A Texas State Representative and a Congressional Shoo In Just Broke a Law That Stood for 92 Years

Alena Marchuk image via Shutterstock
Alena Marchuk image via Shutterstock

This past week, Brandon Herrera and Wes Virdell walked into a Texas gun store at midnight and did something no American had legally done since 1934.

The Department of Justice had a deadline to stop them – and let it expire without a word.

What happened at one minute after midnight inside that Leander storefront just gutted a federal registry Washington swore could never be touched.

The NFA Tax Loophole That Made Suppressor Registration Unconstitutional

Gun Owners of America members Brandon Herrera and Wes Virdell completed the first legal suppressor transfer in the United States without filing a Form 4 or registering with the ATF.

The transaction happened at Silencer Shop in Leander, Texas, with GOA Senior Vice President Erich Pratt and Congressman Andrew Clyde standing by as witnesses.

Video of the purchase is already circulating, and gun rights advocates are calling it the beginning of the end for the National Firearms Act.

The story behind the moment goes back to July 2025, when President Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act into law.

That bill zeroed out the $200 transfer tax the NFA had used since 1934 to regulate suppressors, short-barreled rifles, and short-barreled shotguns.

Congress never touched the paperwork requirement, the fingerprints, or the federal registry – it just quietly pulled the tax out from under the whole operation.

Gun rights lawyers saw the opening immediately and sued, arguing the NFA was always a tax law and nothing else.

On August 5, U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix agreed, ruling in Jensen v. ATF that Congress eliminated the constitutional basis for NFA registration the moment it zeroed out the transfer tax.

Judge Hendrix gave the government a seven-day window to appeal before his injunction took full effect.

DOJ and ATF Had a Deadline and Chose Silence Instead

Gun Owners of America sent the Department of Justice a letter demanding a response by 5:00 PM Eastern on August 12.

The letter asked DOJ to state in writing that it intended to enforce the NFA provisions or admit the fight was over.

Five o'clock came and went, and neither DOJ nor the ATF said a word.

Georgia Congressman Andrew Clyde announced Wednesday evening that he had personal confirmation the Trump administration would not appeal the ruling at all.

Clyde called it "the most significant Second Amendment win in OVER 90 YEARS," thanking Trump and Attorney General Blanche directly.

A Justice Department spokeswoman later told reporters the agency "respects Americans' Second Amendment rights and is currently assessing the impact of the court's ruling."

The seven-day stay expired at the stroke of midnight.

Herrera – who is all but guaranteed to win a seat in Congress in the fall after defeating anti-gun, and scandal-plagued incumbent Tony Gonzales this spring – and Virdell were standing at the counter ready to make history the second it did.

How Ninety Two Years of Form 4 Registration Ended At a Cash Register

The National Firearms Act was sold to Congress in 1934 as a tax bill, not a gun control law – it was literally titled "An Act to provide for the taxation of manufacturers, importers, and dealers in certain firearms."

The Supreme Court upheld it in 1937 in Sonzinsky v. United States specifically because it was a revenue measure, not a ban.

For 89 straight years, every court that looked at the NFA said the same thing: Congress can regulate suppressors because it's collecting a tax, and the registry exists to enforce that collection.

Judge Hendrix's ruling simply followed that logic to its conclusion once the tax was gone.

GOA Senior Vice President Erich Pratt didn't hide his satisfaction with the outcome.

Pratt said GOA members were simply "putting the historic victory into action" after years of fighting for it.

Gun control groups are already panicking over what comes next.

Brady President Kris Brown called it a failure of government, saying uniquely lethal devices were "deregulated for the first time in nearly a century."

Translate that from Brady-speak: law-abiding Americans can now buy a suppressor without begging federal bureaucrats for permission first.

What Comes Next for Suppressor Owners Nationwide

The injunction only protects the specific plaintiffs, their members, and customers named in the lawsuit – it isn't a nationwide green light yet.

But GOA has membership numbers in the hundreds of thousands, and Silencer Shop just became the blueprint every other dealer in the country is studying right now.

DOJ still technically has weeks left on its appeal window, and gun control groups are begging the administration to reverse course and fight the ruling at the Fifth Circuit.

Don't hold your breath.

This administration spent a year gutting the tax that propped up the NFA, and it just watched the registry itself collapse without lifting a finger to save it.

Machine guns and destructive devices still carry their $200 tax stamp under current law, so this fight isn't over the entire NFA yet.

But suppressors, short-barreled rifles, and short-barreled shotguns just walked out from under nine decades of federal paperwork, and the men who did it have the receipts to prove it.

Sources:

  • Reagan Reese, "DOJ Waves White Flag, Ends Nine Decades Of Red Tape Over Suppressors In Victory For Gun Owners," Daily Caller, August 12, 2026.
  • Teri Christoph, "'No Feds Allowed': DOJ Let the Clock Run Out – Then Gun Owners Made 2A History at 12:01 AM," RedState, August 13, 2026.
  • Tom Knighton, "Suppressors: It's a Brand New Day," Bearing Arms, August 13, 2026.
  • Breitbart News, "WATCH: NFA Registration Begins Slide into Oblivion Under Trump DOJ/ATF," Breitbart, August 13, 2026.
  • Second Amendment Foundation, "Judge: Short-Barreled Rifle, Suppressor NFA Registration Scheme Unconstitutional," SAF.org, August 2026.

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