1 

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS

FORT WORTH DIVISION

KEN PAXTON, in his official capacity as ) 

Attorney General of Texas, )

DAVID SCHNITZ, )

TRACY MARTIN, and )

FLOICE ALLEN, )

Plaintiffs, ) Civil Action No. 4:22-cv-00143-P

 ) 

vs. )

 ) 

STEVEN M. DETTELBACH, in his )

official Capacity as Director, Bureau of ) 

Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, )

and )

MERRICK B. GARLAND, in his official )

Capacity as Attorney General of the )

United States, )

Defendants. ) 

APPENDIX TO DEFENDANTS’ MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT 

Contents 

Declaration of Amy L. Stely............................................................App. 001 

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DATED: March 13, 2023 Respectfully submitted,

 BRIAN M. BOYNTON

 Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General 

 Civil Division

 

 LESLEY FARBY 

 Assistant Branch Director 

 

 /s/ Emily B. Nestler 

EMILY B. NESTLER (D.C. Bar # 973886) 

Trial Attorney 

United States Department of Justice

Civil Division, Federal Programs Branch 

1100 L Street, NW 

Washington, D.C. 20005 

Tel: (202) 305-0167 

Email: emily.b.nestler@usdoj.gov 

Counsel for Defendants 

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

On March 13, 2023, I electronically submitted the foregoing with the clerk of 

court for the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas, using the electronic case 

filing system of the court. I hereby certify that I have served all parties electronically or 

by another manner authorized by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 5(b)(2). 

/s/ Emily B. Nestler 

EMILY B. NESTLER

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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS

FORT WORTH DIVISION

KEN PAXTON, in his official capacity as ) 

Attorney General of Texas, et al. )

Plaintiffs, ) Civil Action No. 4:22-cv-00143-P

 ) 

vs. )

 ) 

STEVEN M. DETTELBACH, in his official )

Capacity as Acting Director, Bureau of ) 

Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and ) 

Explosives, et al. )

Defendants. ) 

DECLARATION OF AMY L. STELY

I, Amy L. Stely, of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (“ATF”), 

declare that the following statements are true and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief, 

and that they are based on my personal knowledge as well as information provided to me in the 

ordinary course of my official duties. 

1. I am employed by ATF in the National Firearms Act (“NFA”) Division. I am the 

Chief of the Division. In this capacity, I am responsible for overseeing ATF’s administration of 

the NFA and the regulations issued thereunder, including maintaining and amending the National 

Firearms Registration and Transfer Record (“NFRTR”), processing notices of NFA firearms 

manufactured or imported, and acting on all applications to make, export, transfer and register 

NFA firearms. In addition, I am responsible for planning and managing the full range of NFA 

Division operations and programs, which includes workload and resource projections, staffing 

levels, budget allocations, and monitoring compliance with Division policies, procedures and

guidelines in order to most effectively and efficiently achieve Division goals. 

App.001

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2. I have been employed by ATF since September 1998 and have worked within the 

NFA Division for 17 years. In addition to being the Division Chief, I was the Deputy Chief of the 

Division and for a number of years prior to that I was a Firearms and Explosives Services 

Specialist, where my primary job duties included the planning, direction, coordination, evaluation 

and monitoring of the Bureau’s Special Occupational Tax Program. 

3. As Chief of the NFA Division, I am knowledgeable about the requirements of the 

NFA, including 26 U.S.C. § 5822. And, based on my role at ATF, I am familiar with ATF’s

protocols and processes for implementing the NFA, including consideration of NFA applications 

for firearms silencers. 

I. IMPLEMENTATION OF NFA REQUIREMENTS FOR MAKING SILENCERS

4. The NFA imposes a $200 tax on any person who makes a “firearm,” as that term is 

defined by the NFA. The NFA defines the term “firearm” to include “any silencer.” 26 U.S.C. § 

5845(a)(7). Accordingly, the tax, transfer, and registration requirements of the NFA apply to 

silencers. 

5. ATF implements this tax in accordance with the NFA’s requirements, including 

that: “[n]o person shall make a firearm unless he has (a) filed with the [Attorney General] a written 

application, in duplicate, to make and register the firearm on the form prescribed . . .; (b) paid any tax payable 

on the making and such payment is evidenced by the proper stamp affixed to the original application form; 

(c) identified the firearm to be made . . .; (d) identified himself in the application . . . if such person is an 

individual, the identification must include his fingerprints and his photograph; and (e) obtained the approval 

of the [Attorney General] to make and register the firearm and the application for shows such approval.” 26

U.S.C. § 5822. 

App.002

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6. Individuals who are not qualified manufacturers1 and who are not prohibited from 

possessing firearms may submit an application to ATF to make an NFA firearm. The application 

process requires the submission of an ATF Form 1, Application to Make and Register a Firearm. 

The Form 1 is available on ATF’s website and may be submitted by mail to the address on the 

form or through ATF’s eForms. See www.atf.gov/firearms/applications-eforms. 

7. The Form 1 must be submitted in duplicate and be accompanied by FBI FD-258, 

Fingerprint Card, also in duplicate, a 2-inch by 2-inch photograph, and payment of the $200 tax.

26 U.S.C. § 5822; 27 C.F.R. § 479.62-63. The form requires the applicant’s name and address, 

country of citizenship, date and place of birth, social security number, and other identifying 

information, a description of the firearm to be made, including a unique serial number created by 

the applicant, a list of questions to be answered and notification to the chief law enforcement 

officer of the applicant’s city or county. The form must be signed and dated by the applicant. 

8. The NFA Division’s Industry Processing Branch receives by mail or via eForms all 

Form 1 Applications. Once an application is received, it is assigned to an Examiner. The Examiner 

then reviews the form for completeness, identifies the supporting documentation, compares the 

form to the supporting documents to ensure the information matches, confirms payment, ensures 

the serial number is not duplicative of one already listed in the NFRTR, and verifies the chief law 

enforcement officer listed on the form is within the same city or county as the applicant. In 

addition, to conduct the background check, ATF is required by regulation to contact the National 

Instant Criminal Background Check System (“NICS”), 27 C.F.R. § 479.86, which is the FBI’s 

1 A qualified manufacturer is a person who is licensed under the GCA as a manufacturer 

and also pays the special (occupational) tax (SOT) under the NFA, which authorizes the person to 

engage in the business of manufacturing NFA firearms. However, certain categories of persons 

are prohibited from possessing firearms pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 922(g) and (n). 

App.003

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system that checks records on persons who may be disqualified from receiving firearms. After 

receipt of the response from NICS, ATF will confirm that state law does not otherwise forbid 

possession of the NFA weapon that the applicant seeks to make. 

9. ATF approves applications to make silencers when it determines that the 

application is complete, that the tax is paid, and that the making and possession of the silencer 

would not violate Federal or state law. However, as required by the NFA, ATF must deny an 

application to make a silencer “if the making or possession of the [silencer] would place the person 

making the firearm in violation of the law.” 26 U.S.C. § 5822. 

10. For example, if the NICS check results in a response of “deny” because the 

applicant is within a category of people prohibited from possessing firearms pursuant to 18 U.S.C. 

§ 922(g), the application will be disapproved. 

11. Further, an ATF Form 1 may not lawfully be approved if the applicant will make 

the silencer from a device or parts that already meet the definition of “silencer” under federal law 

and that were possessed or transferred with the intention of being assembled to make a silencer. 

This is because, under the NFA, the term “silencer” encompasses both fully-assembled suppressors 

and combinations of parts that are intended to be used in the assembly or fabrication of a silencer.

Specifically, the statute defines “firearm silencer” and “firearm muffler” as “any device for 

silencing, muffling, or diminishing the report of a portable firearm, including any combination of 

parts, designed or redesigned, and intended for use in assembling or fabricating a firearm silencer 

or firearm muffler, and any part intended only for use in such assembly or fabrication.” 18 U.S.C. 

§ 921(a)(24). 

12. The NFA does not define “silencer” to include each and every part that may be used 

to make a silencer (e.g., screws, bolts, pipes, washers, etc.), nor does ATF interpret it as such. 

App.004

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Rather, the NFA only includes combinations of parts that are designed and/or intended to be used 

together for making silencers, or a part that has the objective design features and characteristics to 

be identified as a part intended only for use in assembling or fabricating a silencer (e.g., a baffle, 

baffle stack, monolithic baffle core, threaded end cap, etc.). By contrast, materials commonly 

found at a hardware store (e.g., screws, bolts, pipes, washers, etc.), are not “intended only for use” 

in assembling or fabricating a silencer and, thus, they are not regulated by ATF as “silencers” 

because they have a legitimate use outside of that purpose. 

13. Under the NFA, “parts” or “parts kits” that are that are already silencers in and of 

themselves (whether assembled yet or not), must be independently registered before being 

manufactured, transferred, or sold. A person who then acquires a properly-registered silencer 

(including parts or parts kits that are themselves silencers) need not also separately apply to “make” 

that same silencer, but instead must apply to have that silencer transferred to him or her. 

Accordingly, Form 1 applications seeking to “make” a silencer using parts or parts kits that are 

already “silencers” must be denied.

14. For example, ATF is aware that certain businesses have manufactured or 

transferred silencers without complying with federal law by marketing and selling unregistered 

silencers as “solvent traps,” “flashlight suppressor kits,” and/or “Form 1 silencer kits.” These 

devices have the objective design features and characteristics of known silencer devices and are 

themselves properly classified as “silencers” under federal law. Further, these devices are often 

incorrectly marketed as items that a person may use to “make” a silencer upon receiving an 

approved ATF Form 1, generally by drilling out the center of an already manufactured baffle stack. 

Because these devices are already silencers in and of themselves, Form 1 applications seeking to 

“make” silencers with them cannot be approved. 

App.005

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15. Sometimes the information set forth in a particular application leaves unclear 

whether the application can be approved and taxed in accordance with the NFA’s requirements, 

resulting in neither a “proceed” or “deny,” but rather an “open” status instead. For example, the 

description of the firearm may be lacking information or sufficient detail, or the NICS results were 

not determinative. Because ATF can only approve applications that meet the NFA’s requirements, 

under those circumstances, ATF may request additional information from the applicant in order to 

complete its decision-making process. The purpose of requesting this clarifying information is to 

give applicants an opportunity to demonstrate compliance so that their application can ultimately 

be approved, when appropriate, based on more complete information. If additional information is 

needed, ATF will send a letter to the applicant requesting such information as applicable. Once 

the necessary information is received, ATF then works expeditiously to resolve the application as 

soon as practicable, and typically within 90 days. 

16. When an application is approved, it will be marked “approved,” and then a tax

stamp will be affixed to the Form 1 and returned to the applicant. Approval by ATF will effect 

registration of the silencer in the NFRTR. Upon receipt of the approved Form 1 the applicant may 

make the firearm described on the form.

17. If an application is ultimately disapproved, the applicant’s original form and $200 

payment are returned to them.

II. ATF RESPONSE TO DISCOVERY OF UNLAWFUL SILENCER PARTS KITS

18. As detailed below, ATF recently concluded an investigation into the largescale, 

unlawful manufacture of silencers that were marketed as “solvent traps” or “solvent trap kits.”

Because ATF cannot approve an application to make silencers when the making or possession 

would place the applicant in violation of law, ATF was statutorily required to deny certain

App.006

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applications involving those devices, because it was evident the applicant was already in 

possession of a silencer that did not comply with the tax, transfer, and registration provisions of 

the NFA. Further, these applicants were certifying on the ATF Form 1 that they were the maker of 

the silencer when in fact the silencer was already manufactured by another entity. When ATF

could not determine whether the applicant sought to “make” a silencer using such “solvent traps” 

or “solvent trap kits”), and thus could not determine whether the application must be denied or

could ultimately be approved based on the Form 1 submitted, ATF sought additional information 

that was necessary in order to make that determination. 

19. In late 2021, ATF’s Seattle, Detroit and Atlanta Field Divisions were made aware

of the websites of a few manufacturers selling “solvent traps” and “solvent trap kits” within their 

Divisions. After purchasing these devices, ATF’s Firearms and Ammunition Technical Division 

(“FATD”) examined and classified them as silencers. The NFA Division, like the rest of the 

Bureau, routinely relies on FATD for technical guidance. FATD provides expert technical support 

on firearms and ammunition to the Bureau, the firearms industry, the general public, and other law 

enforcement agencies, and is the federal technical authority relating to firearms and ammunition 

and their classification under federal laws and regulations. 

20. FATD determined that, although these kits were marketed as “solvent traps” (which

purportedly can be attached to the barrel of a firearm during cleaning in order to catch excess 

cleaning fluid), they were actually devices that functioned as “silencers” as defined by federal law

and had the design characteristics of silencers. For example, these devices contain “spacers” or 

“baffles” which in a silencer diverts, deflects, and slows the propellant gases to muffle the sound 

of the shot. By contrast, such spacers serve no legitimate purpose in a “solvent trap,” as they 

actually prevent the collection of cleaning fluids. Notably, many of these “traps” had holes drilled 

App.007

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or indexed at the end cap, which prevent the cleaning fluid from being trapped, but do allow a 

bullet to pass through. 

21. After these “solvent traps” were properly classified as silencers, their manufacturers 

were told to cease and desist selling both solvent traps and solvent trap kits, unless and until they 

were manufactured and sold in compliance with the NFA. Two such manufacturers had their 

websites seized. See www.atf.gov/detroit-field-division/seized-website-diversified-machine; 

www.atf.gov/atlanta-field-division/seized-website-hawk-innovative-tech. 

22. In early January 2022, ATF began seeing Form 1 Applications submitted by 

persons seeking to “make” silencers using these “solvent traps” and “solvent trap kits,” or 

potentially similar devices. Because these devices fell within the NFA’s definition of “silencer,” 

they could not be retroactively registered as newly-made silencers. In some cases it was clear the 

applicant had purchased the device from one of the manufacturers that ATF had taken enforcement 

action against and/or that the device was unlawful because it was an unregistered silencer. In other 

cases it was unclear from where the device originated or if it was even already a silencer, depending 

on the description of the firearm on the particular Form 1. 

23. As a result, on February 2, 2022, ATF paused action on all applicable Form 1 

applications—meaning, applications that appeared to implicate unlawful “solvent traps,” “solvent 

trap kits,” or potentially similar devices—pending further review and analysis, which consisted of 

approximately 2,958 applications. On February 28, 2022, disapprovals were issued to 

approximately 847 of those applicants. Those applications were denied because the application 

clearly showed the applicant sought to “make” a silencer with an unlawful unregistered device.

24. On March 3, 2022, ATF emailed a letter to the other approximately 2,111 Form 1 

Applicants who utilized eForms, seeking additional information in the form of photos, schematics, 

App.008

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product, model or kit name, if any, and the source from which the parts were obtained, i.e., the 

name of the store or website. On or about April 11, 2022, ATF mailed the same letter to 

approximately 175 paper applicants. Applicants who utilized eForms were given a deadline of 

March 25, 2022 to respond with the requested information, and paper applicants were given a 

deadline of May 3, 2022 to respond. The letters stated that failure to submit the requested 

information by the deadline “will result in your application being disapproved and your $200 

making tax being refunded.” ATF sought this additional information because it was unclear based 

on the applications whether they were invoking “solvent traps,” “solvent trap kits,” or potentially 

similar devices. Ultimately, approximately 1,485 applications were approved after ATF received

the requested additional information and 1,649 were disapproved, either after ATF received the 

requested additional information or the applicant did not to respond. This process took a little over 

three months; the final approval and denial letters were sent out June 22, 2022. 

25. ATF moved as expeditiously as practicable to render decisions on these 

applications. The large number of simultaneous requests for additional information and denials 

resulted from the particular circumstances of the culmination of ATF’s investigation into the largescale manufacture of unlawful silencer parts kits known as “solvent traps.” 

Executed on the 13th day of March, 2023. 

 ____________________________________ 

 Amy L. Stely

Chief

 National Firearms Act Division

 Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and 

 Explosives 

App.009

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