Hearing Protection Act

Key Points

• The bill removes silencers (also called suppressors) from the list of strictly regulated items under the National Firearms Act. Currently treated like machine guns, silencers would instead be regulated more like ordinary rifles and shotguns, making them far easier to buy.
• Buyers would no longer need to pay the current $200 federal tax or go through the special, months-long NFA registration process. Instead, they'd only need to pass a standard background check, the same one used for most gun purchases.
• The government would be required to destroy all existing records tracking legal silencer owners within one year of the bill becoming law. This would permanently delete the national database of silencer registrations, transfer applications, and maker applications.
• States would be blocked from imposing their own special taxes, registration requirements, or recordkeeping rules on silencers. However, states could still apply their general sales taxes.
• While the $200 flat NFA tax goes away, silencers would be added to the list of items subject to a 10% federal excise tax on manufacturers and importers — the same tax that funds wildlife conservation through the Pittman-Robertson Act.
• The changes would take effect for purchases made in the first full calendar quarter starting more than 90 days after the bill is signed into law, giving the industry and regulators time to adjust.