The Fifth Circuit just admitted what gun owners have known for years:
Suppressors are not some fringe accessory outside the Second Amendment.
They are arms.
In United States v. Comeaux, the Fifth Circuit upheld Brennan Comeaux’s conviction for possessing an unregistered suppressor under the National Firearms Act.
But the ruling also delivered a major Second Amendment victory by holding that suppressors are protected “Arms” because they make firearms safer and more effective for lawful self-defense.
For decades, Washington, D.C. has treated suppressors like machine guns — forcing peaceable gun owners into a federal registration scheme for devices that reduce noise, help prevent hearing damage, reduce recoil, reduce muzzle blast, improve accuracy, and make shooting safer.
“Suppressors are nothing more than hearing protection devices for gun owners, hunters, and anyone who values their hearing,” said Texas Gun Rights President Chris McNutt.
“The fact that Washington, D.C. regulates them like machine guns is absolutely absurd. The Fifth Circuit is right that suppressors are protected Arms. Now the courts and DOJ need to stop letting the NFA turn peaceable Americans into criminals.”
The federal government argued suppressors are not protected because a firearm can function without one.
The Fifth Circuit rejected that nonsense, holding that the Second Amendment protects arms that facilitate armed self-defense — not just the bare minimum parts needed to make a gun fire.
The Win — and the Catch
Comeaux still lost because the panel said it was bound by United States v. Peterson, an earlier Fifth Circuit case treating the NFA’s suppressor registration system as presumptively lawful unless a challenger proves the system has been put toward “abusive ends,” such as excessive fees or lengthy processing delays.
Comeaux did not build that record, so his conviction stands.
That means Comeaux does not legalize unregistered suppressors, strike down the NFA, or authorize Texans to ignore federal law without risk.
But it does blow a major hole in one of the federal government’s favorite arguments.
In the Fifth Circuit, DOJ can no longer comfortably pretend suppressors are outside the Second Amendment.
That is the absurd posture of the law after Comeaux: suppressors are protected by the Second Amendment, but the NFA registration machine survives because Peterson gives the federal government a presumption it never earned under Bruen.
Peterson Is the Next Fight
Judges Edith Brown Clement and Stuart Kyle Duncan concurred, but warned that Peterson should be revisited because Bruen requires courts to analyze Second Amendment cases using text, history, and tradition — not bureaucratic convenience or judge-made presumptions protecting federal gun control schemes.
If suppressors are protected Arms, the next question is whether the NFA’s registration regime can survive a true Second Amendment test.
That fight is coming.
“Made In Texas” Suppressors
The ruling lands squarely in the middle of Texas’ fight over suppressors manufactured and kept inside the Lone Star State.
Texas passed its “Made in Texas” suppressor law to protect suppressors made and retained within Texas from federal overreach.
But ATF never backed down.
Federal bureaucrats continued treating Texas-made suppressors as NFA-regulated items, and Texans who tried to rely on state law were left facing raids, seizures, forfeiture fights, prosecution threats, and the full weight of the federal gun control machine.
That is exactly what happened to 1836, LLC.
In August 2024, ATF agents targeted the Texas suppressor company at a Fort Worth hunting expo, seizing inventory, firearms, electronics, and business property.
ATF seized property.
DOJ let the case drag on.
No indictment.
No clean resolution.
No return to normal.
Just years of federal pressure hanging over Texans who believed state law meant something.
DOJ has since opened discussions in the case, creating the first real sign that resolution may be possible.
And now Comeaux makes DOJ’s position harder to defend.
The ruling does not solve every problem facing 1836, LLC. The NFA still exists. Peterson still stands. Federal prosecutors may still claim the registration scheme remains enforceable.
But if suppressors are Second Amendment Arms, then ATF was not merely seizing “accessories.”
It was seizing items the Fifth Circuit now recognizes as constitutionally protected.
The Real Problem Is the NFA
The problem is bigger than one defendant, one business, or one raid.
The ruling in Comeaux does not end the fight.
It exposes the fight.
Suppressors are protected arms, yet the NFA still gives federal bureaucrats the power to register, delay, raid, seize, and prosecute peaceable gun owners over hearing protection devices.
That is not public safety.
That is federal overreach.
The question is whether DOJ will respect what the Fifth Circuit just recognized — or keep defending a federal scheme that criminalizes Texans for exercising rights the Constitution already protects.
Take Action: It’s time to end the federal scheme that treats peaceable gun owners like criminals. Sign Texas Gun Rights’ petition to abolish the ATF and repeal the NFA today.
