{"id":406291,"date":"2026-08-14T08:22:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T08:22:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/406291\/"},"modified":"2026-08-14T08:22:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T08:22:13","slug":"texas-federal-court-ruling-could-affect-gun-buyers-in-kentucky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/406291\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas federal court ruling could affect gun buyers in Kentucky"},"content":{"rendered":"

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) – A Texas federal court ruling could affect Kentuckians looking to purchase certain regulated weapons, opening the door to blocking portions of the nearly century-old National Firearms Act.<\/p>\n

Last year, Congress passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, eliminating the longstanding $200 tax required to register regulated weapons. The tax is a component of the National Firearms Act. U.S. District Judge James Wesley Hendrix of the Northern District of Texas has since ruled on August 5 that without that tax, the government\u2019s registration system for specialty items such as silencers and short-barreled rifles is unconstitutional.<\/p>\n

Hendrix gave the Justice Department one week to request a stay before his ruling took effect. That deadline passed at midnight Thursday without action from the department.<\/p>\n

Advocate raises community safety concerns<\/p>\n

While the shift could make it easier for law-abiding gun owners to purchase those items, local anti-violence advocates say freer access could threaten community safety.<\/p>\n

Terry Dumphord, founder of The Voyage Movement, said his perspective on community safety comes from personal experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean I come from that. I come from the streets. I was raised in that element. I\u2019ve been to prison and I decided to change my life and wanted to change the trajectory of their life,\u201d Dumphord said.<\/p>\n

Dumphord said the ruling\u2019s impact will extend beyond Lexington, warning that easier access to these weapons could fuel the illegal street gun trade.<\/p>\n

\u201cLexington sits on two major highways, so it\u2019s flooded with a lot of different things \u2014 drugs, guns \u2014 so it\u2019s easily accessible. The youth can get a gun easier than they can get a job,\u201d Dumphord said.<\/p>\n

Local gun stores await federal guidance<\/p>\n

WKYT reached out to several local gun stores. None were available for an on-camera interview, but some addressed the ruling on social media.<\/p>\n

Center Target Firearms and Indoor Range in London posted that it is continuing to process all suppressor purchases through the ATF Form 4 as normal, stating it cannot bypass standard regulations until the ATF officially updates its processing guidelines to reflect the injunction.<\/p>\n

Appalachian Guns LLC in Johnson County echoed that position, saying it is waiting on guidance and noting there are strong penalties if the process is handled incorrectly.<\/p>\n

Justice Department reviewing ruling<\/p>\n

In a statement to CBS News, the Justice Department said it is reviewing the ruling. It is unclear whether the department will appeal.<\/p>\n

Dumphord said his mission on the streets remains unchanged, continuing to push for funding for education and community programs he believes will save lives.<\/p>\n

\"WKYT<\/a><\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 WKYT. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) – A Texas federal court ruling could affect Kentuckians looking to purchase certain regulated weapons,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":406292,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[142277,142274,142276,142275,27,142273,29,28],"class_list":["post-406291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-atf-form-4-suppressor","tag-nfa-silencer-registration-unconstitutional","tag-one-big-beautiful-bill-act-guns","tag-short-barreled-rifle-federal-law","tag-texas","tag-texas-gun-ruling-kentucky","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=406291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406291\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/406292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}