Texas Judge Blocks NFA Rules in 15 States After Congress Cut Gun Tax to $0
Updated
Updated · The Texan · Aug 11
Texas Judge Blocks NFA Rules in 15 States After Congress Cut Gun Tax to $0
1 articles · Updated · The Texan · Aug 11
Summary
An Aug. 5 order by U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix barred federal enforcement of parts of the National Firearms Act against 15 states and a coalition of gun businesses and advocacy groups.
Hendrix said Congress undercut the law's constitutional basis when the 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act reduced the NFA's $200 transfer and making tax to $0, leaving regulation of untaxed suppressors and short-barreled weapons unsupported.
The injunction is limited rather than nationwide, and Hendrix declined to issue the broader declaratory judgment plaintiffs sought, leaving manufacturers and retailers cautious because NFA violations still carry up to 10 years in prison.
Texas Republicans said the ruling could create an interstate safe space for silencers and short-barreled firearms after the state's 2021 suppressor law failed in federal court on different grounds.
The Trump administration has until Aug. 12 to appeal, and the case could test whether any federal authority remains to regulate these devices absent a tax-based statute.