DOJ considers abandoning the defense of federal restrictions on gun silencers

(CNN) — The Justice Department is evaluating whether to defend the federal government’s restrictions on gun silencers that have been in place since the 1930s as part of President Donald Trump’s order to reconsider positions that could limit gun rights.

Silencers, also called suppressors, are tube-shaped devices that, when screwed into the muzzle of a gun, slow the decompression of gases that propel a bullet forward, thus reducing the “pop” sound of gunfire.

The devices are legal in 42 states but have been subject to strict federal restrictions since Prohibition-era gang violence. Under the National Firearms Act, buyers are required to submit fingerprints and a photograph, go through a background check and to pay a $200 tax – a steep price in the 1930s. If a person fails to pay the tax or register one of the devices, they could face prosecution.

The Justice Department has defended the law for decades, arguing that it doesn’t ban silencers but simply governs how a buyer can acquire one. Still, late last week, prosecutors requested a 30-day pause in the criminal case against a firearms dealer found with an unregistered silencer because “the Department of Justice is re-evaluating its litigation positions regarding silencers.”

The review is one of the efforts undertaken by DOJ since Trump ordered the federal government to re-evaluate its gun policies and tasked Attorney General Pam Bondi with re-evaluating all ongoing litigation that could restrict Americans’ gun rights.

“Protecting the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens is a high priority for @AGPamBondi,” DOJ chief of staff and Acting Associate Attorney General Chad Mizelle said Monday on X. “To that end, the Department will be re-evaluating some of its recent litigation positions on Second Amendment issues, including silencers.”

The NFA has been a flashpoint for advocates, who say that silencers are not frequently used in crime and believe that the silencers and other weapons regulated under the law, including machine guns and short-barreled rifles and shotguns, are protected by the Second Amendment. A decision by the Justice Department not to defend the law may, however, make it harder for gun rights groups to challenge the law at the Supreme Court.

“If Trump administration decides not to prosecute people under for illegal silencer possession while in office, that’s a good short-term win, that’s what a lot of gun rights activists will want,” said Stephen Gutowski, a gun safety instructor and founder of The Reload.

However, Gutowski added that if Democrats regain the White House in four years, “They can just reverse the policies and go back and start prosecuting people again, because the law was never found unconstitutional or invalid.”

Gun safety groups, for their part, say that silencers put people at risk by make a mass shooting harder to hear and contend that because silencers reduce the recoil when a gun is fired, it could make it easier for a gunman with a semiautomatic to shoot with fewer interruptions.

“Silencers in the wrong hands create serious public safety risks,” Everytown for Gun Safety writes on their website. “The loud and distinctive noise that a gun makes is one of its most important safety features: when people hear it, they realize they may need to run, hide, or protect others.”

The group also raises concerns that removing silencers from the NFA would allow them to be purchased without a background check.

Gutowski said that the near inaudible portrayal of shooting with a silencer is “kind of a movie thing.”

“I don’t think in real life, in practical applications, that there is that great of a tactical advantage to use a suppressor, especially for something like a mass shooting,” Gutowski said. “If you shoot a suppressed handgun near somebody, they’re still gonna know that you’re shooting a gun.”

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