Trump tax law scraps the 1934 levy on silencers and short-barrel guns

The Republican budget-reconciliation package — the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed by President Trump on July 4, 2025 — eliminated the $200 federal transfer-and-making tax that the National Firearms Act has imposed since 1934 on silencers (suppressors), short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, and "any other weapons." The tax falls to $0 effective January 1, 2026. Machine guns and "destructive devices" keep the levy, and the registration and background-check requirements on all NFA items remain in place. The Senate passed the package by a single vote and the House by 218-214. An earlier, broader push to strip these items from the NFA registry entirely was ruled to violate the Senate's reconciliation rules, leaving the tax repeal as the surviving provision. A coalition of gun-rights groups — including the National Rifle Association, the National Shooting Sports Foundation, Gun Owners of America, the American Suppressor Association, and the Firearms Policy Coalition — lobbied for the measure; the NRA called it the biggest blow to the National Firearms Act since its passage nearly a century ago. Gun-control group Everytown for Gun Safety opposed it, calling it a $1.7 billion gift to boost gun-industry sales. Silencer sales had already risen about 80 percent in 2024. Within hours of the signing, Gun Owners of America and allied groups filed suit in federal court — the "One Big Beautiful Lawsuit" — arguing that with the $200 tax gone, the NFA's surviving registration requirements are unconstitutional.