Justice Department won't enforce registration rules on silencers and certain guns after court ruling

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department moved Friday to allow more people to purchase firearm suppressors — known as silencers — short-barreled rifles and certain other guns without registering them with the federal government following a court ruling that struck down provisions of a key law.

The Trump administration announced the broad enforcement policy changes after a Texas judge in August ruled the permitting process was unconstitutional. The judge's ruling was limited to the parties involved in that case, but the Justice Department said Friday it would no longer enforce the registration requirements more broadly.

“The direction from the President, Congress, and the courts is clear,” Rob Cekada, director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said in an emailed statement. “ATF is now following suit with our enforcement posture while continuing to ensure we remain focused where we are needed the most: combating violent crime in American communities.”

It’s the latest move by the Trump administration to ease restrictions on firearms opposed by gun rights groups. Gun rights activists have long complained that the registration requirements — which meant filling out a form, being fingerprinted, and waiting for government approval — were overly burdensome

At issue in the Texas case were regulations in a 1930s-era law, the National Firearms Act, which was passed in response to concerns about mafia violence.

U.S. District Judge James Hendrix in Texas said the rules for purchasing a silencer, short-barreled rifle, short-barreled shotgun and other certain other firearms must fall after the Republican-controlled Congress and President Donald Trump eliminated a $200 permit tax on the devices. The Justice Department opted not to appeal the judge's decision.

Groups that support gun restrictions decried the judge's ruling and the Justice Department's decision to let it stand as reckless and argued that the regulations are important for public safety.

In an interview with The Associated Press on Friday, Cekada said that after the judge’s ruling, federal law enforcement was inundated with questions from the public and members of Congress about how they were going to handle enforcement nationwide. The Trump administration believed that the “best and fairest thing to do" was to address the rules nationwide to avoid a confusing patchwork of regulations across the country, Cekada said.

Under the new guidance, ATF will no longer require registration unless the buyer lives in one of about 15 states that have state laws requiring that people go through the federal permitting process. The registration process will still apply for machine guns and what are considered “destructive devices” under federal law, the Justice Department said.

And in all cases, people will still have to fill out the standard firearms purchasing form, which includes questions about things that would disqualify someone from legal gun ownership, and they also have to pass a background check, officials said.