The Trump administration has opted not to appeal a federal judge's ruling that significantly altered the regulatory landscape for firearm suppressors and certain other weapons. This decision allows a recent court order, which gun rights advocates are hailing as a major victory, to proceed without further legal challenge from the Department of Justice.
Background of the Ruling
At issue was a provision of the National Firearms Act of 1934, which imposed a $200 tax and federal registration requirement on items such as silencers, short-barreled rifles, and short-barreled shotguns. Gun rights proponents argued that taxing a constitutionally protected right infringes upon its accessibility.
Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., who previously founded Clyde Armory, led a successful push in Congress last year to reduce this tax to $0 as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). Following this legislative change, gun rights organizations used the elimination of the tax to argue in court that the associated registration requirement had become unconstitutional.
A federal judge agreed with this argument, ruling that the registration requirement was unconstitutional in cases brought before the court. While the ruling does not constitute a nationwide injunction, it affects the parties involved in the lawsuit.
Clyde characterized the outcome as "the greatest restoration" of Second Amendment rights in nearly a century. He emphasized that taxing a right effectively makes it unaffordable and therefore diminishes its practical existence. "When you protect the Second Amendment, which protects every other amendment in the entire Constitution—I think that's the teeth behind the Constitution," Clyde stated.
Reactions to the Decision
Following the judge's ruling, Clyde and 47 other Republican lawmakers sent a letter to Attorney General Todd Blanche, urging the Department of Justice not to appeal. The letter argued that an appeal would prolong regulatory uncertainty for gun owners and businesses and would be an inefficient use of DOJ resources defending a position that Congress and now a federal court have deemed untenable.
Gun violence prevention groups, however, expressed dismay at the administration's decision not to appeal. Kris Brown, president of Brady: United Against Gun Violence, stated that the government had failed to act, leading to the deregulation of "uniquely lethal weapons and devices" for the first time in nearly a century. "Today, the gun industry and silencer dealers are celebrating, while Americans are left less safe," Brown said in a statement.
The DOJ's decision means that the removal of the tax and registration requirements, as dictated by the court's ruling, can move forward without further federal legal opposition for those covered by the decision.