Background: The 2025 Tax Reduction and the August 2026 Injunction

Two earlier developments set the stage for ATF's October guidance. First, in 2025 Congress reduced the NFA making and transfer tax to $0 for short-barreled rifles (SBRs), short-barreled shotguns (SBSs), silencers, and any other weapons (AOWs). The $200 tax for machine guns and destructive devices was not changed. Occupational taxes for licensed manufacturers, importers, and dealers also remained in place.

Second, in August 2026 a federal court in Texas issued an injunction in a challenge to NFA registration and approval requirements. That injunction was limited in scope: it bound only the specific plaintiffs covered by the order. It did not apply nationwide to all gun owners or all transactions.

What ATF Said on October 9, 2026

On October 9, 2026, ATF issued an open letter and accompanying fact sheet announcing that it would exercise nationwide enforcement discretion and would not enforce NFA approval and registration requirements for the covered items — SBRs, SBSs, silencers, and AOWs. ATF also published a FAQ clarifying the scope of the guidance.

You can read the primary sources directly: ATF Open Letter (PDF) and ATF Fact Sheet (PDF) and the ATF FAQ page.

This is an important distinction: ATF chose to extend non-enforcement beyond the covered plaintiffs as a matter of enforcement discretion, not because a court ordered it to do so nationwide. Congress reduced the NFA making and transfer tax to $0 for the covered items in 2025, but the NFA's approval and registration provisions remain on the books as enacted law. ATF's nationwide non-enforcement is a policy choice by the current administration, not a statutory repeal or amendment of those provisions. ATF continues to accept Forms 1, 2, 3, and 4 on a voluntary basis for those who wish to register or transfer items through the traditional process.

What Changed

What Did Not Change

Florida Law: § 790.221 and the Federal-Law Exception

Florida Statutes § 790.221 prohibits possession of a short-barreled rifle, short-barreled shotgun, or machine gun that is, or can readily be made, operable. The statute carries a second-degree felony penalty.

The statute contains an exception: it does not apply to firearms lawfully owned and possessed under federal law. Historically, this exception covered items that had gone through the NFA registration process and received ATF approval — the approved Form 4 or Form 1 was the documentation of federal lawfulness.

How that exception applies to an unregistered SBR or SBS after ATF's October 2026 enforcement-discretion guidance is an unsettled legal question. ATF's guidance is an administrative enforcement decision, not a statutory change. Whether Florida courts would treat an unregistered item as "lawfully owned and possessed under federal law" within the meaning of § 790.221 — given that the underlying NFA statutes remain on the books — has not been resolved. We are not in a position to tell you that unregistered possession of an SBR or SBS is categorically lawful in Florida under current law.

This is precisely the kind of question that requires individualized legal advice, not a general article. If you are a Florida resident considering making or acquiring an SBR or SBS in reliance on ATF's guidance, speak with a Florida firearms attorney before you act.

What This Means for Gun Trusts

A Florida gun trust is a legal structure for holding firearms and planning for their management and succession. ATF's guidance does not change what a trust can or cannot do. A trust does not override federal or state restrictions on who may possess a firearm, what items may be transferred, or where they may be transported. The scope of lawful possession — including the unsettled Florida state-law question described above — matters regardless of whether the item is held individually or in trust.

For items that remain fully subject to the NFA — machine guns, destructive devices — the trust structure and the traditional Form 4 process are unchanged. For SBRs, SBSs, silencers, and AOWs, the practical question of whether and how to document ownership going forward is one worth discussing with counsel, particularly given the possibility that ATF's enforcement posture could change with future administrations or regulatory action.

Policy and Interpretation May Change

ATF's October 2026 guidance is an enforcement-discretion decision by the current administration. It is not a statute, and it is not a court ruling that binds future administrations. Enforcement priorities can change. Regulations can be amended. A future administration could reinstate enforcement of NFA requirements with relatively short notice.

Anyone making decisions about making, buying, transferring, or transporting NFA-regulated items should do so with that uncertainty in mind — and should obtain current legal advice before acting. This article reflects the state of ATF's published guidance as of October 15, 2026. It is not legal advice, and it does not account for changes that may occur after that date.