In 2022, the ATF changed the procedures for filling out a Form 1 to make your own silencer. The ATF denied about 850 applications. The ATF claimed “Solvent Traps” were actually suppressors, started denying Form 1 applications, and required much more information about how a silencer was to be manufactured, and what parts would be used to make the silencer.

Senators and representatives sent two letters, one from Representatives and one from Senators, to the Biden ATF asking for clarification of what the ATF was doing. Here is an excerpt from the Senate letter submitted to ATF on March 16, 2022:

We request answers to the following questions:

1. Please explain why the ATF is denying Form 1 applications for silencers.

2. Please explain whether these denials reflect a change in policy in how the ATF regulates self-made silencers.

3. Please explain what the ATF has done to inform the American people of its position regarding a Form 1 application and devices it believes are silencer “kits,” so that law abiding Americans can attempt to comply with the law.

4. Please explain how the ATF evaluates whether a Form 1 application for a silencer is going to be used for a kit that, in ATF’s view, is already legally a silencer.

5. Please explain why the ATF has repeatedly approved Form 1 applications for silencers made from “kits” if the agency’s policy is that one or more items in the “kits” are considered silencers.

6. Please explain how the ATF intends to handle approved Form 1 applications that occurred before February 28, 2022 for silencers made from “kits.”

7. Please explain how the ATF plans to make tax-free registration available for applicants who in good faith attempted to comply with federal law. If ATF does not plan to make tax-free registration available for applicants who in good faith attempted to comply with the federal law, please explain why.

8. Please produce all documents and communications, including but not limited to ATF legal opinions, referring or relating to the ATF’s definition of a silencer, or what constitutes a silencer “kit.”

We request answers to these questions no later than March 31, 2022.

It appears the ATF never replied to the Senate or the House of Representatives’ letters.  Perhaps an informed reader knows of some clarification of the Form 1 process.  Clarification would be good to receive, now that the Trump administration is reforming the ATF.

When this correspondent filled out several Form 1 applications in 2021, the process was simple and fairly straightforward. The only information that was required about the silencer being made was length and caliber.

The number of Form 1 applications soared in 2023, almost certainly in response to the ATF pistol brace initiative. This makes it difficult to see how many Form 1s were submitted for silencers/suppressors.  This correspondent has not been able to determine if the Biden-era initiative and its burdensome requirements continue in use during the Trump Administration.

The Trump administration worked hard to remove silencers/suppressors, short barreled shotguns, short barreled rifles, and any other weapons except machine guns and destructive devices from the National Firearms Act. Because of the ruling of the Senate parliamentarian, they were unable to remove those items at this time. They were successful in reducing the taxes on those items to zero dollars.

The reform of the NFA in President Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill will reduce the taxes required for making your own silencer to zero dollars, as of January 1, 2026. This creates an incentive for more people to make their own silencers/suppressors.

By January 1, 2026, some clarification of the process for submitting Form 1s to the ATF to make silencers/suppressors should be made public by the new, improved Trump administration’s ATF.

About Dean Weingarten:

Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of Constitutional Carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.