An activist and staff member for the National Association for Gun Rights legally registered a potato with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives as a firearm suppressor.
Yes, you read that right. An ordinary spud now sits in a federal registry as an NFA item after a successful approval by ATF with the serial-number TATE001.
At first glance this might make you laugh and you might move on and tell some buddies all about the potato suppressor. Many Americans go about their day never expecting the laws of the land to treat a vegetable like regulated hardware, yet this simple act spotlights a deeper mismatch between decades old federal law and the everyday experience of gun owners and citizens who care about constitutional rights.
"Many Americans go about their day never expecting the laws of the land to treat a vegetable like regulated hardware"
When Bureaucracy Meets Absurdity
Here is the setup. Suppressors, also called silencers, have long been regulated under the National Firearms Act of 1934. That law demands owners register them with the ATF and, until recently, pay a tax stamp to do so. That tax has now been set to $0, effectively removing the tax and making it where it costs nothing to submit paperwork and obtain approval.
Under those new conditions, Zachary Clark of the National Association for Gun Rights completed the process for a potato. The ATF accepted it and now the 2A-supporting starch bears a serial number as if it were a manufactured firearm accessory.
We’ve all seen some interesting ideas for suppressors used in fiction or in the wildest dreams of 2A experimentalists, from Liam Neeson using bread as a suppressor in Taken to wink-wink conversations about screwing oil cans to threaded barrels. One example a bit closer to the garden bed was a character in HBO’s The Wire actually using a potato as a suppressor.
The government’s own definitions treat “anything that reduces the sound of a shot” as a suppressor. Clark took that at face value and then used the system itself to make a point about the law’s reach.
Potatoes and Protest
Clark did not undertake this stunt simply to get laughs. In an interview, he explained that the purpose was to protest and to expose what he and many Second Amendment advocates see as an outdated and overly broad federal regime.
The fact that a tuber could be listed in the same government database as a commercial silencer, complete with paperwork and approval, raises questions about what other unexpected items might be swept up under federal control.
Once you strip away the humor of the scenario you are left with a larger principle. Why should a law crafted in 1934 have such vast authority over modern life in 2026? If the statute can obligate someone to register a vegetable simply because it might interrupt sound energy, then its definitions are so broad that they strain credibility.
What This Means for the Future
This potato episode is part of a broader moment in gun law reform. Removing the suppressor tax has already led to dramatic surges in applications for NFA items like short barreled firearms and silencers, because the process is now cheaper and easier. Some of those applications are serious, many are whimsical, and a few like Clark’s are outright protest art. Together they reveal that the existing statute may be broken.
It should not surprise anyone that grassroots activists are calling for repeal or overhaul of the National Firearms Act. If a potato qualifies under the letter of the law, then the law’s purpose deserves serious debate. With the ATF having approved Clark’s application, and social media spreading the story widely, the national conversation about firearms regulation and constitutional rights has gained a fresh spark.
Reform the Ridiculous Before Someone Else Does
All Americans should consider: What should the relationship be between ordinary citizens and the laws that regulate arms? If the law treats something as mundane as a potato with the same seriousness it treats engineered devices, then perhaps the law needs adjustment.
Humor has a way of revealing truth more sharply than any policy paper. In this case that truth is clear and worth hearing. Our legislature has been changed, shredded, ripped apart, and glued back together with the technical ability of a five-year-old who still can’t decide if he likes the smell or the taste of the glue better. Did you know you can make a mean glue from potato starch?
Complete reform ensures future protections and ensures that modern laws can survive scrutiny. After all, how long before gun control activists have this potato plastered across slide decks and 10 x 10 posters in congress calling out the undeniable ridiculousness of our laws, but for suppression of rights and not true reform.
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