Judge Torpedoes 92-Year Gun Law – Trump APPROVES

Handgun on U.S. Constitution with American flag backdrop — Photo: Victor Moussa / Shutterstock

A federal judge just told Washington that a 92-year-old gun law went too far, and President Trump’s Justice Department chose not to fight back.

Quick Take

A Texas federal court struck down key parts of the National Firearms Act as applied to untaxed firearms and permanently blocked enforcement against the plaintiffs.
Judge James Wesley Hendrix ruled the challenged provisions went beyond Congress’s constitutional tax powers.
Nearly 50 Republican lawmakers pushed the Justice Department to skip an appeal and apply the ruling nationwide.
Reports say the deadline passed without an appeal, letting the injunction take hold, though the case only binds the parties involved.
Gun control groups and New York’s governor are pushing back hard, warning of public safety risks.

A Texas Courtroom Cracks a Depression-Era Law

The National Firearms Act became law in 1934, built as a tax on machine guns, silencers, and short-barreled weapons. Congress used its taxing power because it lacked direct police power over local crime. That legal foundation held up for decades. Then Congress zeroed out the transfer tax on silencers in 2025, and gun rights groups saw an opening to challenge the entire framework.

Silencer Shop Foundation sued the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, arguing that once the tax hit zero, the registration and approval rules lost their constitutional justification. On August 5, 2026, Judge Hendrix agreed. His order found the challenged sections exceeded what Congress can do under its Article I tax authority and permanently blocked enforcement against the plaintiffs and their customers.

The judgment gave the government just seven days to seek help from an appeals court, a tight window that signaled the judge expected quick action, not more district court fights. That clock started ticking loudly across gun rights circles and inside the Justice Department itself.

Republicans Push the Justice Department to Stand Down

Representative Andrew Clyde led nearly 50 House and Senate Republicans in an August 12 letter to Attorney General Todd Blanche. They urged the department to decline any appeal and instead use official rulemaking to apply the ruling across the whole country. That is a bold ask, since the court’s order technically only covers the people who sued.

By mid-August, reporting confirmed the Justice Department still had time to appeal but hadn’t filed anything. Other outlets said the injunction took effect on August 13, meaning the ruling stood without a fight from the government defending its own law. No public Justice Department statement has laid out exactly why officials chose that path, which leaves some of the reasoning to speculation.

What the Ruling Actually Covers, and What It Doesn’t

The injunction blocks enforcement of specific National Firearms Act sections tied to registration and tax stamps, but only for untaxed firearms and only for the plaintiffs named in the case. It does not repeal the law nationwide, and it doesn’t touch the Second Amendment question at all. The ruling rests purely on Congress’s limited tax power, a narrower legal path than a full constitutional strike against gun registration itself.

That distinction matters because critics can rightly note the win is not yet universal. Still, congressional Republicans clearly want the Justice Department to treat it as a template for broader change, and choosing not to appeal is a real policy signal, even without a formal explanation on the record.

Gun Control Groups and State Officials Cry Foul

Giffords and the Center for American Progress argue the National Firearms Act protects the public by requiring background checks, fingerprinting, and police notification before buying a silencer. They see the tax-based legal argument as a technicality that ignores real safety concerns baked into the original 1934 law.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul cited an Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives warning that deregulation risk could rise “up to and including potential mass casualty events,” and she vowed to keep enforcing New York’s stricter gun laws regardless of the federal shift. That kind of state-level resistance means the practical fight over silencers and short-barreled guns is far from finished, even if the Justice Department has gone quiet in court.

GOA Members to Make History with First Suppressor Transfers Without NFA Registration Since 1934

Leander, TX — Gun Owners of America (GOA), along with lead plaintiff Silencer Shop, made history tonight as GOA members Brandon Herrera and Wes Virdell lawfully acquired suppressors… pic.twitter.com/lP2YxgPB2w

— Firearms Guide (@FirearmsGuide) August 14, 2026

Conservatives who value limited government and constitutional restraint have long questioned whether a Depression-era tax scheme should still govern modern gun ownership. A court finally agreed the math doesn’t work once the tax hits zero, and the administration’s decision not to fight that outcome fits a broader pattern of stepping back from executive overreach on the Second Amendment.