What is a firearm suppressor under Texas law?
A firearm suppressor — "silencer" and "suppressor" mean the same thing in Texas law — is a prohibited weapon under Penal Code § 46.05. The definition in § 46.01(4) is broad: any device designed, made, or adapted to muffle the report of a firearm.
The companion definition in § 46.01(4) is deliberately broad — a firearm silencer is "any device designed, made, or adapted to muffle the report of a firearm." A Texas appellate court applied that exact language in Krausz v. State, confirming that the statute reaches homemade and improvised devices, not just factory cans threaded onto a barrel.1
Here is the part that surprises most people we talk to: the suppressor itself is not what the statute outlaws. Section 46.05 makes possession an offense only if the item is not registered in the federal National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record (the NFRTR), maintained by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and is not otherwise exempt or classified as a curio or relic. A suppressor on an approved ATF Form 4 is perfectly lawful to own in Frisco. The same suppressor with no paperwork is a third-degree felony. The crime is the missing registration, and that distinction drives every serious defense on these cases.
Because the Texas statute pins legality to federal registration, a Texas suppressor case is really two cases stacked on top of each other: the state prohibited-weapon charge under § 46.05 and a potential federal charge under the National Firearms Act. Understanding how those two layers fit together is the difference between a workable plan and a guess.
Elements the State must prove
To convict under § 46.05, the State must establish four things beyond a reasonable doubt: possession (or manufacture, transport, repair, or sale); a culpable mental state; that the device qualifies as a firearm silencer under § 46.01(4); and that the device was not registered in the NFRTR. Each is a place the case can break down.
- Possession (or manufacture, transport, repair, or sale)
- The accused exercised actual care, custody, control, or management over the device. Section 46.05 reaches not just possession but manufacturing, transporting, repairing, or selling a suppressor — which is why a person building one in a garage is exposed even before it is finished.
- A culpable mental state
- The conduct was intentional or knowing. As the court put it in Krausz, that mental-state element "is almost always inferred from acts and words," so the State usually builds it from circumstances rather than a confession.1
- The device qualifies as a firearm silencer — § 46.01(4)
- The item was designed, made, or adapted to muffle the report of a firearm. A tube, a baffle stack, an oil filter, or a modified bottle only counts if its purpose or adaptation is to quiet a gun.
- The device was not registered in the NFRTR
- Since a 2015 amendment, the absence of federal registration is an element of the offense — the State has to prove it, the accused does not have to disprove it. A Texas court reversed a § 46.05 conviction on exactly this point in Neal v. State when the prosecution put on no evidence of non-registration.2
What are the penalties for an unregistered suppressor?
Possession of an unregistered suppressor is a third-degree felony — two to ten years in TDCJ and a fine up to $10,000 under § 12.34 — with parallel federal exposure under the National Firearms Act that frequently rides alongside it.
Two consequences are worth stressing. First, a third-degree felony is probation-eligible in Texas, and a clean-record client who genuinely did not know an item required registration is often a strong candidate for a non-prison resolution. Second, federal authorities can prosecute the same suppressor even when the local district attorney declines, because the conduct violates the NFA independently. We evaluate the federal exposure from day one rather than waiting to be surprised by it. The punishment table near the top of this page sets out the Texas range and the parallel federal exposure side by side.
How the federal NFA and Texas § 46.05 overlap
The National Firearms Act has regulated suppressors since 1934. Texas does not run its own suppressor registry — § 46.05 borrows the federal answer: if the item is in the NFRTR it is legal in Texas, and if it is not, it is a prohibited weapon here. That borrowing produces a double set of forums for the same device.
A civilian who wants to lawfully acquire a suppressor ordinarily files an ATF Form 4, pays a $200 transfer tax, submits fingerprints and photographs, clears an FBI background check, and waits for approval before taking possession. To make a suppressor, the path is a Form 1 application and approval before any machining begins. The Fifth Circuit, describing the federal scheme, summarized it plainly: an individual who wants to make a silencer for personal use "must pay a $200 excise tax" and "file a written application for permission to make a silencer."3
Texas does not run its own suppressor registry. Section 46.05 simply borrows the federal answer: if the item is in the NFRTR, it is legal in Texas; if it is not, it is a prohibited weapon here. That borrowing is what produces the double set of forums — not double jeopardy in the constitutional sense, but the practical reality that the same untaxed tube can be charged in a Collin County district court and in the Eastern District of Texas at the same time. The "dual sovereignty" doctrine permits both prosecutions, which is why coordination between your state and federal defense strategy is not optional.
Does the Texas Suppressor Freedom Act make a homemade suppressor legal?
No. The Texas Suppressor Freedom Act (House Bill 957, 2021) declares a Texas-made, Texas-kept suppressor exempt from federal regulation, but courts have never held it to override the federal NFA. Federal registration is still required, and an unregistered Texas-made suppressor remains a felony under both federal law and § 46.05.
This is the question that gets people into trouble, so it deserves a careful, accurate answer. The Texas Suppressor Freedom Act — passed as House Bill 957 in 2021 and codified in the Government Code — declares that a firearm suppressor manufactured in Texas and remaining within Texas "is not subject to federal law or federal regulation." On its face that sounds like a green light to build your own. It is not.
The federal government promptly disagreed, and the dispute reached the Fifth Circuit in Paxton v. Dettelbach. Texas and several residents sued to stop the ATF from enforcing the NFA against Texas-made suppressors. The court did not bless the state exemption. It dismissed the case for lack of standing, holding that a state "has standing based on a conflict between federal and state law if the state statute at issue regulates behavior or provides for the administration of a state program, but not if it simply purports to immunize state citizens from federal law" — and the Suppressor Freedom Act "falls squarely into the latter category."4 The individual plaintiffs lost too, because none had shown a concrete plan to build a suppressor without seeking federal approval.
The takeaway for anyone in Texas is blunt: the federal NFA still applies, and an unregistered Texas-made suppressor remains a felony under both federal law and Penal Code § 46.05. The Suppressor Freedom Act has never been held to immunize anyone from federal prosecution, and a Texas court has confirmed that non-registration is an element of the state offense regardless of where the device was made. We have seen people rely on internet summaries of HB 957 and machine a "Texas-legal" suppressor; the statute did not protect them. If you acted on that belief, that good-faith reliance can still matter to mental state and to sentencing — but it is a defense theory to develop, not a reason to assume the charge disappears on its own.
How do prosecutors prove a device is a suppressor?
When the item is a commercial can with a serial number, the "is it a suppressor" question is easy and the fight is about registration. When the item is homemade — a solvent trap, a fuel filter, a drilled tube, a taped bottle — the State has to prove the thing actually qualifies, and that is contested ground.
Krausz v. State is the Texas roadmap. There, officers found a modified water bottle wrapped in electrical tape in a car alongside a firearm. Two officers with firearms training testified, without objection, that the device was a homemade silencer "designed to muffle the sound of a gun." The trial judge noted that "the fact that it was found in a car with a gun that actually fits the silencer is even more circumstantial evidence that it is actually a silencer," and the appellate court held that this testimony plus the surrounding circumstances was legally sufficient to support the conviction.1 The court also reminded everyone that "circumstantial evidence is as probative as direct evidence" and can establish guilt on its own.
Two practical lessons fall out of Krausz. First, the State does not necessarily need a laboratory function test or a decibel reading — trained-officer opinion and context can carry the day. Second, and conversely, that proof is only as strong as the witness and the context. When the device is genuinely a cleaning tool, a model-rocket component, or an automotive part, attacking the qualifications of the State's witness, demanding actual function testing, and isolating the item from any nearby firearm can leave the prosecution unable to prove the device was "designed, made, or adapted" to silence a gun.
Can a suppressor charge be dismissed or expunged?
Yes, in the right circumstances. A charge that is dismissed, no-billed by the grand jury, or that ends in an acquittal can usually be cleared through an expunction under Chapter 55 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. A conviction or deferred adjudication, however, generally cannot — which shapes every negotiation decision.
A charge that is dismissed, no-billed by the grand jury, or that ends in an acquittal can usually be cleared from your record through an expunction under Chapter 55 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. That is one reason fighting for a dismissal — rather than accepting a quick plea — matters so much on a felony weapons allegation: a dismissal can be erased, while a conviction generally cannot.
A conviction or deferred adjudication for a § 46.05 felony is not expunction-eligible, and an order of non-disclosure (sealing) is unavailable for the deferred outcome on most felonies of this type. That asymmetry shapes negotiation: a reduction to a non-prohibited-weapon offense, a pretrial diversion, or an outright dismissal preserves the path to a clean record, whereas a felony plea closes it. We weigh those record consequences before any plea decision, not after.
County-by-county practice notes
Suppressor cases are felonies, so they are heard in the district courts of the county where the device was found and are filed by indictment unless the accused waives that right. The mechanics differ by courthouse across Collin, Dallas, Denton, and Tarrant Counties.
- Collin County. Felony cases are filed and heard at the Collin County Courthouse (Russell A. Steindam Courts Building) in McKinney, with the District Attorney's Office screening weapons allegations. Frisco arrests on the Collin County side route here.
- Dallas County. Felonies are handled at the Frank Crowley Courts Building in Dallas. The volume is high, and grand-jury timing can stretch the pretrial window, which affects bond and investigation planning.
- Denton County. Cases are heard at the Denton County Courts Building in Denton. Portions of Frisco fall within Denton County, so where you were stopped can decide which courthouse you answer in.
- Tarrant County. Felony matters proceed at the Tim Curry Criminal Justice Center in Fort Worth.
Across all four counties, suppressor cases also draw federal interest more often than ordinary weapons charges, because the conduct violates the NFA. We watch for early signs of ATF involvement so a client is not blindsided by a federal indictment after the state case seems to be resolving.
Collateral consequences
A § 46.05 conviction is a felony, and the fallout reaches well past the courtroom — the loss of firearm rights under state and federal law, professional-license exposure, License to Carry disqualification, and immigration consequences for non-citizens.
A felony conviction strips the right to possess any firearm under Texas Penal Code § 46.04 and under federal law at 18 U.S.C. § 922(g) — a hard irony for many suppressor clients, who are firearms enthusiasts to begin with. A felony record can end or suspend professional and occupational licenses, disqualify a person from a Texas License to Carry, and surface on every background check for employment and housing. For a non-citizen, a firearms-offense conviction can carry serious immigration consequences, including removability. These downstream effects are exactly why the difference between a dismissal and a plea is not academic.
