The NFA Suppressor Ruling and What It Means in Colorado
The NFA Suppressor Ruling — and What It Means in Colorado
- A federal judge in Texas struck down NFA registration for suppressors, SBRs, SBSs and AOWs on August 5, 2026.
- The Justice Department let the appeal deadline pass on August 12, so the order is now in effect.
- It is an injunction covering specific parties and fifteen plaintiff states — not a nationwide repeal. Colorado is not a plaintiff state.
- Colorado still classifies suppressors, SBRs and SBSs as “dangerous weapons,” and its affirmative defense is tied to your federal paperwork.
- At Elk River Guns it is business as usual: prints, photos and a Form 4, in store. Currently averaging 8–12 days.
A note from our owner
You may have seen recent news about the federal court decision in Silencer Shop Foundation v. ATF, involving Gun Owners of America (GOA), Silencer Shop, and others.
The ruling limits ATF enforcement of certain federal NFA approval and registration requirements for specific parties, including certain members and customers of the organizations involved. It is not a nationwide repeal of the NFA, and its scope remains limited and subject to further litigation or appellate action.
For Colorado customers, state law creates an additional issue. Colorado continues to classify suppressors, short-barreled rifles, and short-barreled shotguns as “dangerous weapons.” Colorado law provides an affirmative defense for a person holding a valid permit and license for possession, but it is currently unclear how Colorado will apply that language to an item transferred without the traditional ATF Form 1 or Form 4 approval.
As a result, this decision does not provide a clear path for Colorado residents to purchase or possess newly transferred NFA-regulated items without the standard federal approval process. Colorado transfer, background-check, waiting-period, and semiautomatic-firearm restrictions also remain in effect.
Until Colorado issues authoritative guidance or the legal questions are resolved, we will continue to follow all applicable federal and Colorado requirements for NFA transactions. We recommend that customers do the same and obtain advice from a qualified Colorado firearms attorney for questions about a specific item or configuration.
We will share updates if the law or official guidance changes, but for now it’s business as usual. We take your fingerprints and photos in our store and then submit for approval on a Form 4, and once approved (our average right now is about 8–12 days) you can take your NFA item home!
What the court actually decided
On August 5, 2026, Judge James Wesley Hendrix of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas granted summary judgment in Silencer Shop Foundation v. ATF. He held that the National Firearms Act’s registration and approval requirements are unconstitutional as applied to suppressors, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns and “any other weapons.”
The reasoning is narrower than the headlines suggest, and it is worth understanding. Those NFA requirements were enacted under Congress’s power to tax. When the transfer and making tax on those four categories dropped to $0 on January 1, 2026, the court found the taxing-power foundation went with it. The judge expressly declined to decide the Second Amendment question.
The order carried a seven-day stay. The Department of Justice let that window close on August 12, 2026 without filing an appeal, and the injunction took effect.
It is an injunction, and it is not nationwide. The National Firearms Act is still on the books. The order protects the named plaintiffs, current and future members of the plaintiff organizations, customers of the commercial plaintiffs in covered transactions, and the fifteen states that joined the case — Texas, Alaska, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming.
Colorado is not one of those states. Living somewhere does not give you coverage — coverage runs through the parties, not through geography.
What the ruling did not touch
- The Gun Control Act, the Form 4473 and dealer recordkeeping
- NICS background checks and federal prohibited-person law
- NFA taxes and registration on machine guns and destructive devices
- Restrictions on interstate transportation, delivery and receipt
- Every state and local firearms law, including all of Colorado’s
The Colorado problem
Here is the wrinkle that catches people. A Colorado resident who happens to be a member of one of the plaintiff organizations may well be covered on the federal side. That still does not solve the state side.
Colorado classifies suppressors, short-barreled rifles and short-barreled shotguns as “dangerous weapons” under C.R.S. 18-12-102. The statute provides an affirmative defense for a person who holds a valid federal permit and license for possession.
For as long as anyone has been buying suppressors in Colorado, the document that satisfies that affirmative defense has been the approved federal form. Take the form out of the transaction and there is no settled answer about what a Colorado prosecutor, or a Colorado court, will accept in its place.
Nobody has tested it. There is no Attorney General opinion, no CBI guidance, and no case law on the question. That is not a risk we are willing to hand to a customer who walks in trusting us to get it right.
Colorado’s transfer requirements, background-check requirements, waiting period, and the new semiautomatic-firearm restrictions under SB25-003 are all untouched by this ruling. If you are buying a semiautomatic rifle or shotgun, the eligibility-card process still applies exactly as it did before.
How a suppressor purchase works at Elk River Guns
Nothing about our process changes today. We handle the entire NFA transaction in the store — you do not need a mail-in fingerprint kit, a third-party kiosk, or an account with an out-of-state service.
Pick your can. Come in and handle what we have on the rack, or we will order the specific model you want. We will talk through host firearm, thread pitch and mount before you commit.
Prints and photos, in store. We take your fingerprints and your passport photo at the counter. No appointment needed for this — it takes a few minutes.
We submit the Form 4. We file the application electronically with the ATF and pay the $0 transfer tax on your behalf. You leave, we wait.
Approval, then pickup. When the approval comes back we call you. You come in, we complete the transfer, and the suppressor goes home with you.
Our Form 4 approvals are averaging about 8 to 12 days right now. That is dramatically faster than the multi-month waits people remember from a few years ago, and it is the main reason we are comfortable telling customers to just run the normal process.
Questions we are getting
The news said the NFA is dead. Why do I still need a Form 4?
I’m a GOA member. Doesn’t that cover me?
What about a suppressor I already own with an approved stamp?
Can I buy one online from an out-of-state shop and have it shipped here?
Will this change again?
Quick reference
| Case | Silencer Shop Foundation v. ATF, N.D. Texas |
| Decided | August 5, 2026 — Judge James Wesley Hendrix |
| Effective | August 12, 2026, after DOJ declined to appeal |
| Items covered | Suppressors, SBRs, SBSs, AOWs. Not machine guns or destructive devices. |
| Who is covered | Named plaintiffs, plaintiff-organization members, customers of commercial plaintiffs, and 15 plaintiff states |
| Colorado status | Not a plaintiff state. C.R.S. 18-12-102 unchanged. |
| ERG process today | Unchanged — in-store prints and photos, Form 4, ~8–12 day average |
Related reading
Start your Form 4 at the counter
We will walk you through the whole thing, take your prints and photos on the spot, and submit the same day.