A report from CBS News indicated that President Donald Trump ordered the Department of Justice (DOJ) not to appeal the ruling against suppressor registration secured in August via the Silencer Shop v. ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) lawsuit.
Breitbart News reported that verdict on August 5, 2026, noting that Judge James Wesley Hendrix in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas found registration requirements for suppressors and short barrel rifles and shotguns “unconstitutional” in the absence of a tax.
The case was filed in October 2025, after President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill succeeded in the removing the $200 federal tax from suppressors and short barrel rifles and shotguns while leaving National Firearms Act registration requirements in place.
Since the verdict, all eyes were on the ATF as Federal Firearms License holders (FFLs) awaited guidance in implementing the ruling. However, simultaneously, FFLs, members of Congress, and others, have been watching to see if the DOJ would appeal the ruling. And now, the September 17, 2026, CBS New report says, “The president himself decided against appealing the ruling.”
CBS News pointed to an anonymous “Justice Department official” who told the news outlet “the [DOJ] intends to tell Congress it will not appeal the ruling.”
Hendrix’s ruling also included a second, consolidated case; together the cases involved a number of Second Amendment rights groups. The ruling against registration applies to current and future members of those groups.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He holds a PhD in Military History with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. He enjoys reading Philosophy and novels by Jack Carr and Nelson DeMille. He is a lever action man in an AR-15 world. Follow him on X: @awrhawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at [email protected].
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