If you’re in the gun space, you’ve probably noticed that NFA items have become increasingly popular in recent years. I couldn’t possibly list the number of suppressor makers currently in the market. More and more companies are producing factory SBR’s and SBS’s and aren’t restricting them to the law enforcement market (except for Smith & Wesson for some reason).
When I was a kid, I was into guns and would often ask to stop in at gun stores in town, out of town, and everywhere in between. I remember perusing the aisles and the counters, likely amusing the clerks that a 13-year-old had such an interest in firearms. That was the early 2000s, and back then, there were absolutely zero suppressors, SBRs, or short-barreled shotguns on display.
The first NFA item I ever saw was when a local police officer brought in his duty MP5 to mount a suppressor the shop had ordered for him. (That officer was cool and let 14-year-old me shoulder his MP5 and fiddle with it, a dream come true for me back then.)
Contrast that to today. Even my local pawn shop now sells suppressors. Guns are a secondary business for them, but they sell suppressors and had a pair of SIG 556 SBRs someone had pawned for sale. Everywhere I go has a SOT and sells the fun stuff. All around social media, I see SBRs and cans with a hint of AOWs and SBS’s on the side.
So what happened? What made NFA items so popular?
Inflation
When the NFA was passed, a Thomspon submachine gun cost approximately $250. The stamp to own one cost $200 dollars. According to the inflation calculator, $200 dollars then was worth $4,700 today, so you could see the disincentive posed by the tax stamp. As inflation rose, however, the tax stamp price didn’t change and $200 became a lot less of a hurdle. That’s one easy reason to understanding the rise of the NFA.

Technology
One of the big reasons I took my time getting NFA items was the hassle. I hate paperwork and wait times. I’d drive myself crazy waiting for approval, which used to take months, or up to a year. However, the eForms system has become incredibly efficient—shockingly so. Technology as a whole has made the NFA much easier to deal with.
Fingerprints are as easy as a trip to the UPS store and photos can be taken on the phone in your pocket. I completed Form 1 the day before Thanksgiving and it improved in a week. Silencer Shop kiosks have also changed the game. They make it super simple to get everything done at the gun store. They’re an all-in-one NFA form machine.
Cultural Shift
The sunset of the AWB in 2004 marked a cultural shift in the gun world. ARs and AKs were back on the shelves and they never left. They’ve only became much cheaper and more widely available. The wood-stocked and blued steel rifles of the past have largely been replaced by anodized aluminum and plastic furniture.
There was a general cultural shift of accepting firearms that weren’t designed for hunting or breaking clay pigeons. With that shift came more desire for NFA items. If you have the AR or an MP5, why not suppress it? That shift has became a wave in recent years and it has erased a lot of old attitudes regarding NFA items and the people who wanted them.
Large Format Pistols
Whoever discovered that the definition of a pistol could include any rifled firearm without a stock was a genius. Large format pistols aren’t NFA items…but they could quickly become one.
Large-format pistols, i.e. AR and AK pistols, have became very popular. These firearms were unwieldy, but they acted as excellent proto-SBRs. If you bought an SBR from a shop, it would be locked away until your paperwork was cleared like a suppressor.
If you purchased a (non-NFA) large-format pistol, you could later file the Form 1 and enjoy your pistol until you got the approval to slap a stock on it. The wait’s a lot easier when you can take your gun home and enjoy it. I’ve been seeing the same done for Mossberg Shockwaves.
There was a time when a 14-inch barrel for a 590 cost twice the price of the shotgun. These days, a Shockwave can be had for less than $400 and makes for an easy SBS candidate.
The Internet
The internet has influenced the state of the NFA quite a bit. First, social media has made it easy to show off your guns and gear. Say you want about “influencers,” but they can influence. Also, dead tree gun magazines are no longer the gatekeepers of information. Websites like Shooting News Weekly and others can (and do) write about anything we want at a moment’s notice.
Additionally, the internet has cleared up a lot of Fudd lore, like the ATF can inspect your home anytime they want! Sites like SNW and others have helped spread the truth and broaden the appeal of NFA Items.
The GWOT
The Global War On Terror also exposed a lot of people to suppressors, short-barreled rifles, and machine guns for the first time. While machine guns are still difficult and expensive to acquire, someone who served with a suppressed rifle can essentially recreate that service rifle minus the giggle switch.

My first suppressor use came courtesy of the military in the form of the Mk 12 SPR. We had one per squad, and it ran suppressed. That exposed me to suppressors and made me want one. I can’t be the only guy who came home feeling that way. Overall, the GWOT exposed a lot of people to firearms who would have likely gone their whole lives without the training and exposure.
NFA Items Today
Let me offer a word of caution from my own experience. Obtaining NFA items becomes addictive. Filing forms will become second nature and you can embrace some truly weird ideas. I’m looking to Form 1 a Rossi Brawler into an SBR, which I expect will make it quite a bit of fun.
It’s true the NFA, tax stamps and the stupid forms are egregious insults to our rights as American citizens. However, the old common-use argument isn’t going away. If enough people buy SBRs, SBSs, and suppressors, they will eventually be considered in common use. Maybe we can ditch the NFA altogether. Could we beat it in the courts? I’m no lawyer, but I’m a little bit of an optimist.
I recently purchased NFA items (two suppressors this last summer) for two reasons:
1) ATF processing time on Form 4s was down to about three weeks.
2) I was concerned that Democrats would sweep federal elections and enable widespread chaos–at which point I would want them for home defense.
Fortunately, Republicans swept federal elections, I do NOT anticipate widespread chaos, and thus I do NOT anticipate having to use them for home defense.
“Guns are a secondary business for them, but they sell suppressors and had a pair of SIG 556 SBRs someone had pawned for sale.”
Does that mean you have to pay an additional $200 tax stamp to pick them back up, if you were the ones pawning them?