The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, formerly Handgun Control, Inc., went into full meltdown mode Thursday morning following the first transfer of a suppressor without registration in over 90 years.
On August 5, 2026, Breitbart News reported that U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix ruled against National Firearms Act (NFA) registration requirements in Jensen v. ATF. This opened the door for plaintiffs in the case–including those in a consolidated case–to transfer suppressors and short barrel rifles and shotguns without complying with NFA registration requirements.
Caveat: Judge Hendrix allowed the government to have a seven-day window in which to appeal his ruling before allowing it to take effect. This meant that, barring appeal, it would take effect August 13, 2026.
Trump’s DOJ/ATF did not appeal the ruling and in the wee hours of August 13, 2026, the Silencer Shop and Gun Owners of America celebrated the “first lawful, unregistered suppressor transfer since June 26th, 1934.”
The Brady Campaign came unglued:
Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA) and a coalition of other Republican lawmakers are urging the DOJ/ATF to avail themselves of rulemaking to codify Hendrix’s ruling via regulation, thereby making the registration exemption apply to all law-abiding Americans.
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 awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
