On January 1, many provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act officially took effect, including the repeal of the $200 transfer tax on most items restricted by the National Firearms Act.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Exposives had shut down its portal to file NFA paperwork electronically for a few days at the end of December in preparation for the change, but I don't think that alone accounts for the huge surge in e-Form submissions the agency received on January 1.
NSSF: "On January 1 alone, ATF processed approximately 150,000 e-Forms, compared to a typical daily volume of around 2,500." pic.twitter.com/JD8QW6jKv5
— Rob Romano (@2Aupdates) January 3, 2026
Many of the 150,000 forms approved on January 1 were undoubtably holdovers from 2025, but I think it's fair to say that the massive increase in both approvals and submissions is a direct result of the disappearance of the $200 tax imposed on NFA items like suppressors and short-barreled firearms.
So now that the tax has been repealed, what will the new normal for sales of NFA items look like? If the ATF typically approved about 2,500 applications while the $200 tax was in place, how many will the agency typically approve going forward?
It will take some time to figure that out, but industry expectations are that the number will increase significantly over what we've seen in the past. In the short term individual buyers may experience some delays in the ATF's approval process, but once the initial surge has been dealt with we'll likely see a return to form.
Last fall, the firearms compliance software company Fastbound reported that, as of August 2025, e-Form submissions from individuals were being approved within 10 days on average, while submissions from trusts took about 23 days on average. Paper submissions are going to take longer, but even the 35 day average reported for individuals submitting their paperwork the old fashioned way is much better than it was just a few years ago.
In the first few days of the repeal taking effect, gun shops across the country are reporting increased interest among customers. James Piper, a store clerk at Great Lakes Outdoor Supply in Ohio, told a Cleveland TV station that sales of suppressors have at least doubled over the past few weeks, with many customers putting their money down in December but waiting until the new year to file the paperwork and complete the sale.
Piper explained to News 5 that they started seeing a surge in purchases back in December during holiday sales, while many buyers opted to not complete the purchase and tax stamp application until the beginning of 2026.
Gun owners told News 5 they purchase suppressors to avoid wearing hearing protection and to reduce noise disruption for neighbors when hunting on their own property.
Contrary to pop culture and the movies, Piper explained that silencers do not completely eliminate the noise made when a shot is fired.
"Think of it as a jet engine or fire engine next to you compared to clapping your hand loudly next to your ear," Piper said. "It doesn't make it totally hearing safe for a lot of calibers, but it makes it manageable."
Arkansas gun store owners Nathan House and Chandler Ferrell say they've seen increased demand as well, and they're counseling patience for customers given the massive number of applications the ATF has to process.
“The system is extremely backlogged on trying to get those forms into the ATF,” House said. “It's just overwhelmed. It's going to take the government some time to work through that process in order to be able to accept those forms.”
However, you can add your name to the waiting list.
At Arkansas Armory or Hunter’s Refuge, they said their part of the process is downright quick.
“We'll pick out your silencer,” Ferrell said. “We have to do fingerprints, and we do all that in here. So, we get all of your paperwork completed and ready, and then we send it to the ATF, and then it's just a waiting game.”
A wait that hopefully won't be too long for most buyers.
I'm excited to see if the repeal of the $200 tax will lead to widespread adoption of suppressors and other NFA items. I've often said that I love to hear the sound of folks exercising their Second Amendment rights on their property (and I hope they're just as happy hearing me plinking at my own shooting spot), but I wouldn't mind if those sounds of freedom are muffled in the future; if not for me then for my noise-averse dog who can't stand the sound of thunder, fireworks, or gun shots. I plan on taking advantage of the repeal of the $200 tax, and I hope my gun-owning neighbors do as well.
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