ATF's NFA Rollback Is Live — and Its Top Lawyer Just Left

Two announcements eight days apart tell you almost everything about where federal firearms regulation sits this morning. On October 9, ATF stopped enforcing the National Firearms Act's approval, registration and tax-stamp requirements for suppressors, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns and "any other weapons." On October 30, the agency announced that its chief counsel — the lawyer who had supervised the drafting of more than 40 proposed and final rules — is leaving.

One is a policy shift with counter-level consequences. The other is a personnel story that matters anyway, because the rulebook dealers have been arguing about for two years was written in that office. Here is what actually changed, what did not, and what a shop should have finished before the December rush.

What changed on October 9 — in plain English

ATF published an open letter to all FFLs and a set of FAQs explaining how it will now treat these items. Short version:

• No prior approval. ATF will not enforce the requirement to apply for and receive approval before making or transferring an SBR, SBS, suppressor or AOW.
• No registration and no tax stamp for those items. The agency will not enforce the NFA's registration, stamp or related requirements for them.
• Machine guns and destructive devices are untouched. The $200 tax and the full NFA still apply, and ATF says it will enforce them.
• State and local law still apply. Many states require registration of these items. ATF's letter does not reach them, and neither should your compliance plan.
• Your Gun Control Act duties are unchanged. Form 4473, the NICS check, recordkeeping, and every other GCA requirement still apply to a dealer transfer.
• The special occupational tax is still due for anyone engaged in the business.
• Form 20 is still required to move an SBR or SBS across state lines, registered or not.
• Applications are still processed if you choose to file one. ATF says it will keep processing NFA applications that are submitted.

The mechanics matter more than the headline. A federal judge in the Northern District of Texas held in Silencer Shop Foundation v. ATF that the relevant NFA provisions could not be enforced after Congress zeroed out the making and transfer taxes — but that injunction covered only the plaintiffs. Attorney General Todd Blanche then declined to appeal and used the department's enforcement discretion to extend the treatment to everyone. That is what ATF's October 9 letter implements. It is an enforcement posture, not a statute, and enforcement postures can be reversed by the next administration or unwound by the next court.

Then the chief counsel walked out

Robert Leider, ATF's chief counsel, resigned effective at the end of October and is returning to George Mason University's Antonin Scalia Law School as an assistant professor. ATF's release credits him with supporting the development and release of more than 40 proposed and final rules. Reporting indicates he remains an ATF employee through January and goes on administrative leave starting today. The release does not name a successor, give a reason, or withdraw a single rule.

Read that last sentence carefully, because it is the part dealers get wrong. A resignation at the top of the Office of Chief Counsel does not rescind anything already published in the Federal Register. What it can affect is the timing of the items still in the pipeline — the proposals that have been sitting at various stages while everyone waited to see what the agency would do next. Expect a slower cadence and less coordinated messaging in the short term. Do not expect a call from your distributor to be the thing that tells you a rule changed. The Federal Register does that, and so does ATF's own site.

What dealers are actually asking this week

"Can I hand a suppressor across the counter with just a 4473?" Federally, ATF says it will not enforce the approval and registration requirements for that item. Your state may still require registration, impose a waiting period, or prohibit it outright. Answer the state question first — in writing, with a citation — before anyone on your counter answers the federal one.

"Do we stop filing?" ATF says it still processes what you file. A filed form is not a violation, and an unfinished Form 4 in the safe is a customer problem. Change your workflow only after your attorney and your distributor agree on the change, and put the decision in writing so a future inspector sees the reasoning.

"What about the registry?" ATF's FAQ covers how to ask for an item to be removed from the NFA registry. Read it yourself rather than taking a forum post's version of it.

"And my SOT?" Still required for those engaged in the business. Nothing in the October 9 letter changes that.

The risk did not disappear. It moved to the states.

Two state-level fights are worth your attention this month. In New Mexico, a seven-day waiting period is still being enforced even after a court found it unconstitutional, and the Second Amendment Foundation, NSSF and NRA have gone back to the judge to stop enforcement, as USA Carry reported. In Pennsylvania, the Firearm Policy Coalition has filed another challenge to the state's under-21 purchase and transfer restrictions, per Outdoor Wire.

Both stories point the same direction: for the next year, the rules that decide what you can sell, to whom, and how fast will be written in state capitals at least as often as in Washington. A dealer in Albuquerque and a dealer in Allentown now have less in common than they did three years ago. If you want to see how the map is filling in, the New Mexico FFL dealer directory and the Pennsylvania FFL dealer locator are the fastest way to see who is operating in each market and what they advertise.

Where this month's customers will look

Here is the part that costs dealers money while they are busy reading open letters. A customer who wants a suppressor transfer does not read ATF guidance. They type "suppressor transfer near me," or "ffl lookup," or "ffl dealers near me," open three tabs, and pick the shop whose listing answers the only questions they have: do you handle this, what do you charge, when are you open, and will you walk me through the state paperwork.

If your listing is a name and a phone number, the shop that wrote two sentences wins the transfer — and in this business the transfer is the cheapest new customer you will ever acquire. That is the entire logic of a public dealer directory: FFL dealers in Texas is a page customers land on while they are deciding, and the listing that answers the question is the one that gets the call. If your shop is not carrying that information yet, claim your free dealer listing and put your transfer policy, your hours and your NFA handling where customers in your town are already looking.

Five things to finish this week

1. Read the FAQ end to end. Not the summary, not the video. The document, once, with a pen.
2. Write down your state's answer. One page, cited, dated, in the counter binder. Update it when your state moves.
3. Train the counter, not just the manager. The person answering the phone at 4:40 p.m. on a Friday is the one who will misstate this.
4. Check your Form 20 habits. Interstate transport of an SBR or SBS still needs approval, and that is the easiest violation to commit by accident.
5. Fix your listing. Hours, transfer fee, NFA policy, whether you accept shipments from individuals. Ten minutes of typing, every month of the year.

The regulatory picture is clearer than it was in August and less stable than it looks today. Dealers who treat ATF's letter as a starting gun rather than a finish line — who update their counter script, their paperwork, and their public listing while everyone else is still arguing about the headline — will be the ones who pick up the transfers this quarter.

— Fred Thompson, [email protected]