ATF extends Jensen v. ATF Protection to Everyone

What the October 9 guidance changes, what it leaves in place, and why ASA’s state work and remaining court cases are critical to making it last.

On October 9, 2026, ATF issued an open letter to all federal firearms licensees and the public announcing that it will no longer require ATF approval under the National Firearms Act to make or transfer suppressors, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, and any other weapons. Registration of those items in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record is now voluntary.

The letter follows Jensen v. ATF, in which a federal judge in the Northern District of Texas held on August 5 that the NFA's registration and approval requirements had lost their constitutional footing once the One Big Beautiful Bill Act zeroed the making and transfer taxes — a tax change spearheaded by ASA along with a coalition of 2A partners. The injunction took effect August 13, the Justice Department let the appeal deadline pass on October 5, and four days later ATF extended the result nationwide rather than leave it with the named parties, citing the “inequity and disuniformity” of applying a court order to some buyers and not others. ASA has worked through the letter and ATF's companion FAQ line by line. What follows is a summary of what changes for your business and for your customers, and what did not.

What the guidance changes

Start with the change that matters most to a licensee. An FFL no longer needs ATF approval to sell a silencer or an AOW to another FFL, including across state lines. ATF will not require a Form 3. One may still be filed voluntarily, but approval is no longer a precondition to shipping. For an industry built around Form 3 timing for decades (with approvals for a dealer-to-dealer transfer measured in months not all that long ago), that is the largest operational change in the letter.

• Registration is voluntary. ATF is keeping the registry and will continue to accept and approve Forms 1, 2, 3, and 4 from anyone who wants an item registered or for those residing in states where NFA registration is required under state law.
• Retail transfers of silencers and AOWs run on the GCA. ATF's instruction is to process them “as they would any other statutory ‘firearms’ under the GCA” — Form 4473, a NICS check unless an exemption applies, and the transaction record retained.
• The buyer must generally reside in a state where you are licensed to do business, subject to limited exceptions.

Short-barreled rifles and shotguns are the exception (for now). 18 U.S.C. § 922(b)(4) still bars a licensee from selling or delivering an SBR or SBS without the Attorney General's authorization, and ATF states plainly that “no regulatory mechanism exists to authorize FFLs to transfer short-barreled rifles” outside the NFA process. ATF is drafting one and will not enforce § 922(b)(4) in the meantime. Transfers to state and local government entities for official use remain lawful, and an unregistered SBR or SBS still requires a Form 20 before interstate transport.

One caution on inventory: ATF will remove a registered item from the NFRTR on written request, but a removed item generally cannot be re-registered absent an amnesty the Attorney General is under no obligation to declare. There is no operational reason to deregister stock, and a real reason not to.

What the guidance does not change

This is enforcement discretion, not a repeal. The statute is still on the books, and these obligations are untouched:

• Special occupational tax. Anyone engaged in the business of manufacturing, importing, or dealing in these items still owes SOT for each business activity. The court did not enjoin the occupational taxes, and ATF restates that “those engaged in the business must continue to pay applicable taxes.” A dealer without an SOT cannot rely on this policy to deal in them.
• All GCA recordkeeping and background checks, including 18 U.S.C. § 922(t) and 27 C.F.R. § 478.121. Your A&D obligations are what they were.
• Prohibited-person restrictions, in full.
• Manufacturing requirements. A non-SOT FFL making these items still needs the proper GCA manufacturer's license and still must serialize. Silencer manufacturers in business before November 20, 2026 still carry ITAR registration obligations.
• Machine guns and destructive devices remain fully regulated under the NFA, including the $200 tax.
• State and local law remains unchanged, which is where this gets complicated.

The state-law question ATF declined to answer

18 U.S.C. § 922(b)(2) prohibits a licensee from transferring a firearm in violation of state or local law, and ATF's FAQ is blunt about the consequence: “FFLs willfully transferring firearms in violation of state and local law face federal criminal penalties.” ATF then declines to say whether an item acquired under the injunction or this policy counts as lawfully held, or as registered, for purposes of a state statute that uses those words. Its advice is to seek legal counsel and check with state and local authorities.

That question lands on the licensee, and fifteen states still have varying language referencing the NFA or registration as part of their own statutes as a condition of lawful possession. Those statutes were drafted on the assumption that the NFA would be permanent. Some classify a suppressor as contraband and carve out an exception for a device registered under the NFA; others make federal compliance an affirmative defense to a felony charge. Ohio still lists a suppressor as “dangerous ordnance” and relies on federal registration to exempt civilian ownership. Remove the registration and the state exception has nothing left to attach to. The country now runs on three tiers — states that ban possession outright, states whose law stands on its own, and fifteen pointing at a federal requirement the federal government has stopped enforcing.

The state work ahead

ASA began mapping these statutes in 2025, while the $0 tax was still moving through Congress, on the expectation that zeroing the tax would invite exactly the litigation that followed. That head start is why two states came off the list before the injunction took effect: South Dakota's Senate Bill 2, signed February 10, 2026, and Kansas House Bill 2501, signed in April and effective July 1, which ASA supported alongside the Kansas State Rifle Association.

Ohio is likely next. Senate Bill 214 would remove firearm mufflers and suppressors from the dangerous ordnance classification and strike the language tying possession to NFA registration. It passed the Senate 31–1 in March with no opposition testimony in committee and has been through hearings in House Public Safety. ASA has held direct meetings with House leadership, our partners at the Buckeye Firearms Association have testified in support, and we anticipate passage this year.

ASA is already actively planning for 2027. Montana and North Dakota meet in odd-numbered years and had no legislature to lobby in 2026; ASA is building those campaigns now so bills are drafted and sponsored before the gavel falls. Alaska's SB 243 failed to advance out of committee in 2026 and will be reintroduced in 2027. ASA and in-state partners testified on bills in Mississippi and Georgia this year and will be back again next year to continue our work, and North Carolina remains on the list. Not every state will look like Kansas. Several are where any bill carrying the word suppressor draws organized opposition, and there the better path may be a narrow conforming amendment, an attorney general opinion, or litigation. ASA is also working through the Republican Attorneys General Association to seek clarity in affected states, which will not fix a statute but can keep lawful owners and the dealers serving them out of limbo until one passes – like the opinion letter recently published by Mississippi's AG Fitch, with support from ASA. Our allies at the NRA and NSSF bring grassroots reach and state lobbying weight, and the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation opens a bipartisan front door through its sportsmen's caucuses. Since 2011, ASA has worked in 35 states and territories on pro-suppressor reform. It is a topic we are well versed to handle.

Why the court cases still decide this

ATF's FAQ says the quiet part out loud: “Material changes in legal or factual circumstances could cause NFA enforcement to resume.” Congress could impose a new tax. A court could dissolve or overturn the injunction. The Bureau could rescind the guidance. Unregistered items are not grandfathered, and the amnesty the NFA permits is capped at 90 days and entirely discretionary. Everything your customers gained on October 9 rests on a policy choice a future administration can reverse.

Turning that policy into binding law is the work of ASA's remaining court cases. Brown v. ATF, in the Eastern District of Missouri, and Roberts v. ATF in the Eastern District of Kentucky — where the ASA and ASA Foundation are the plaintiff of record, respectively could produce what an open letter cannot: a court order that further binds the government.

The larger question is moving in parallel. On June 18, 2026 the Fifth Circuit held in United States v. Comeaux that suppressors are bearable arms protected by the Second Amendment; the Ninth Circuit had ruled the opposite way two weeks earlier. That is the circuit split ASA has spent years working to create, and precisely the conflict the Supreme Court exists to resolve. A ruling that the Second Amendment protects suppressors would do more for this industry than any statute — opening the eight prohibition states, along with our ongoing lawsuits in Illinois and New Jersey challenging state-level suppressor bans, and putting the question beyond the reach of any future administration.

For most NASGW members, the new normal looks much as it did. You still hold your SOT, you still maintain your records, though dealers will complete a 4473 and a NICS check for NFA items, and you still cannot ship into a state whose law says no. What changed is that the Form 3 and Form 4 approval is now voluntary for silencers and AOWs, SBRs and SBSs are in a holding pattern until ATF writes regulations, and the state-law question that used to be answered by a federal stamp now has to be answered state by state. ASA has a proven track record of success at the state and federal level, and we will continue our fight to advance pro-suppressor reform until suppressors are legal to own in all 50-states and they have achieved the Second Amendment protections they deserve.

To learn more, or become a member, visit AmericanSuppressorAssociation.com