NFA Update- What is the current status

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Welcome to the Live to Shoot podcast. My name is Jeff Dowdle, and I've been a licensed firearm dealer for the last 19 years. In this podcast, we talk about all things related to the Second Amendment anything else going in the world, a sports story or anything else I might find interesting, so welcome, welcome, welcome. So last week if you follow my podcast, my newsletter, big changes going on with the NFA, a lot of uncertainty, and I thought I would just s- come back to that again and talk a little bit about what's, what's been happening any updates and what's happening going forward. So let's go back and we'll start with that ruling one more time just for those of you that are new. So the case is Silencer Shop Foundation versus ATF and, you know, the argument w- they're making is that, uh, in 1934 when the NFA, the National Firearms Act was enacted, uh, the original, uh, NFA imposed a, a tax on certain firearms that were suppressors, short-barreled rifles machine guns, all that. And but it wasn't just a fee it was part of a structure the government relied on to help regulate these val- items. But, um, beginning in 2026 Congress took the tax on suppressors, SBRs, SBS, and other items down to zero. So the plaintiffs went to court and essentially said, "Hey, if Congress eliminated the tax, what constitutional authority is left for all these registration requirements?" And the judge, he agreed, and he held that the, the challenge, the NFA precisions, uh, provisions, um, e-exceeded Congress' powers. And the... Importantly, we didn't even get to the Second Amendment. Now, I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing, um, because since we haven't ruled on this on the Second Amendment, now what if somebody goes and raises the tax to a dollar, right? Now what do we do? But that's a whole other podcast. So but all this is a big deal. Now, when he made this ruling, he put up seven days which w- ended on 13th, for the government to challenge the injunction that he placed on this, this particular, um, uh, action, and the, the stay expired and the injunction w-went into effect. The government still has 60 days to appeal, but right now there's an injunction that applies to the plaintiffs of this case that they are no longer covered by the NFA regulations around registrations, and that's when things get interesting. So who is actually covered? And this is really the big thing I think uh, that we're talking about. It's not universal, it's not every person in America, it's just the plaintiffs. And the, the, the plaintiffs groups are, are Gun Owners America, the Silencer Shop Foundation, uh, of 15 different states and a handful of, of actual individuals. So If you're a gun owner listening to this and says, "Great, I'm going to walk into my local gun store, give them a credit card, fill out a 4473, and walk out with a s-suppressor," you need to stop. It's not necessarily how it works. The coverage matters. State laws matter. Uh, depending on what state you in, state you're in, that, that can impact things. Now Silencer Shop is, uh, says that in states where the ruling can be used, qualifying suppressors purchased from Silencer Shop or through, through its Powered by Dealer network can be transferred without the federal NFA reg-regulation. So it's not a free-for-all, but there are a lot... There is kind of a free-for-all going on about that. And SBRs um, you can't automatically assume that every NFA item is now treated like a regular firearm. Short-barrel rifles are a good example. There's another law in the Gun Control Act that independently restricts certain transfers of short-barrel rifles and shotguns, so it gets a little murky around SBRs and SBSs. And here's the key thing. What's the ATF doing? Right now they're telling thing, telling dealers status quo. There's no guidance from the ATF on how to handle this. I've talked to my ATF agent a couple times, been waiting every day for some sort of newsletter to come out, and we are still not getting any guidance. Um, some dealers are moving forward with the Form 473, and others believe others are saying, "Not yet." I'm a not yet dealer. I'm waiting on guidance from the ATF. And, and why am I waiting on guidance? Because there's a lot of questions. One am I, as an FFL a member of the plaintiff grou-group? I as an individual, I am a member of Gun Owners America, which was a plaintiff. I am a dealer for Silencer Shop. I don't uh, buy, um, suppressors or stock suppressors from Silencer Shop, but I can order them from them, and then if people buy one from Silencer Shop and transfer it to me, they can. They're, they, they can do that. So I have been in a c-commercial transaction with Silencer Shop in the past. But does that mean any fire, any silencer I get today from some other retailer to be transferred, is that protected under the injunction even though, because I'm a customer? If I am, since I am a individual, a member of Gun Owners of America, does that make my FFL, my limited liability corporation a membership? Those are a lot of questions. And then, it comes back down to then the, my, my customers, how do I prove that they're a, a party to the, to the injunction? Do I need their Gun Owners of America card? You know, there's belief that the, um, if you, any past, present, or future m- members of these organizations are covered, but ATF has not said what they're, what they're how they're interpreting it, and that's the key thing. The judge makes a ruling, the ATF interprets and enforces it. Now, if people don't like the way the ATF interpreted or, or enforces it they're, they're... They really have two, two things they can do. They can sue or they can go to Congress and go the, and, and try and get ev- the thing completely changed. And but regardless of those two actions, if the ATF determines that they believe you've committed a felony, you're in jail while all of that is trying to be sorted out. Um, let's talk about the future 'cause the first thing is, is we need to watch the courts. Um, the government didn't seek relief. Um, we're watching the docket, watching the Fifth Circuit to see if they actually do appeal. And what if they don't? Then we have, then we're gonna watch the ATF. At some point, the industry needs clear written procedures. FFLs, me included, need to know exactly what we're supposed to do, what forms are we supposed to use. If this is, came to me and it's registered to me on a Form 3, uh, how do I get that registration cleared up by, if I have to do just a 4470 3? Lot of of uncertainty, and it's been a week, over a week now since the injunction cleared and still no guidance. And is the ATF just going to enforce this without doing ch- changing anything? Which they, apparently that is what they're doing now. But you know, we are watching history. Things are changing. This, gun laws have, have changed significantly over the last several years and they continue to get better, but- Remember, the NFA is not dead. You can't just go buy what you want. Uh, you've got to l- listen to and try and follow the guidance of your own attorneys. If your FFL won't do the transfer without a Form 4 either... And this is what I'm telling my customers, "If you don't w- want to do it on a Form 4 or if you, uh, then we, if you, if you want to, if you, do it, we're going to do it through a Form 4. If you don't, I can send this to another dealer that is willing t- to transfer it." Be patient with your FFLs. We're trying to support the the Second Amendment gun, um, owners but also not go to jail. And we will keep watching. And so, as of August 21st, nothing's changed. Um, the, the judges issued an injunction and a ruling, and that has changed for sure. Some dealers are transferring guns on 4473s. I would say for me personally, if, if a, if I ordered a su- a suppressor from Silencer Shop and they sent it to me and they didn't put it on a Form 3 when they transferred it to me, then I would transfer that out as a 4473 form. That is probably the only instance of where I would do right now a 4473. And so I've thrown out a lot of terms, 4473. That's just the, the form you fill out from, at any, when you buy any gun from a dealer. Um, it's just, it's not a registration. It's just, it's, uh, just documentation on who purchased the gun. That information stays with the dealer for the most part. There are some instances where it doesn't, but again, I'm not talking about that today. But the whole, the whole process is to try and, eventually get the, get things like this, not even trade less firearms, but, baby steps, baby steps. So I appreciate you all listening. I will continue to provide updates. I'll put updates in my newsletter. If you haven't subscribed to my newsletter get it as well. The link is in the show notes to do that. But I will update the podcast. If I have to have a, a special episode, I will hop on and do a special episode. But, uh, as of right now, for some dealers, things have changed. Other dealers, things, nothing has changed. Uh, the ATFs right now, their stance is nothing has changed. Stay tuned. More to come. Thank you for listening. Have a great weekend and keep fighting for your Second Amendment.