Buying a suppressor in Colorado after the NFA registration ruling
The short answer, as of August 13, 2026
- The $200 federal tax is gone. It was reduced to $0 for suppressors effective January 1, 2026, in Colorado and everywhere else.
- In Colorado, the Form 4 is not gone. A federal court has blocked enforcement of NFA registration for certain covered buyers, but Colorado state law separately makes a firearm silencer a “dangerous weapon,” and dealers here are still running suppressor transfers through the full NFA process.
- Driving to Wyoming does not solve it. A suppressor is still a “firearm” under ordinary federal gun law, so a Wyoming dealer generally cannot hand one to a Colorado resident.
This is an informational summary, not legal advice. Colorado suppressor possession is a felony question. Confirm your situation with your FFL or a Colorado attorney before acting on anything here.
Four questions that now have different answers
Most of the confusion in current suppressor coverage comes from treating one regulatory status as if it were four. These are separate questions, and after August 2026 they can have different answers for the same suppressor:
- Is there still a federal $200 NFA tax? No.
- Does the suppressor still require NFA registration and an approved Form 4? It depends on the buyer, the seller, and the state.
- Is the suppressor still a “firearm” under ordinary federal gun law?Yes, everywhere.
- Does the buyer’s state impose its own restriction?In Colorado, yes.
What changed in August 2026
The federal National Firearms Act making and transfer tax on suppressors is $0. Congress reduced it from $200 effective January 1, 2026.
Removing the tax removed the justification the NFA’s registration system had historically rested on. Challengers argued that if Congress no longer collects a tax on suppressors, it cannot keep a registration system whose purpose was to facilitate collecting that tax.
On August 5, 2026, Judge James Wesley Hendrix of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas held that the challenged NFA registration and advance-approval requirements for suppressors, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, and any other weapons could not be sustained once Congress reduced the tax on them to $0. The court entered a permanent injunction and stayed it for seven days.
The seven-day stay expired at midnight on August 13, 2026, and the first transfers without NFA registration took place that day. The government did not obtain an appellate stay before the deadline; reporting describes it as still having roughly seven weeks to decide whether to appeal.
The relief is limited by party, not by geography. That distinction is the reason the ruling changes little for most Colorado buyers:
The injunction is not nationwide. It runs to the named plaintiffs, current and future members of the plaintiff organizations, current and future customers of the commercial plaintiffs in covered transactions, and the fifteen plaintiff states and their agencies and political subdivisions. The court declined to extend relief to the general public.
What did not change: suppressors are still “firearms”
A suppressor sits under two federal regimes. The National Firearms Act supplied registration, application, and tax requirements. The Gun Control Act separately governs ordinary firearm transactions — licensed dealers, Form 4473, background checks, interstate rules, and prohibited persons. The ruling reached parts of the first regime only.
The Gun Control Act was not disturbed. 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(3) defines "firearm" to include any firearm muffler or firearm silencer, so licensed-dealer rules, Form 4473, background checks, and prohibited-person rules continue to apply to suppressors.
The NFA definitions remain in the U.S. Code. 26 U.S.C. § 5845 still includes silencers in the NFA category of "firearm." Congress did not repeal the suppressor provisions; a court enjoined enforcement of specified provisions against protected parties.
For that reason the statement “suppressors were removed from the NFA” is not accurate. The statute is unchanged; enforcement of specified provisions has been blocked as to specified parties.
Why Colorado still requires a Form 4
Colorado’s restriction is a state criminal statute that operates independently of the NFA.
Colorado lists a firearm silencer first among the "dangerous weapons" defined in C.R.S. § 18-12-102. Knowing possession of a dangerous weapon is a class 5 felony, and the statute gives an affirmative defense to a person who has a valid permit and license for possession of the weapon.
Compliance with the federal NFA process, including an approved Form 4, has been the practical basis on which Colorado suppressor possession is treated as lawful. Colorado law therefore leans on a federal mechanism that a federal court has now made unenforceable for certain people in other states.
Silencer Shop places Colorado among fifteen states where it continues to run suppressor transfers through the Form 4 NFA process because state law still requires it. Its Colorado page carries the same note.
So for a Colorado resident buying a suppressor in Colorado today, the process is the old one minus the payment:
| Step | Colorado, as of August 13, 2026 |
|---|---|
| $200 federal tax | No — reduced to $0 |
| Form 4 application | Yes |
| Fingerprints and photo | Yes |
| ATF approval before pickup | Yes |
| NFA registration | Yes |
| Form 4473 and background check | Yes |
By contrast, where a transaction is covered by the injunction and no state law intervenes: Where a transaction is covered by the injunction, Silencer Shop describes the purchase as an ordinary dealer transfer: Form 4473 and a background check at the dealer, then pickup, with no Form 4, no NFA registration, and no wait for ATF approval.
Can a Colorado resident buy a suppressor in Wyoming?
Not over the counter. The obstacle is federal law, not Wyoming law.
Silencer Shop lists 27 states where it is transferring covered suppressors without NFA registration, 15 states including Colorado where it continues to use the Form 4 process because of state law, and 8 states plus the District of Columbia where civilian suppressor possession is prohibited. Wyoming is in the first group.
Federal law generally bars a licensed dealer from transferring a firearm to a person who does not reside in the dealer’s state, with an exception for rifles and shotguns sold face to face. A suppressor is a firearm under the Gun Control Act but is neither a rifle nor a shotgun, so the exception does not reach it.
The ordinary route would be a transfer to a Colorado FFL, at which point Colorado’s dangerous-weapon statute applies again. Calling the sale private does not change the analysis: 27 C.F.R. § 478.29 restricts an unlicensed person from acquiring a firearm outside the state where the person resides. Buying from a private seller in another state does not remove that restriction.
Related situations that are commonly assumed to be workarounds, and are not:
- Using it only in Wyoming. Keeping the suppressor out of Colorado addresses the Colorado possession question. It does not address the federal acquisition question, which is decided at the point of transfer.
- Storing it in Wyoming. Same answer. The acquisition itself still has to be lawful.
- Owning a second home in Wyoming. Federal regulation does recognize that a person can be a resident of more than one state during the periods they actually reside in each. That is a fact-specific question about genuine residency, not about a hotel room or a friend’s address, and it is the kind of question to put to a lawyer rather than to a dealer.
| As of August 13, 2026 | Colorado | Wyoming |
|---|---|---|
| Federal $200 suppressor tax | $0 | $0 |
| Suppressor is a firearm under the Gun Control Act | Yes | Yes |
| Form 4473 and background check | Yes | Yes |
| Form 4 currently used | Yes | No, for covered transactions |
| NFA registration | Yes | No, for covered transactions |
| Wait for ATF approval | Yes | No, for covered transactions |
| Separate state-law restriction | Yes | Generally none |
| Colorado resident can buy over the counter | Through the NFA process | No |
The other 2026 ruling: United States v. Comeaux
Two different decisions are often merged in coverage. They did different things.
In United States v. Comeaux, decided June 18, 2026, the Fifth Circuit held that suppressors are "Arms" within the text of the Second Amendment, while still upholding the defendant’s conviction for possessing an unregistered suppressor. Colorado is in the Tenth Circuit, so the decision is persuasive here rather than binding.
Comeaux is a Second Amendment holding: suppressors are “Arms.” It did not strike down NFA registration, and the conviction in that case stood. The August ruling did not need to reach the Second Amendment; it held that the challenged registration provisions exceeded Congress’s enumerated powers once the tax was gone. The two reinforce each other in practice while resting on different legal grounds.
What could change next
- An appeal. The August decision is a federal district-court ruling. The Fifth Circuit could affirm, narrow, stay, or reverse it, and the government’s window to appeal has not closed.
- A challenge to the Colorado statute. A plaintiff could argue that suppressors are protected arms, that Colorado criminalizes their possession, and that the federal licensing mechanism Colorado’s affirmative defense relies on is being dismantled — so Colorado must justify the restriction on its own. Comeaux is persuasive authority for the first step but does not bind the Tenth Circuit, and no Colorado court has adopted that theory.
- A change to Colorado law. The legislature could remove “firearm silencer” from the dangerous-weapon definition, or rewrite the affirmative defense so lawful possession no longer depends on NFA registration.
Colorado firearms-law cases are tracked on thelitigation tracker, and post dated changes to the site on site updates.
Common questions
Does SB25-003 cover suppressors?
No. SB25-003 governs specified semiautomatic firearms and rapid-fire devices. Suppressors are regulated separately under Colorado’s dangerous-weapon statute, and the eligibility card and safety course are not part of the suppressor process. For the SSF requirements that begin August 1, 2026, see what SB25-003 does andthe purchase pipeline.
Do I still fill out a Form 4473 for a suppressor?
Yes, in Colorado and in the states using the no-registration process alike. Suppressors remain Gun Control Act firearms, so the dealer runs the ordinary 4473 and background-check process either way.
Are fingerprints still required?
In Colorado, yes, because Colorado transfers are still going through the Form 4 process and its identifying-information requirements. The ordinary 4473 and background-check process used for covered transfers elsewhere does not involve submitting fingerprints to ATF.
Is there still a federal suppressor registry?
The National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record still exists, and Colorado Form 4 transfers are still entered in it. Covered no-registration transfers elsewhere are not, but they are not recordless — dealers keep the Form 4473 and acquisition-and-disposition records the Gun Control Act requires.
Does “no tax stamp” mean “no paperwork”?
No, and the phrase is the main source of confusion. “Tax stamp” was shorthand for a bundle: the $200 payment, the Form 4 application, fingerprints and photographs, ATF approval, and registration. Congress removed the payment on January 1, 2026. The court blocked parts of the rest, for some people, in some transactions.
Can I make my own suppressor now?
Do not infer that from a retail-transfer ruling. Making implicates separate provisions, and the injunction runs only to the protected parties and transactions described above. In Colorado, the state dangerous-weapon statute applies to possession however the suppressor was obtained.
Why does it matter which dealer I use?
Because the injunction protects plaintiffs and, where applicable, their members and customers — not the public at large. A dealer with no connection to a plaintiff is in a different position from one that is a plaintiff or sells through one. In Colorado the question is currently academic, since state law keeps the Form 4 process in place regardless.
For Colorado’s other firearm-law processes: theconcealed handgun permit guide covers carry permits,the SB25-003 purchase pipeline covers specified semiautomatic firearms from August 1, 2026, andwhat SB25-003 exempts covers what falls outside that definition entirely.