Firearm suppressors are legal to own in 42 states if you register the device federally, pass a background check, and comply with your state’s laws. Eight states and the District of Columbia ban civilian possession outright, and a federal registration will not save you there. Everywhere else, the process runs through the National Firearms Act: an ATF application, fingerprints, a photograph, and approval before you take the suppressor home. One thing that used to define this process is gone. The $200 federal transfer tax on suppressors is now $0.
States Where Suppressors Are Illegal
Before anything else, check your state. Civilian suppressor ownership is banned in California, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island. The District of Columbia also prohibits possession. In these jurisdictions federal registration is irrelevant. State or local law controls, and violations can bring felony charges and seizure of the device.
The remaining 42 states allow ownership for anyone who completes the federal process and is not otherwise prohibited from possessing a firearm.
What Federal Law Requires
The National Firearms Act, at 26 U.S.C. Chapter 53, groups suppressors with machineguns, short-barreled rifles and shotguns, and destructive devices as regulated “firearms” that must be registered with the ATF.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S.C. Chapter 53 – Machine Guns, Destructive Devices, and Certain Other Firearms The definition itself sits in 18 U.S.C. § 921, which covers any device designed to reduce the sound of a portable firearm, including any combination of parts or any individual part intended solely for building one.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S.C. 921 – Definitions That second half matters. Ordering a spare baffle kit or an end cap with the intent to assemble a suppressor carries the same legal weight as possessing a completed one.
Possessing an unregistered suppressor, transferring one without ATF approval, making one without prior authorization, or altering a serial number are federal felonies.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S.C. 5861 – Prohibited Acts4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S.C. 5871 – Penalties5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S.C. 3571 – Sentence of Fine Every legally owned suppressor is linked to its registered owner in a permanent federal registry.
The $200 Federal Tax Is Now $0
For decades every suppressor transfer or homemade build carried a $200 federal excise tax, the well-known “tax stamp.” Under the current text of 26 U.S.C. § 5811, the $200 transfer tax now applies only to machineguns and destructive devices. Suppressors, short-barreled rifles, and short-barreled shotguns carry a $0 transfer tax.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S.C. 5811 – Transfer Tax The parallel making tax under § 5821 also dropped to $0 for suppressors.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S.C. 5821 – Making Tax
What did not change: you still submit an application, still pass a background check, and still wait for ATF approval before taking possession. The financial barrier dropped. The legal process did not.
How to Buy a Suppressor
Purchases from a dealer run through ATF Form 4, the Application to Transfer and Register NFA Firearm.8Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. ATF Form 5320.4 – Application to Transfer and Register NFA Firearm (Tax-Paid) You provide your name, address, and Social Security number, along with the suppressor’s manufacturer, model, and serial number. You also submit two fingerprint cards on FBI Form FD-258 and a recent 2×2-inch front-facing photograph.9Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Background Checks for Responsible Persons (Final Rule 41F)
Before the application goes to the ATF, a copy must go to your local Chief Law Enforcement Officer. This is notification only. The CLEO does not sign off or grant approval.10Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Firearms Questions and Answers – National Firearms Act You can file by mail or through the ATF’s eForms system. The FBI runs your background check, and if you’re approved the ATF returns a stamped Form 4 that proves legal registration.
How Long It Takes
Wait times have dropped sharply from historical highs. The ATF publishes averages monthly. Recent figures show electronic Form 4 submissions for individuals averaging roughly 6 to 10 days, with trust applications averaging about 25 to 26 days. Paper filings run longer.11Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Current Processing Times Volumes shift, so the numbers move month to month. Errors on the form (wrong serial numbers, illegible fingerprints, missing photos) trigger returns and restart the clock. Double-check everything before filing.
What You Still Pay
The federal tax is $0, but a purchase is not free of costs. Dealers handling the transfer typically charge a service fee somewhere between $15 and $250 depending on the shop. If you file through an NFA trust, expect a notary fee, usually under $25, for the trust document. These are modest compared to the price of the suppressor itself, but plan for them.
Individual Filing vs. NFA Trust
When you apply, you pick between filing as an individual or through a legal entity, most commonly an NFA trust. Filing as an individual ties the suppressor to you alone. Nobody else may legally possess it unless you are physically present and supervising. This is the doctrine of constructive possession: if your spouse or roommate has unsupervised access to your suppressor safe, that access can be treated as an unlawful transfer.
An NFA trust names multiple people as co-trustees, and each co-trustee can legally possess the trust’s NFA items. The tradeoff is paperwork. Every “responsible person” on the trust, meaning anyone with authority to direct its management or handle its firearms, must individually submit fingerprints, a photograph, and ATF Form 5320.23, the Responsible Person Questionnaire. Each responsible person also goes through the CLEO notification and background check.12Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. National Firearms Act (NFA) Responsible Person Questionnaire (ATF Form 5320.23) A trust also simplifies inheritance.
Who Cannot Own a Suppressor
The background check screens for the same categories that bar someone from possessing any firearm under federal law:13Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S.C. 922 – Unlawful Acts
- Anyone convicted of a crime punishable by more than one year in prison.
- Fugitives from justice.
- Unlawful drug users or addicts.
- Anyone found mentally incompetent by a court or committed to a mental institution.
- Certain noncitizens, including those unlawfully in the U.S. or admitted on most nonimmigrant visas.
- Anyone discharged from the military under dishonorable conditions.
- Anyone who has renounced U.S. citizenship.
- People subject to qualifying domestic violence restraining orders.
- Anyone convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.
The last one catches people off guard. A qualifying conviction doesn’t need to be a felony. A misdemeanor involving physical force or a deadly weapon against a spouse, partner, cohabitant, or someone in a dating relationship triggers a firearms ban in most circumstances.14Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Misdemeanor Crimes of Domestic Violence Prohibitions A narrow exception applies to convictions involving only a dating relationship: the prohibition may end after five years if the person has just one such conviction and no other disqualifying factors. That exception does not apply to offenses against spouses, parents, guardians, or cohabitants.
Crossing State Lines
Suppressors do not require prior ATF authorization to move interstate. The statute requiring that approval, 18 U.S.C. § 922(a)(4), lists machineguns, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, and destructive devices, and leaves suppressors out.13Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S.C. 922 – Unlawful Acts You do not need to file ATF Form 5320.20 before crossing a state line with a suppressor.
Federal travel freedom does not override the destination state’s law. Driving into or through one of the eight ban states with a suppressor in the vehicle can bring state felony charges even when the device is federally registered. Plan the route, know the states along the way, and keep the stamped Form 4 accessible.
Hunting With a Suppressor
Legal to own is not the same as legal to hunt with. About 41 states allow suppressed hunting. Connecticut is the notable exception among ownership-legal states: possession is fine, but suppressor use while hunting is prohibited. A few other states limit suppressed hunting to certain game or seasons. Check your state’s wildlife regulations before taking a suppressor into the field.
Making Your Own
Federal law lets an individual build a suppressor, but only after written ATF approval. You file ATF Form 1, the Application to Make and Register a Firearm, submit fingerprints and a photograph, pass a background check, and wait for the approved form to come back. Construction cannot start until the approval is in hand.15Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S.C. 5822 – Making The making tax is $0.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S.C. 5821 – Making Tax
Once approved, the suppressor must be permanently marked before use. Federal regulations require the serial number to be engraved, cast, or stamped to a minimum depth of .003 inches in a font at least 1/16 inch tall, using standard letters and numbers, and the markings must remain visible during normal handling without disassembling the device.16ATF eRegulations. 27 CFR 478.92 – Identification of Firearms and Armor Piercing Ammunition by Licensed Manufacturers and Licensed Importers A sloppy or illegible engraving creates real legal exposure. Federal law treats a suppressor lacking proper identification the same as an unregistered one.
Repairs and Replacement Parts
Maintenance is more restricted than most owners realize. Only a federally licensed manufacturer that has also paid the special occupational tax (commonly called a Class 3 SOT) can replace internal components like baffles or end caps. You cannot do this work yourself, and a general gunsmith cannot do it either.17Regulations.gov. ATF-2016-0001-0026 (ATF Guidance on Silencer Markings and Repairs)
The ATF also draws a hard line between repair and manufacture. Replacing the outer tube, which the ATF considers the main structural component, is not a repair. It is legally treated as making a new suppressor, and it requires a fresh application, registration, and serial number. Permissible repairs cannot alter the original dimensions or configuration of the part, and the serial number must stay intact throughout the process. If a serialized part other than the outer tube gets replaced, the new part must carry the same serial number as the original.
Inheriting a Suppressor
When a registered owner dies, the suppressor can pass to an heir through the estate. The heir uses ATF Form 5, the tax-exempt transfer application, rather than Form 4, and the transfer tax is waived.18Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Application to Transfer and Register NFA Firearm (Tax-Exempt) – ATF Form 5 The heir still goes through a background check and cannot be a prohibited person.
If the suppressor was registered to an individual rather than a trust, the executor of the estate handles the Form 5 transfer, and gaps can appear where no one is legally authorized to possess the device while paperwork moves. An NFA trust avoids that gap. When the primary settlor dies, the successor trustee named in the trust already has authority over trust property, and if that successor was listed as a co-trustee and cleared a background check, the transition is essentially seamless. Executors and heirs dealing with individually registered NFA items should contact the ATF’s NFA Division for guidance specific to the estate.8Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. ATF Form 5320.4 – Application to Transfer and Register NFA Firearm (Tax-Paid)