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For the first time in 92 years, Americans exercised a Second Amendment right without obtaining permission from Washington.
Immediately after midnight on August 13, Gun Owners of America members Brandon Herrera and Wes Virdell legally walked out of Silencer Shop's new location in Leander, Texas, carrying suppressors acquired without filing a single federal registration form, paying a tax stamp, or waiting for ATF approval. They were legally authorized to do so following the Jensen v. ATF ruling from August 5 — a case that struck down key National Firearms Act registration requirements as unconstitutional.
The ruling, published by the federal district court in San Angelo, Texas, found that the NFA's registration mandate "exceeds Congress's Article I enumerated powers and is therefore unconstitutional." The reasoning is direct: when the One Big Beautiful Bill zeroed out the tax stamp fee for suppressors and short-barreled rifles, the NFA's taxing-power justification — the legal fig leaf holding the registration scheme together since 1934 — collapsed with it.
The Department of Justice did not seek an extension of the stay and has not filed an appeal. The order is now in force. GOA sent formal transmittal notices to both the ATF and the DOJ before the transfers. The feds did not object.
"For nearly a century, Americans have been forced to beg the federal government for permission to exercise their Second Amendment rights," said GOA Director of Federal Affairs Aidan Johnston. "That changes tonight."
But not everyone inside the Trump administration is on board. Multiple sources told The Federalist that Brett Shumate — head of the DOJ's Civil Division — is quietly working to mount an appeal that would threaten the injunction. If DOJ appeals to the 5th Circuit, gun rights lawyers warn, the ruling could be overturned and the registration scheme reinstated. The current injunction narrowly covers plaintiffs and their members — not every American who wants to buy a suppressor tomorrow.
"The average consumer out there is completely misunderstanding what happened," firearms attorney Ryan Cleckner cautioned. "They think silencers got deregulated. They did not. The court just said it was inappropriate for Congress to use its taxing authority to regulate them."
The fight is not over. Democrats have floated new fees or outright bans on suppressors if they regain power, and a federal court in a gun-hostile state could issue a conflicting ruling at any time. For now, a right that was functionally unavailable to ordinary Americans for nearly a century has been legally restored — and for the first time in living memory, the government is the one waiting to see what Americans do next.
