Silencer Saturday #418: Lawsuit And Legislation Update

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome back to TFB’s Silencer Saturday, brought to you by Yankee Hill Machine, manufacturers of the new Victra 20-gauge shotgun suppressor. With free tax stamps flowing like wine and new NFA manufacturers instinctively flocking like the salmon of Capistrano, it is a great time to be a silencer enthusiast. But there remain many live issues in the realm of litigation and legislation. Let’s check in and see how things are going.

Silencer Saturday @ TFB:

• Silencer Saturday #417: What's New In Subsonic Ammo
• Silencer Saturday #416: Recovering From SHOT Show
• Silencer Saturday #415: How To Choose Your First Suppressor
•  Silencer Saturday #414: AAC Legacy Suppressors Return (...kind of)
• Silencer Saturday #413: eForms Situation Report

Disclaimer: I am an attorney, but I am not your attorney. This article is a general news update provided for informational purposes, and nothing should be taken as legal advice. Do not make any decision based on what you read here. If you need to make a decision about anything involving these issues, talk to a competent attorney licensed in your state. Don’t call me, I will not represent you.

Legislation

Many US states have legislative sessions this time of year, because in the days of the farmer/legislator, there was no planting or harvesting to be done. South Dakota is one of those states. Senate Bill 2 is currently going through the process. That bill would change the existing legal requirement that silencers owned in the state have a tax stamp under the National Firearms Act. South Dakota’s law defines terms in § 22-1-2, and the real work is done in that section. “Controlled weapon” currently “includes any firearm silencer, machine gun, or short shotgun…” and possession of a controlled weapon without a license is a felony. Later in the statute, controlled weapons that are properly licensed or registered are exempted from the ban on possession. So the current law, restated simply, is that NFA things are illegal in South Dakota unless they are properly registered with ATF.

Senate Bill 2 (technically Bill 2A, thanks to a change made to the bill, which is an appropriate number), which has now passed both houses of the legislature and is waiting for the Governor’s signature, strikes silencers from the definition of a controlled weapon. But if the ATF is still issuing tax stamps for silencers, why remove them at all from this definition? Statements by lawmakers in favor of the bill stated that they wanted to treat silencers like safety devices rather than weapons. The other items in the “controlled weapon” definition can actually be used as standalone weapons, while silencers cannot. Additionally, if the lawsuits we discuss in the next part are successful, there would not be any registration mechanism for silencers at the federal level, making them unintentionally illegal at the same time they would be deregulated at the federal level. Axing this requirement preemptively prevents that scenario.

There have been some bills on the federal level as well, though nothing is really moving at this time. One proposed amendment to a defense bill would have raised the tax stamp from the current $0 up to $4709 per item. That number looks random, but it is what $200 in 1934 would be in 2026 dollars. The AOW stamp would have moved from $0 to $55, where it had been $5 before. This amendment did not make it into the version of the bill that passed out of the Senate.

Lawsuits

There are two major lawsuits about the NFA that we should check in on. The first is Brown v. ATF, 4:25-cv-01162, in the Eastern District of Missouri. This case was filed by the Second Amendment Foundation, Firearms Policy Coalition, National Rifle Association, and American Suppressor Association. This lawsuit seeks to dismantle the NFA for items with $0 tax stamps. The main claim of the lawsuit is that a $0 tax is not actually a tax. Historically, the NFA was upheld at least in part because it was considered a valid use of taxing authority under the Constitution. But if a tax is $0, is it really a tax at all?

This case is currently awaiting a judge's decision on summary judgment motions. Essentially, both sides have asked the court to rule in their favor based simply on the claims as they stand at this point. The judge could also order oral arguments from the parties if those would be helpful. If either side wins completely, then there would be no need for a trial, and the case would be over at the trial court level. The losing side would almost certainly appeal, and the case could even go to the Supreme Court. But that may not even be the end of the story, because the case could always be “remanded” or sent back to the trial court for further proceedings up to and including a full trial. So this is a long way of saying the case could be won or lost for either side as soon as the judge rules, but it is more likely that this is the beginning.

Another similar, yet different, lawsuit is Jensen v. ATF, 2:25-cv-00223 in the Northern District of Texas. It was filed in October 2025. The plaintiffs in that case are the SAF, FPC, and Texas State Rifle Association. This is a closely-related case, with some of the same plaintiffs and similar claims about a $0 tax not actually being a tax. This case is in a different district and circuit, meaning different judges will hear the case at both the trial and appeals levels. Like the Brown case, there are pending summary judgment motions waiting for a decision from the judge.

If either of these cases is a total win for the plaintiffs, it is not guaranteed that the NFA dies that very day. If the ATF appeals to keep the law in place, they would ask the court for a stay to keep the current law in place until the appeals are finished. This is pretty standard practice, and would help keep people out of an awkward situation if they constructed a new silencer in the gap between the law being struck down and the law being reinstated by the appeals court, which could happen. So, even if there is a complete win for the plaintiffs and the NFA is dismantled in the decision, don’t expect it to change things overnight.

Thanks for joining us for this week’s Silencer Saturday.

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