Federal judge muzzles 1930s law restricting suppressors, some guns

A federal judge in Texas on Wednesday ruled that key provisions of a nearly century-old federal firearms law can no longer be enforced, finding that Congress lost the constitutional basis for regulating suppressors and certain short-barreled firearms after eliminating the tax that originally justified the restrictions.

U.S. District Judge James Hendrix, a President Donald Trump appointee, issued a permanent injunction barring enforcement of portions of the National Firearms Act governing suppressors, also known as silencers, as well as short-barreled rifles and short-barreled shotguns.