We know that the Department of Justice declined to ask for a stay of a federal judge's injunction that ruled the registration requirements for NFA items including suppressors and short-barreled firearms, but there have been questions about whether the DOJ would actually appeal Judge J. Wesley Hendrix's decision in the Jensen/Silencer Shop cases.
Rep. Andrew Clyed (R-GA) posted this on X a little more than a month ago.
🚨 BREAKING: I’ve received confirmation from the Trump Administration that the DOJ will NOT appeal our historic court victory against the NFA.
— Rep. Andrew Clyde (@Rep_Clyde) August 13, 2026
THANK YOU, PRESIDENT TRUMP and Attorney General Blanche, for delivering the most significant Second Amendment win in OVER 90 YEARS!
Now CBS has confirmed Clyde's post, with the added detail that President Donald Trump personally directed the DOJ not to appeal and to take the loss instead.
The president himself decided against appealing the ruling, several of the sources with knowledge of the matter said. Mr. Trump has also told some Republican members of Congress in a series of calls in recent weeks that he would ensure the Justice Department did not contest the decision, sources familiar with the discussions said.
Letting the lower court ruling stand runs counter to the recommendations of some career and politically appointed lawyers at the Justice Department across multiple offices who disagree with the court's opinion, several of the sources said, adding that they have warned it is already beginning to adversely impact federal firearms prosecutions across the country.
It also runs afoul of the Justice Department's "duty to defend," a longstanding legal principle that says the department has a constitutional duty to defend the laws enacted by Congress, as long as reasonable arguments can be made in support of those statutes, some of the sources said.
The framing of the CBS News story, which describes these NFA items as "gangster guns" in the headline, is pretty slanted towards the idea that the DOJ is making a mistake in not appealing the district court's decision, though they did include this nugget.
One source familiar with the discussions believes that some Justice Department lawyers are more worried about their win-loss record than the president's gun policies, adding that it is merely a scare tactic to suggest that not appealing will allow people to possess or sell sawed-off shotguns and suppressors without government oversight.
Even if the DOJ decides not to appeal and to not enforce the NFA registration requirements against anyone, not just the plaintiffs and their customers, these items are still considered "firearms" under federal law, which means that anyone wanting to purchase one at retail will still have to pass a NICS check.
That's already been the case for more than a month, at least for named plaintiffs like Palmetto State Armory and Silencer Shop. Current and future members of the Second Amendment organizations that sued over the NFA registry are also included in the judge's injunction, but they're still confined to purchasing from one of the manufacturers or distributors who were involved in the litigation... unless a company has, for instance, become a business member of the Texas State Rifle Association (which is one of the plaintiffs involved).
CBS also lines out a couple of scenarios where the registration requirements could be re-imposed... along with those taxes.
If the Justice Department follows through on not appealing Hendrix's ruling, there is still a chance that other interested parties, like states or counties, could try to ask the court for permission to intervene and appeal it themselves.
Congress could also reinstate the tax or pass a different law to regulate them, but doing so would likely require Democrats to regain a majority in the House and Senate.
All the more reason for gun owners to get out and vote on Election Day.
Is the CBS report accurate? President Trump has generally been very supportive of the right to keep and bear arms, though he famously suggested a federal "red flag" law and even made some positive comments about a potential "assault weapons" ban in the immediate wake of the Parkland shooting in 2018.
On the other hand, Trump has pursued no new gun control laws while in office this term, even after being repeatedly subject to assassination attempts. If the president is personally directing the DOJ not to appeal the Jensen/Silencer Shop decision, that would be the biggest example yet of Trump acting to not just safeguard, but restore our Second Amendment rights.
The DOJ has until October 5 to file its appeal, and the unnamed sources who spoke to CBS News may have floated this information out now in the hopes that there'll be enough pushback to get Trump to change his mind. It wouldn't be a bad idea for Second Amendment advocates to contact their senators and representatives and urge them to stake out their own position in opposition of a DOJ appeal.
We can expect to see Republican candidates pressed on their position about "allowing unfettered access to silencers and sawed-off shotguns," even if that's not remotely accurate, and expect Democrats to pounce on this news in order to call Republicans and the Trump administration soft on violent crime and eager to arm gangsters. Giffords' Emma Brown already told CBS that not appealing "could bring us back to the days of Al Capone," and we're sure to see other anti-gun activists make similar claims in the coming days. Republicans need to stiffen their spines, and some of them are going to need plenty of encouragement from their gun-owning constituents.
Editor’s Note: President Trump and Republicans across the country are doing everything they can to protect our Second Amendment rights and right to self-defense.
Help us continue to report on their efforts and legislative successes. Join Bearing Arms VIP and use promo code FIGHT to receive 60% off your membership.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member