Second Amendment advocacy groups urged House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) on Wednesday to pass legislation to eliminate both a tax on firearm suppressors and the national suppressor registry.
In a letter obtained by The Daily Caller, dozens of Second Amendment groups, including the American Suppressor Association, the National Rifle Association, and Gun Owners of America, called on Republican lawmakers to include Section 2 of the Hearing Protection Act in an upcoming reconciliation bill.
The Hearing Protection Act states that it would establish “equal treatment of silencers and firearms” by amending “the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to remove silencers from the definition of firearms, and for other purposes.” According to The Daily Caller, the legislation would remove a $200 tax on firearm suppressors that was instituted following the National Firearms Act of 1934.
“The National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA) is an unconstitutional tax scheme that impedes the ability of all Americans to exercise their Second Amendment rights,” the Second Amendment advocacy groups wrote. “On behalf of the American Suppressor Association and law-abiding gun owners nationwide, we call on Congress to permanently remove suppressors from the unconstitutional NFA tax scheme by inserting Section 2 of the Hearing Protection Act into the reconciliation bill.”
Wednesday’s letter claimed that American citizens “should not be taxed” for a device that provides safety and prevents “irreversible damage” to the hearing of those who use firearms while “exercising their Constitutional rights.”
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According to the Daily Caller, the purchase of a firearm suppressor currently requires U.S. citizens to complete a background check, purchase a suppressor from a licensed dealer, register the suppressor, and pay a suppressor tax. Wednesday’s letter noted that the proposed legislation would still require individuals to purchase suppressors from licensed dealers and complete a background check.
Critics of gun silencers have argued that firearm suppressors are “inherently dangerous devices” that can be used by criminals to carry out “ambush attacks” and evade law enforcement officials by reducing the noise of gunshots.
“Silencers put law enforcement and the public at grave risk by making it more difficult to identify nearby gunshots and locate an active shooter, and they should not be widely available to civilians,” the Giffords Law Center states on its website.
On the other hand, American Suppressor Association President Knox Williams told The Daily Caller that firearms are still loud even when equipped with suppressors.
“You still need to wear hearing protection when using a suppressor because they are not quiet,” Williams said. “Anyone who tells you that a silencer is a threat to public safety has never fired a suppressed weapon or been around one.”
