A Republican-led effort to remove suppressors and short-barrel rifles from the National Firearms Act (NFA) faced a new obstacle on Friday when the Senate parliamentarian reportedly recommended nixing the provision for allegedly violating budget reconciliation rules. The Senate GOP must now decide if it will use its overrule power to preserve the deregulation of popular hearing protection devices and protect the Second Amendment rights of its constituents.
The House version of the Big Beautiful Bill effectively deregulated the noise muffling device and declassified suppressors as a type of “firearm” that requires addition to the National Firearms Registry.
Because suppressors are technically classified as firearms under the Gun Control Act, purchasing one would still require 4473 paperwork and the standard FBI NICS background check required for any firearm purchase from a federally licensed firearm dealer. Submitting fingerprints, a photo, and Form 4 to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) and paying a $200 tax stamp to obtain the hearing protection device, however, would no longer be necessary.
The Senate version of the legislation adds short-barreled rifles to the list as well.
Second Amendment advocates such as the National Association for Gun Rights argue that because the NFA is in the tax code, a fact well established by the courts, the suppressor provisions in the Big Beautiful Bill are Byrd rule compliant. The parliamentarian, however, still reportedly recommended striking the HPA and SHORT Act provisions.
“The NFA can’t now conveniently be characterized as something other than a tax because it suits the powers that be of Gun Control Inc,” Second Amendment attorney Kostas Moros noted on X.
Because the parliamentarian’s role is purely advisory, the chair can ignore her recommendation, which is unlikely. Sixty senators, however, could overrule the chair if he sides with the parliamentarian. If 60 senators are not on board, a simple majority could add the language back to the bill as an amendment.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune expressed opposition to overruling the parliamentarian by telling Politico that doing so “would not be a good option for getting a bill done.”
Already, Rep. Andrew Clyde, who spearheaded efforts to tackle the NFA, committed to “NOT giving up.”
The report of the parlimentarian’s recommendation comes mere days after more than 50 Second Amendment organizations, led by the American Suppressor Association, sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo last week urging them to “not only eliminate the suppressor tax, but also remove short-barreled firearms from the NFA.”
“We urge you to make good on the decades-long promises to protect our Constitutional rights by strengthening these provisions and permanently removing suppressors from the draconian NFA tax scheme,” the organizations wrote.
“No tool can make a gunshot silent,” the letter warned. “Guns are just too loud. Also known as silencers, suppressors simply reduce the dangerously loud noise of a gunshot to safer levels. Even the quietest suppressed gunshots are still as loud or louder than a jackhammer striking concrete.”
They noted that the NFA, which requires the $200 charge on suppressor purchases, is a “tax scheme” that “impedes the ability of all Americans to exercise their Second Amendment rights” and creates barriers to necessary hearing protection.
The letter also pointed out that “preserving the Second Amendment rights of Americans is a top priority for President Trump.”
“It is clear that undoing the unconstitutional NFA tax scheme is squarely in line with this administration’s top priorities,” the letter stated, citing a Department of Justice amicus brief “in a critical Second Amendment case.”
The letter noted that “anti-Second Amendment lawmakers and activists began spreading disinformation about suppressors and what removal from the NFA would mean for the law-abiding gun owners.”
“Scare tactics, misinformation, and preservation of the status quo must not be impediments to restoring common sense to our nation’s approach to the Second Amendment,” the letter concluded.