When the clock moves from 23:59 p.m. to 00:00 on August 12, a significant legal deadline will have passed, sunsetting the Justice Department’s last chance to appeal a temporary 7-day stay in a court decision striking down portions of the NFA. In this setting, gun rights advocates plan to test the appetite of the federal government to enforce enjoined NFA restrictions by conducting a publicly announced transfer of silencers without complying with the National Firearms Act.
In a three-page open letter published on August 12, Silencer Shop indicated that at midnight it will transfer firearms silencers to Brandon Herrera and Wes Virdell without seeking ATF approval, and stated that neither individual intends to register the silencer in accordance with the NFA, although they will complete an ATF Form 4.
The transfers, if completed, will be the first lawful transfer of a silencer without ATF approval since 1934, marking a historic breakthrough in privacy, and massive reduction in government infringement on the right to bear arms.
(Ironically enough, even though the gun rights community has fought aggressively for legal protections by seeking to classify silencers as “arms” protected under the Second Amendment, they function almost solely as personal hearing protection.)
The letter was addressed to Attorney General Todd Blanche and ATF Director Robert Cekada, and referenced the August 5 decision out of Texas by United States District Judge James Wesley Hendrix, which struck down the NFA provisions as applied to untaxed firearms.
Subsequent to the district court’s ruling, many questioned the scope of the injunctive relief. The court outright denied universal relief (a result of the unfortunate decision in Trump v. CASA). The open letter affirms that the participants in the transfer are parties protected by the court’s injunction:
Both are members of Gun Owners of America, Inc. And during the transaction, they will be Silencer Shop customers. Thus, they will be covered twice over by the Silencer Shop injunction.
When on the seemingly losing end of a lawsuit, both state and federal governments have often waited until the last minute to file their appeals, much to the frustration of gun owners who are left with a lack of clarity, a position the letter clearly lays out:
To date, neither ATF nor DOJ has provided any formal guidance with respect to the Texas injunction. Nor has ATF or DOJ publicly announced any intent to appeal, or to comply with, the Silencer Shop injunction. To that end, we intend to take full advantage of our Second Amendment rights, exercising them in compliance with the court’s order.
However, not everyone in the gun rights community is waiting for a lawyer to affirm his rights. Justin Nazaroff, CEO of Fenix Ammunition, and outspoken gun rights advocate, publicly posted that he intends to transfer numerous items to himself on August 13 (his ammunition business is federally licensed similar to that of a firearms manufacturer).
Nazaroff responded sharply in an online exchange to another individual urging caution and delay before taking action. In a statement to News2A, he explained his position:
It appears we are on the verge of the biggest win the gun community has ever had, certainly the one with the most immediate and widespread impact on restoring rights we lost in 1934 and until recently had no real belief they’d ever be restored.
While I understand the hesitancy of some to test the validity of the decision, we have the opportunity to create an administrative and paperwork nightmare for our government adversaries and it’s incumbent upon us to do so.
Like it or not, “ask for forgiveness, never for permission” is the mindset the pro marijuana community had always lived by and eventually resulted in widespread legalization which continues to spread. Surely we, the people who collectively own more firearms than the rest of the world combined, can do the same.
In short – there are no rules in self defense, don’t be a pussy.
Of course, the federal government could drop a last-minute appeal, making all of the above null and void, and the government has 60 days from entry of the judgment (August 5) to file a notice of appeal of the decision itself.
But one thing is clear, Americans need to aggressively reaffirm their rights en masse, and it’s always the leadership of a few individuals who give the rest the courage to follow suit.
Unfortunately, silencers continue to remain illegal and unavailable for those who live in blue states, like New Jersey, New York, and Massachusetts, to name a few, even for those protected by the injunction. The Civil Rights Arm of the Justice Department has moved to defend private ownership of suppressors in Washington, D.C., where they are banned. A victory in that case could open up the cracks against the above states and remove restrictions.
