What changed today
On October 9, 2026, ATF published an open letter to all federal firearms licensees and the public, signed by Director Robert Cekada. The key paragraph, in full:
"Although the district court's injunction applies only to plaintiffs and certain other specified persons, the Department has determined to exercise its enforcement discretion to create greater uniformity, consistent with the Attorney General's statement today. Consequently, effective October 9, 2026, ATF will no longer require individuals to seek ATF approval under the NFA before making or transferring short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, silencers, and "any other weapon[s]" as defined in 26 U.S.C. § 5845(e). ATF will also no longer require such items to be registered in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record. These policies apply uniformly to anyone otherwise subject to these requirements, not just to the plaintiffs in the litigation."
In plain terms: for the four kinds of item whose tax went to $0 on January 1, ATF has stopped requiring the approval and the registration that the National Firearms Act has required since 1934. That covers a Form 1 to make one, a Form 4 to buy one, and the entry in the federal registry.
The forms still exist. The letter says ATF "will continue to administer the NFA on a voluntary basis," and will still accept Form 1, Form 3 and Form 4 applications from anyone who wants an item registered.
From the person who runs this site: in April I filed an eForm 1 and waited 82 days to put a stock on a pistol. As of today, ATF says that step is no longer required.
Why this is a policy, not a new law
Nothing in the statute changed today. What changed is what ATF will enforce.
On August 5, 2026, Judge James Wesley Hendrix of the Northern District of Texas enjoined ATF from enforcing the NFA's approval and registration requirements for the $0 items, effective August 12 (Silencer Shop Foundation v. ATF, No. 6:25-CV-056-H). We covered that ruling in The Tax That Built the Registry. The injunction protected only the plaintiffs and certain other specified people.
ATF's press release says Attorney General Todd Blanche announced that the Justice Department will not appeal that decision, and that he "made the policy decision to apply the guidance to everyone." The letter describes the result as a "change in enforcement policy." In ATF's press release: "The direction from the President, Congress, and the courts is clear," said Director Cekada. "ATF is now following suit with our enforcement posture while continuing to ensure we remain focused where we are needed the most: combatting violent crime in American communities."
The five limits ATF attached
The letter lists "five limits of this change in enforcement policy." In plain English:
- –Businesses still pay their tax. Anyone in the business of making, importing or dealing in NFA items still owes the special occupational tax.
- –Machine guns and destructive devices are unchanged. Their $200 tax stays, and the letter says "all NFA provisions still apply" to them.
- –The Gun Control Act still applies in full. Prohibited persons still cannot have these items, and the letter says "all recordkeeping and background check requirements under the GCA remain in place." A dealer transfer still means a Form 4473 and a background check.
- –Crossing state lines with an SBR or SBS still takes a Form 20. The letter says individuals transporting them "should continue to file Form 20s, even if the firearms are not registered" in the federal registry. Separately, ATF says it is writing new rules for dealers to transfer short barreled rifles and shotguns, and will not enforce the dealer-sale restriction in 18 U.S.C. § 922(b)(4) in the meantime.
- –State law is untouched. The letter says "[m]ost states have general criminal prohibitions on the possession of some or all NFA items," and that those laws "often have exceptions for those NFA items possessed in compliance with or registered under federal law." ATF also says "it is unclear whether state courts will apply the safe harbor" for interstate travel to unregistered items, and advises caution before carrying one through a state that prohibits it.
The risk ATF names itself
ATF's own FAQ is blunter than its letter, and it is worth reading before anyone builds or buys without filing. Under "Future Risk," it says:
"Material changes in legal or factual circumstances could cause NFA enforcement to resume. For example, Congress could impose a new tax on NFA firearms, the district court's injunction could be dissolved or overturned, or the Department could rescind the enforcement guidelines."
"The NFA treats unregistered firearms as contraband. Individuals who make, possess, transfer, or receive unregistered NFA firearms are subject to felony penalties and forfeitures."
And on whether an unregistered item would be grandfathered if that happened:
"Federal law does not generally permit subsequent registration of unregistered NFA items nor are there provisions that would automatically grandfather unregistered NFA firearms."
The one exception it names is an amnesty: "The NFA permits the Attorney General to hold an amnesty for up to 90 days to facilitate registration of unregistered items." It adds: "The Attorney General is not required, however, to hold an amnesty or to provide forbearance."
Put plainly: today's change is a decision not to enforce, and ATF says that decision could be reversed. The statute still calls an unregistered item contraband. If enforcement came back, ATF says there is no automatic grandfathering and, outside an amnesty nobody has to grant, no general way to register an item later. Filing now, voluntarily, is the route to a federal registration that does not depend on that policy holding. Whether to file is your decision; this is not legal advice.
If your state's law points at the federal registry
This is the part to read twice. Federal enforcement changed today. State law did not, and in a number of states the two are wired together.
Many states make it a crime to possess a suppressor or a short barreled rifle, then carve out an exception for items that are registered under the National Firearms Act. Those exceptions were written when federal registration was required for everyone. They still point at the registry, and the registry is now voluntary.
Georgia is a clear example. Georgia law makes it a crime to possess a silencer, a short barreled rifle or a short barreled shotgun (O.C.G.A. § 16-11-122). The exemption covers a person who has registered the item under the National Firearms Act (O.C.G.A. § 16-11-124). ATF's guidance does not change a word of that. On a plain reading, an unregistered suppressor or SBR in Georgia is still a state crime today, even though ATF no longer requires the federal registration. Georgia is not the only state built this way.
So before you build or buy anything without filing, find out what your own state's law says, not what ATF enforces. If your state's exception depends on federal registration, the safe course is to keep filing until your state says otherwise. ATF's FAQ is explicit that it cannot settle this for you: "ATF cannot opine on whether holding an unregistered firearm or silencer pursuant to ATF's enforcement discretion will qualify for state-law purposes as lawfully held (or registered) under federal law." Ask a lawyer in your state if it matters; nothing here is legal advice.
Our hope, and it is only a hope, is that this gets tested: in new court cases, and in state legislatures whose exceptions were written around a federal registry that is now optional. Until a court or a legislature says so, the state law is the law.
What it means for this site
NFA Watch was built to answer one question: how long is ATF taking to approve an NFA application? As of today, for suppressors, short barreled rifles, short barreled shotguns and AOWs, ATF no longer requires that approval at all.
So, honestly: NFA Watch is a passion project, built to time a wait that just became optional. If that eventually makes this site unnecessary, it is the best way it could end. Plenty of the people who have filed and waited through this queue were hoping for exactly this, and so were we.
Until then, the question has not gone away for everyone. ATF's press release says that "[b]ecause many state laws require individuals to register NFA firearms, ATF will continue to process NFA applications that are submitted." People in those states, people who want the item in the federal registry, and everyone filing for a machine gun or destructive device still wait on ATF.
So the dataset keeps running. We will keep tracking approval times for anyone who files, and we will report what happens to the volume of approvals over the coming weeks. We are not predicting it.
Sources
- –ATF, Update to NFA Transfer Guidance, October 9, 2026, with the press release and FAQ it links to.
- –ATF, Open Letter to All Federal Firearms Licensees and the Public, October 9, 2026, signed by Director Robert Cekada.
- –ATF, Frequently Asked Questions on the update to NFA transfer guidance, linked from the update page above, last updated October 9, 2026 (the "Future Risk" and state-law answers).
- –Silencer Shop Foundation v. ATF, No. 6:25-CV-056-H (N.D. Tex. Aug. 5, 2026), as cited in the letter.