LEANDER, TEXAS (VINnews) — Two gun owners walked out of a Texas firearms dealer early Thursday with suppressors without completing the federal registration and approval process that has governed such transfers since 1934, following a federal judge’s ruling that key National Firearms Act restrictions are unconstitutional.

The transfers occurred just after midnight Central Time on Aug. 13 at Silencer Shop in Leander. Gun Owners of America members Brandon Herrera and Texas state Rep. Wes Virdell received the devices after the organization and Silencer Shop notified the Justice Department and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives of their plans. Federal authorities did not object, according to GOA.

“This is the first time in 92 years that any gun owner has been able to do this,” said Aidan Johnston, GOA’s director of federal affairs. “Previously, this would have been punishable by up to 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine per violation.”

U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix of the Northern District of Texas issued the ruling on Aug. 5 in Silencer Shop Foundation v. ATF and a consolidated case. Hendrix held that registration, application, fingerprinting and related requirements for suppressors, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns and certain other weapons lost their constitutional foundation after Congress reduced the associated National Firearms Act taxes to zero in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

The National Firearms Act of 1934 had relied on Congress’s taxing power. With the taxes eliminated effective Jan. 1, 2026, the judge rejected the government’s argument that the regulations could be sustained under the Commerce Clause, writing that Congress had never invoked that power for the challenged provisions.

The permanent injunction applies to the plaintiffs — including GOA, the Silencer Shop Foundation, other industry groups, an individual plaintiff and 15 states that joined the challenge — as well as their members and customers. It is not a nationwide order. The judge declined to rule on broader Second Amendment claims.

Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., who attended the midnight transfers, said the Justice Department is not expected to appeal. “Literally, the greatest Second Amendment win in the history of our country,” Clyde said.

Erich Pratt, senior vice president of GOA, described the transfers as putting the court victory into action. “The era of federal registration for constitutionally protected arms must end,” he said.

Suppressors, also known as silencers, have grown in popularity among hunters and recreational shooters primarily for hearing protection. State laws governing their possession and transfer remain in effect, and the federal changes apply only where the injunction covers the parties involved.

Gun rights advocates called the development a major legal victory. The Justice Department had argued the remaining regulations retained constitutional support, but the deadline to appeal the Texas ruling passed without action.