Firearm manufacturers and Second Amendment advocacy groups are flexing their muscle to push for more pro-gun measures in the GOP reconciliation bill being considered by the Senate.
Gun Owners of America and other groups say they are asking lawmakers to include a measure called the Short Act that would remove short-barreled rifles, shotguns and other weapons from the definition of “firearms” for the purposes of regulations under the National Firearms Act.
“The Short Act is really important because of the Biden pistol brace ban. Biden weaponized the 1934 National Firearms Act tax law to ban up to 40 million short barreled firearms,” GOA Director of Federal Affairs Aidan Johnston told The Washington Times. “We need to get rid of that law so it’s never weaponized for a national gun ban again.”
The current NFA requirements include a $200 tax stamp for both manufacture and transfer of the devices, broad paperwork rules, and lengthy waiting times.
The House last month narrowly passed the GOP’s reconciliation bill, which, though it doesn’t include the Short Act, does have a separate firearms provision that gun-rights group support, but also want to have tweaked.
The Hearing Protection Act would remove the tax and regulations on firearm suppressors from the National Firearms Act of 1934.
But while it would remove suppressors for the definition of a “firearm” under the act, Mr. Johnston said it does not go far enough because of a quirky interaction with many state laws.
“What isn’t in the bill is a protection for gun owners … that would protect gun suppressor owners at the state level, where their state’s statutes reference the federal registration requirement,” he said.
According to Mr. Johnston, in some states, one can only own a suppressor if it’s registered with the federal government, and if the federal government removes gun suppressors from the National Firearms Act, gun owners won’t have their suppressors registered.
Therefore, they wouldn’t be able to possess them legally under these state statutes.
“So there’s a provision to state that anyone who lawfully possesses a firearm under federal law is considered to have met those federal registration requirements,” Mr. Johnston said.
He said, “It’s very important that the Senate include this provision that the House failed to include, otherwise we’re going to end up accidentally banning suppressors in certain states.”
Gun control organizations are urging lawmakers on Capitol Hill to vote against the president’s reconciliation package and say that the current restriction measures on suppressors are what is keeping the devices away from criminals.
“Voters across the political spectrum understand that selling silencers to anyone, no questions asked, will increase crime and put police officers at risk.
As the Senate formulates its own version of the bill, they would be wise to remove this dangerous provision — we will make sure voters are paying attention,” said Emma Brown, executive director of the group Giffords.
“Republican Senators can see this is an obvious political loser: Voters don’t want criminals to have access to silencers, which is why three-quarters of Senate battleground voters oppose allowing silencers to be sold without a background check,” she said.
