Yes, you can put a suppressor on your rifle in 42 states, as long as you register it with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives first and your barrel is threaded to accept it. Eight states and the District of Columbia ban civilian suppressor ownership outright. A federal change that took effect January 1, 2026 dropped the transfer tax from $200 to $0, so the biggest historic cost of ownership is gone, though the registration and background check are not.
Where Ownership Is Allowed
Federal law classifies suppressors as NFA firearms under the National Firearms Act, and they have to be entered in ATF’s National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record before you can legally possess one.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC Subtitle E, Chapter 53, Subchapter B, Part I – General Provisions The states that prohibit private ownership are California, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island, along with D.C. Everywhere else allows it, though nine of those states still prohibit hunting with a suppressor even where ownership is fine. Check your state and local rules before you buy.
Who Qualifies to Own One
You must be at least 21 to buy a suppressor from a licensed dealer. If you build your own through the ATF Form 1 process, the minimum age is 18. You also have to be a U.S. citizen or a lawful permanent resident.
Beyond that, you cannot be a “prohibited person” under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g).2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 US Code 922 – Unlawful Acts The disqualifying categories are:
- A felony conviction, meaning any crime punishable by more than a year in prison
- Being a fugitive from justice
- Unlawful drug use or addiction, which includes marijuana even where a state has legalized it
- A court finding of mental defect or commitment to a mental institution
- A misdemeanor domestic violence conviction or an active domestic restraining order
- A dishonorable military discharge
- Renouncing U.S. citizenship
- Illegal immigration status or certain nonimmigrant visas
The marijuana rule catches a lot of buyers off guard. Federal law still lists marijuana as a controlled substance, so a state medical marijuana card makes you a prohibited person for firearms purposes regardless of what your state allows.
How the Purchase and Registration Work
The usual path is a dealer who holds both a Federal Firearms License and a Special Occupational Tax designation. You pay for the suppressor, the dealer keeps it in inventory, and you wait for ATF approval before taking it home.
The steps look like this:
- Pick and pay for the suppressor at the dealer, along with any transfer or handling fee they charge.
- File ATF Form 4, the application to transfer and register the suppressor to you. You can apply as an individual, through a gun trust, or through a legal entity like a corporation.3Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. Application to Transfer and Register NFA Firearm (Tax-Paid) – ATF Form 5320.4
- Submit a 2×2-inch photograph and fingerprints on FBI Form FD-258 cards if you’re applying as an individual.
- Pass an ATF background check.
- Pick up the suppressor from your dealer once approval comes through.
The transfer tax on suppressors is now $0. That old $200 stamp only still applies to machineguns and destructive devices.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 US Code 5811 – Transfer Tax Registration itself did not go away. ATF still issues the tax stamp as proof, you just don’t pay anything for it.
Individual or Trust
Registering as an individual is the simplest option. One person is on the paperwork, one person clears the background check, and only that person can possess the suppressor when other authorized people aren’t involved.
A gun trust lets you name multiple trustees who can each possess and use the suppressor independently. The catch is that every “responsible person” on the trust has to submit their own photograph, fingerprints, and background check.5Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Background Checks for Responsible Persons (Final Rule 41F) A trust also makes inheritance much cleaner, which matters more later than most buyers expect.
How Long the Wait Is
ATF processing has sped up enormously from the months-long waits earlier owners remember. As of February 2026, electronic Form 4 applications from individuals average about 10 days, and trust applications average around 26 days. Paper applications run roughly 21 to 24 days.6Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Current Processing Times File electronically. There is almost no reason to send paper anymore.
Making It Fit Your Rifle
The mechanical side is simple if your rifle was built for it. Most modern rifles ship with threaded barrels. The two common thread pitches are 1/2×28 for smaller calibers like 5.56 NATO and .223, and 5/8×24 for larger ones like .308 and .300 Blackout. Your suppressor’s mount has to match the pitch on your barrel.
There are two main attachment methods. Direct-thread suppressors screw straight onto the barrel. They’re light, simple, and offer the least chance of misalignment. Quick-detach systems use a muzzle device (usually a brake or flash hider) that stays permanently on the barrel, and the suppressor locks onto that device. Quick-detach is faster to swap and shines when you’re moving one suppressor between rifles.
Alignment between the suppressor bore and the rifle bore has to be true. If the two aren’t concentric, a bullet can clip an internal baffle on its way out. That’s called a baffle strike, and it damages the suppressor and can be dangerous. Factory-threaded barrels from reputable manufacturers are almost always aligned properly. If a gunsmith threaded your barrel, or you’re running a less common setup, check with an alignment rod before the first shot. Cheap to verify, expensive to skip.
Using One Suppressor on Multiple Rifles
A registered suppressor is not tied to a single rifle. You can move it between your own firearms as long as the caliber and mount are compatible. Many suppressors are built as multi-caliber units. A .30-caliber can (which is a common one) will typically handle anything from 5.56 NATO up through .300 Winchester Magnum. The suppressor is what’s registered, not the host rifle, so switching it between your own guns takes no paperwork.
If you want easy swapping, a quick-detach system with matching muzzle devices on each rifle makes it painless. Direct-thread still works. It just gets tedious, and repeated threading wears the interface.
Whether Someone Else Can Shoot It
If the suppressor is registered to you as an individual, other people can shoot with it, but only while you’re physically present and keeping direct control of it. You can’t loan it out for a weekend hunt or leave it in a safe another person can open. Possession by someone other than the registered owner, unsupervised, can be treated as an illegal NFA transfer.
A trust changes that. Anyone named as a trustee can independently possess and use the suppressor without the other trustees around. That’s one of the main practical reasons households with several shooters go the trust route.
Crossing State Lines
Suppressors, unlike short-barreled rifles, machineguns, and destructive devices, do not require ATF Form 5320.20 to travel interstate.7Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Application to Transport Interstate or to Temporarily Export Certain National Firearms Act (NFA) Firearms You can travel with yours freely as long as the destination state allows civilian ownership. If your route passes through a state that bans them, the federal Firearms Owners’ Protection Act generally protects you during transit provided the suppressor is unloaded, inaccessible, and both your origin and destination states allow ownership.
The trap is bringing a suppressor into one of the eight banned states or D.C. Federal registration does not shield you from a state ban. Know your route and your destination before you pack.
Repairs and Cleaning
Federal law draws a sharp line on who may repair what. As the registered owner, you can repair a damaged outer tube yourself, so long as you don’t remove or alter the serial number. Everything else, including baffles, end caps, and internal components, can only be replaced by a manufacturer holding both an FFL and SOT. If the outer tube is beyond repair, replacing it counts as making a new suppressor, which requires filing ATF Form 1 and getting approval before the work happens.8Regulations.gov. ATF Correspondence – Suppressor Repair and Replacement Rules
Practically, that means you should not order replacement baffles online and drop them in yourself, even the same part from the same maker. Send the suppressor back to a licensed manufacturer for anything internal. Rimfire and pistol-caliber cans are often designed with user-serviceable baffles you can pull for cleaning; most centerfire rifle suppressors are sealed welded units and are largely self-cleaning under the higher gas pressures.
What Happens When the Owner Dies
A suppressor doesn’t drop off the NFA registry when the owner dies. It has to be transferred to an heir. If it was registered to an individual, the heir files ATF Form 5 for a tax-free transfer to a lawful beneficiary. The heir still clears a background check, and the estate’s executor holds the suppressor until approval comes through.
If it was in a trust, ownership passes to the successor trustee under the trust’s terms, and no additional ATF transfer paperwork is needed because the trust itself remains the registered owner. This is the strongest argument for a trust if you want to make things simpler for your family later.
Penalties for Skipping Registration
Possessing an unregistered suppressor, or transferring one outside the ATF process, is a federal felony. The maximum penalty is 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 US Code 5871 – Penalties A conviction also makes you a prohibited person, so you lose the right to own any firearms going forward. Federal prosecutors take NFA cases seriously, and “I didn’t know I had to register it” has never worked as a defense. If you find an unpapered suppressor in a deceased relative’s belongings, talk to a firearms attorney before you touch it.
How Quiet a Suppressed Rifle Really Is
Movies got this wrong for a generation. A suppressor is not silent. A good one knocks roughly 20 to 35 decibels off the report. On a .22 LR, that lands somewhere around 108 to 120 decibels, about the level of a jackhammer. On a larger centerfire rifle, you’re still in the 130 to 150 decibel range, which remains loud enough to damage hearing. The benefit is real but modest: the sound goes from immediately harmful to something more manageable, especially paired with ear protection. The CDC and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health have both recommended suppressor use as one strategy for reducing noise-induced hearing loss from firearms.