will see the practical result of the judgment: a covered customer can buy a suppressor through a licensed dealer without begging ATF for permission.
The move comes while DOJ remains under pressure over whether to appeal and 47 Republican lawmakers are urging the administration to apply the ruling nationwide.
This does not mean the entire NFA has vanished. The injunction protects the plaintiffs and covered members and customers; it is not universal relief. State suppressor bans, the Gun Control Act, and NFA provisions governing still-taxed machine guns and destructive devices remain in place.
For now, the question is much narrower: Will ATF obey the court, or will it attempt to enforce provisions that Judge Hendrix has already declared beyond Congress’s constitutional authority?
About Duncan Johnson:
Duncan Johnson is a lifelong firearms enthusiast and unwavering defender of the Second Amendment—where “shall not be infringed” means exactly what it says. A graduate of George Mason University, he enjoys competing in local USPSA and multi-gun competitions whenever he’s not covering the latest in gun rights and firearm policy. Duncan is a regular contributor to AmmoLand News and serves as part of the editorial team responsible for AmmoLand’s daily gun-rights reporting and industry coverage.