Though the bill eliminates the $200 tax on suppressors and short-barreled rifles (SBRs), it leaves the NFA’s oppressive regulatory structure fully in place — including mandatory ATF registration, background checks, and long wait times for law-abiding gun owners.

“They took off the price tag, but left the chains,” said Chris McNutt, President of Texas Gun Rights. “That’s not deregulation. That’s a political stunt that leaves gun owners more vulnerable than ever.”

Suppressors and SBRs Still Regulated Like Machine Guns

Suppressors are safety devices, used to reduce hearing damage by lowering gunfire noise to safe levels. In many European countries — with no Second Amendment at all — suppressors are unregulated or encouraged for civilian use.

But in the U.S., suppressors and SBRs are still treated like military-grade weapons — fully automatic machine guns — requiring months of scrutiny and placement on a federal registry under the National Firearms Act of 1934.

“A suppressor is a muffler. An SBR is a rifle with a short barrel. There’s no reason these should be treated like machine guns,” said McNutt. “The NFA is outdated, anti-gun legislation that should have been gutted when Republicans had the votes.”

Senate Republicans Caved — House Refused to Fight

Earlier this summer, the House passed the Hearing Protection Act (HPA) as part of BBB to remove suppressors from the NFA. In the Senate, Republicans added language from the SHORT Act to deregulate SBRs and SBSs.

But after the Democrat-appointed Senate parliamentarian objected to these reforms, Republican leadership stripped the provisions without a fight.

“They could have overruled the parliamentarian or fired her outright,” McNutt said. “Instead, they surrendered. Then the House rolled over and refused to add the language back before final passage.”

Tax Removal Leaves Dangerous Precedent

With the registry and restrictions still intact, all Congress did was zero out the $200 tax — a move that accomplishes nothing long-term.

“The next anti-gun administration can hike the tax back up — to $500, $2,000, or even more — with the stroke of a pen,” McNutt warned. “The tax was never the issue. It’s the regulation and registry that infringe on our rights.”

“This was a once-in-a-decade opportunity to rip the NFA at the root, and they blew it. So while it may be a temporary win, it may end up worse for gun owners down the road.”

The most damaging consequence may be procedural: because this vote happened through budget reconciliation, it only required a simple majority in the Senate.

Now that the bill has passed without HPA or SHORT language, any future effort to pass those bills will face the Senate filibuster, requiring 60 votes — an impossible threshold in the current political climate.

“They had the votes, the vehicle, and the grassroots support — and they folded,” said McNutt. “Now, thanks to weak Republican leadership, full deregulation is dead in the water.”

“This isn’t a win,” McNutt concluded. “It’s a betrayal. And every gun owner in America should remember who fought and who folded when our rights were on the line.”