Look, I've been saying it for years - the NFA's suppressor regulations have always been nothing more than a pain in the neck for legitimate gun owners. Well, it looks like the courts are finally starting to agree with us.
Here's the deal: Since the injunctions in Silencer Shop Foundation v. ATF and Jensen v. ATF kicked in, a bunch of FFLs around the country started transferring suppressors using a simple Form 4473 instead of jumping through all those expensive and time-consuming Form 4 hoops. And guess what? The ATF came knocking on four different shops in four different regions - we're talking East Coast, South, Midwest, and Southwest - and you know what they found? Zero violations. That's right, these inspections turned up nothing.
The inspectors actually recognized that because of that Texas court order, these transfers are legal. No cease-and-desist letters, no widespread warnings to stop doing it - just a bunch of internet rumors about that stuff that turned out to be exactly that: rumors.
Now here's what some shops are doing to keep their paperwork clean: they're marking suppressors as "disposed" in their NFA books and moving them over to the regular GCA books for the transfer. The inspectors in at least two states seem to be perfectly fine with this approach.
Is this going to work in every single state with every inspector? I can't promise you that. But when you've got four separate FFLs in four separate parts of the country all passing with flying zeros, that's a pretty strong sign that the industry is moving in the right direction.
The big question now is when the ATF is going to get off its hands and give us some actual guidance. The government seems content to leave us all in limbo, which isn't fair to anyone running a legitimate business. If the administration wants gun owner support in the midterms, they need to clear this up ASAP - or the courts should make them.
Bottom line: If you're a member of one of those organizations covered by the injunction, you might be able to get that suppressor you've been wanting without waiting months for paperwork. Shop around, ask questions, and find an FFL who knows what's going on.