The 27/15/9 Map: State-by-State Suppressor Rules After the NFA Ruling
Last verified: August 22, 2026. Part of our NFA ruling hub — the live status tracker lives there.
In This Article
The short answer: After the 2026 NFA ruling, the country splits three ways. In 27 states, a covered buyer can take a suppressor home same-day on a 4473 and NICS check at a participating dealer. In 15 states, state law independently requires federal-registration compliance, so the Form 4 process continues regardless of the injunction. And in 8 states (plus D.C.), suppressors remain banned outright. The federal ruling changed none of the state laws — it only removed the federal registration requirement for covered parties.
The bucketing below is the one Silencer Shop published when it launched no-Form-4 transfers on August 13 (full state-list report; Silencer Shop announcement). Two things to keep in mind as you read: “same-day” assumes you are inside a covered class — membership, customer status, or the untested join-now path, all covered in the hub — and state legislatures can move. Verify against your own state’s current statutes before acting; hunting-use rules are a separate layer set by state game agencies.
The 27 same-day states
No state-level NFA-compliance law. A participating dealer (Silencer Shop’s network is the big one) can transfer to a covered buyer with a 4473 and NICS check — no Form 4, no wait:
| Same-day states (27) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Arizona | Arkansas | Florida |
| Idaho | Indiana | Iowa | Kansas |
| Kentucky | Louisiana | Maine | Maryland |
| Minnesota | Missouri | Nebraska | New Hampshire |
| New Mexico | Oklahoma | South Carolina | South Dakota |
| Tennessee | Texas | Utah | Vermont |
| Virginia | West Virginia | Wyoming | |
Even here, remember what didn’t change: dealer transfers still run through the Gun Control Act (4473 + NICS every time), and carrying an unregistered can across a state line is still a federal crime — 26 U.S.C. §5861(j) was not enjoined. Details in the hub’s interstate section.
The 15 “still file the Form 4” states
These states wrote federal-NFA compliance into their own law — typically a state statute making suppressor possession lawful only when the item is registered under federal law. The federal injunction doesn’t rewrite state codes, so in these states the Form 4 path continues for everyone:
| State-law NFA-compliance states (15) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alaska | Colorado | Connecticut | Georgia | Michigan |
| Mississippi | Montana | Nevada | North Carolina | North Dakota |
| Ohio | Oregon | Pennsylvania | Washington | Wisconsin |
The irony is sharp: several of these — Alaska, Georgia, Montana, North Dakota, and more — are plaintiff states in the case itself. Their governments won relief as parties, but their own statutes still bind their residents to the federal registration process. If your legislature amends its NFA-compliance statute, your state jumps buckets — that’s exactly the kind of change our tracker watches.
MONITOR: State legislatures can amend NFA-compliance statutes at any time, and several 2027 sessions are expected to take this up. Bucket assignments re-verified August 22, 2026 against the sources above — check your state’s current code before relying on this table.
The 8 ban states (plus D.C.)
Suppressor possession by private citizens remains illegal under state law, ruling or no ruling:
| Ban jurisdictions (8 states + D.C.) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| California | Delaware | Hawaii | Illinois |
| Massachusetts | New Jersey | New York | Rhode Island |
| District of Columbia | |||
Nothing in Silencer Shop Foundation v. BATFE touches these bans — the case was decided on Congress’s taxing power, not the Second Amendment, so it offers no vehicle for challenging state prohibitions. A separate 2A challenge would be needed, and none of the three pending NFA cases (this one, Brown, Roberts) raises one.
How to use this map if you’re buying right now
Three questions, in order. First: which bucket is your state in? Ban state — stop. Compliance state — standard Form 4, and our wait-time tracker shows the current queue. Free state — continue. Second: are you covered? Membership in a plaintiff organization, customer status, or the untested join-now path; the hub’s coverage table is the checklist, and if the item is trust-bound, read the trust trap first. Third: will your dealer do it? Silencer Shop’s network is transferring; Silencer Central and many independent FFLs are not. If any answer is no, the Form 4 path — free since January 1, 2026 — is always open. And if you have an application already in the queue, see the decision tree before touching it.
Sources
Final judgment (Aug 5, 2026) · Silencer Shop announcement · USA Carry state-list report (Aug 2026) · NRA-ILA Q&A (Aug 17).
How this guide was made: state bucketing compiled from the retailer program and reporting linked above and cross-checked against the court record; human-edited. Not legal advice — state law changes and hunting-use rules are a separate layer; verify with your state’s current statutes and game agency. Written by James Nicholas.
