by Erin C. Healy - Tuesday, June 3, 2025
On May 22, members of the U.S. House of Representatives passed what President Donald J. Trump dubbed “one big, beautiful bill” and which officially became the one big, beautiful bill by the tiniest of margins: 215 to 214. The extensive legislative package known as the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), or H.R. 1, touches on everything from extending the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act to increasing the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction, from reducing federal spending and increasing requirements to access federal programs to increasing defense spending and opening $1,000-each Trump Accounts for every American child born between 2024 and 2028. But the most important measure for hunters and shooters is the removal of firearm suppressors from the National Firearms Act (NFA) of 1934.
The intended purpose of the NFA was to prevent Prohibition Era gangsters from using the likes of Thompson submachine guns, sawed-off rifles and shotguns and sound-suppressed firearms on each other, members of the unsuspecting public or law enforcement officers. More than 90 years later, nobody is arguing for the legalization of automatic weapons, but hamstringing a law-abiding public from accessing firearms that are quieter is unequivocally a violation of the Second Amendment.
Section 2 of the proposed House- and Senate-backed Hearing Protection Act, which was inserted into H.R. 1 of the 119th Congress, streamlines the application process for suppressors and essentially treats them the same as firearms. If the measure survives Senate changes and is ratified again by House members, gone will be the need for fingerprints and a registry and, best of all, the odious $200 suppressor stamp tax. Finally, hunters and shooters will be able to protect their hearing, lessen recoil and even spare anti-Second-Amendment people from having to listen to their shooting.
Hearing the news of the House bill’s passage, NRA Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) Executive Director John Commerford said, “This represents a monumental victory for Second Amendment rights, eliminating burdensome regulations on the purchase of critical hearing protection devices. The NRA thanks the House members who supported this bill and urges its swift passage in the U.S. Senate.”
The NRA has long backed not just the repeal of the tax stamp requirement, but the removal of suppressors from the NFA entirely. Even in countries with the strictest firearm laws, it points to how suppressors are often unregulated products available over the counter so hunters and shooters can protect their hearing while using their firearms. H.R. 1 addresses outdated federal law that makes it difficult for Americans to access these useful safety devices.
Hunters and shooters, including longtime American Hunter and NRA Hunters’ Leadership Forum contributor Brian McCombie, join the NRA in supporting the long overdue removal of silencers from the NFA. In promoting the benefits of suppressors, McCombie points to how they not only reduce noise by trapping and dissipating blast pressure and gases at the muzzle but they increase shooting accuracy by reducing felt recoil and shot “flinch.” For another bonus, they also reduce noise complaints from neighbors, which are often used as an excuse to close hunting and shooting areas.
What did not make it into the House version of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act was the SHORT Act—short for the Stop Harassing Owners of Rifles Today Act, or H.R. 2395—delisting short-barreled rifles (SBRs) and short-barreled shotguns (SBSs) from the NFA. However, there is a chance that these firearms still can be removed from the NFA in the Senate’s version of the bill. Gun owners, hunters and shooters wishing to make their voices heard need to contact their Senators to encourage them to add the SHORT Act back into the OBBBA. Current minimum barrel lengths are 16 inches for a rifle and 18 for shotgun, stipulations that are mindless in the face of modern firearm design. Today's SBRs and SBSs are lighter and better balanced, making them easier to maneuver in a home-defense situation and handle in the field, especially for younger, smaller-statured or infirm hunters. The addition of a suppressor helps to dampen felt recoil without making the barrel length unwieldy.
Senators are expected to take up the OBBBA in early June. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act represents a rare opportunity for hunters and shooters to obtain long-sought-after victories. Inclusion of the Hearing Protection Act is certainly a win, but the fight is not over. Having the option to carry more easily handled rifles and shotguns is as vital to passing down the hunting tradition to the next generation as it is to keeping aging hunters in the field longer. Politely and respectfully contact your Senators and encourage them to not only keep the Hearing Protection Act in the Senate version of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, but to also include the SHORT Act and eliminate these current arbitrary barrel length regulations.