Roger Marshall on Guns: His Letter Urging No Appeal, the Silencer Tax Repeal, the SHUSH Act, and Confirming Todd Blanche and the ATF Director

On August 11, 2026, Kansas Senator Roger Marshall cosigned a letter urging Attorney General Todd Blanche's Justice Department to decline any appeal of a court ruling that struck down federal registration of silencers and short-barreled rifles and shotguns, and to apply it nationwide. The department did both, and in October 2026 the ATF stopped registering those weapons in most states. The ruling followed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which Marshall cast one of the 50 votes to pass and which cut the $200 federal tax on those weapons to zero.

In February 2025 Marshall introduced the SHUSH Act, which would remove existing taxes, fees, and registration requirements associated with suppressors and override state laws, and cosponsored the Hearing Protection Act. He cast the deciding vote to confirm Blanche as attorney general and voted to confirm the ATF director who carried out the change, as well as Pam Bondi and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose agencies eased rules for gun dealers who break the law and cut violence-prevention work. As a House member in 2019 he voted against universal background checks, which most Americans support. Kansas recorded 446 firearm deaths in 2024.

Roger Marshall's Letter, Bills, Votes and Confirmations on Silencers, Gun Registration and the ATF

• Marshall Asked the Justice Department Not to Appeal the Ruling That Ended Federal Silencer Registration. On August 11, 2026, Roger Marshall was one of the senators, listed as "Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), and Roger Marshall (R-KS)," who cosigned Representative Andrew Clyde's letter to Attorney General Todd Blanche urging the Department of Justice (DOJ) to decline any appeal of a federal judge's August 5 ruling and to apply it nationwide. The judge had held that zeroing the tax eliminated the constitutional basis for the NFA's regulation of those firearms. The Justice Department opted not to appeal the judge's decision, and on October 9, 2026 the ATF said it will also no longer require such items to be registered in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer record. The registry helps federal ATF agents trace the chain of firearm ownership, CBS News reported.
• Marshall Cast One of the 50 Votes for the Law That Ended Federal Registration of Silencers and Short-Barreled Guns. On July 1, 2025, Roger Marshall voted yes on H.R. 1, which passed 50 to 50 with the Vice President's vote. Section 70436 replaced the $200 federal tax on silencers, short-barreled rifles and short-barreled shotguns with "$0 for any firearm transferred which is not described in paragraph (1)," starting January 1, 2026. The tax cut became the basis for the August 5, 2026 ruling that ended registration of those weapons. Everytown says silencers make it difficult for bystanders to recognize that a gun has been fired.
• Marshall Introduced a Bill to End Federal Silencer Registration and Override State Silencer Laws in February 2025. On February 5, 2025, Marshall and Senator Mike Lee introduced the SHUSH Act, which would eliminate federal regulation of suppressors as firearms under the National Firearms Act and the Gun Control Act, remove existing taxes, fees, and registration requirements associated with suppressors, and preempt state regulations on the manufacture, transfer, transport, or possession of silencers. Two days earlier he was listed first among the original cosponsors of S. 364, the Hearing Protection Act, a bill to remove silencers from the definition of firearms (cosponsor list). Under the SHUSH Act, the states that still require registration after the ATF's October 2026 change, about 15 states, would no longer be able to regulate silencer sales or possession.
• Marshall Cast the Deciding Vote to Confirm Todd Blanche, Whose Justice Department Let the Registration Ruling Stand. Marshall voted to confirm Todd Blanche as deputy attorney general on March 5, 2025 and as attorney general on August 8, 2026. The second vote was 50 to 49, so Blanche would not have been confirmed without Marshall's vote. Under Blanche, the Justice Department opted not to appeal the judge's August 2026 ruling and applied it nationwide. Registration now applies only in one of about 15 states that have state laws requiring it.
• Marshall Voted to Confirm the ATF Director Who Stopped Registering Silencers and Short-Barreled Guns. On April 29, 2026, Marshall voted to confirm Robert Cekada as director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; he was confirmed 59 to 39. Before his confirmation, Cekada wrote that budget cuts were "eroding core enforcement operations and markedly constraining ATF's ability to support state and local law-enforcement partners." In October 2026 his agency announced that it would stop registering silencers and short-barreled guns, going beyond the court's order, the ATF statement shows.
• Marshall Voted to Confirm Pam Bondi, Whose Justice Department Eased Rules for Gun Dealers Who Break the Law. On February 4, 2025, Marshall voted to confirm Pam Bondi as attorney general; she was confirmed 54 to 46. In April 2025 Bondi's department ended the policy of revoking the licenses of dealers who willfully break the law, including selling a gun without a background check or falsifying business records, The Trace reported; an estimate The Trace cites says 5 percent of federally licensed gun sellers are responsible for 90 percent of recovered crime guns. In May 2025 the department settled a case to allow forced reset triggers, which enables semiautomatic rifles to fire faster than M16 machine guns. Under a rights-restoration rule, people who have served time for misdemeanor domestic violence offenses could apply 10 years after their sentence is up to regain gun rights, and by September 2025 80 percent of the ATF's roughly 2,500 agents had been pulled into immigration task force work.
• Marshall Voted to Confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Whose CDC Lost Most of Its Violence Prevention Staff. On February 13, 2025, Marshall voted to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as secretary of health and human services; he was confirmed 52 to 48. In April 2025 the CDC's Division of Violence Prevention was cut, and its former director estimated that the unit lost about three-quarters of its staff. The CDC and NIH canceled $20 million in gun violence research grants, The Trace reported.
• Marshall Voted Against Universal Background Checks as a House Member in 2019. On February 27, 2019, as a House member from Kansas, Marshall voted no on H.R. 8, the background checks bill, which would have required a background check for nearly all gun sales, including private sales. It passed the House 240 to 190 and did not become law, so private sales still require no federal check. Americans' support for background checks generally ranges from 79% to 92% across surveys, according to Stanford's Public Pulse review of polling.
• Marshall Said the Tax-and-Spending Bill Would Let Americans Buy Short-Barreled Rifles Again. On June 24, 2025, a week before the Senate vote, Marshall said on Newsmax that the bill is "going to allow us to purchase short-barreled rifles again," his office's transcript shows. He was describing section 70436, which set the federal tax on short-barreled rifles and shotguns and silencers at "$0 for any firearm transferred which is not described in paragraph (1)."

What Gun Deregulation and a Weakened ATF Mean in Kansas Under Roger Marshall's Record

• Firearm deaths. Kansas recorded 446 firearm deaths in 2024, a rate of 15.2 per 100,000 people, above the national rate of 12.8, according to KFF's analysis of CDC data.
• Veteran suicides. The VA counted 66 veteran suicides in Kansas in 2024, and nationally firearms were involved in 74.3% of Veteran suicide deaths, according to the VA's 2026 suicide prevention report.
• Registration. Kansans who buy a silencer or a short-barreled rifle or shotgun no longer pay the federal tax, and outside the states with their own registration laws they no longer register the weapon with the ATF, after the court ruling the Justice Department opted not to appeal at Marshall's urging.

Frequently Asked Questions About Roger Marshall on Guns

Last updated: 2026-10-25

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