Overview

• The Senate parliamentarian recommended removing the deregulation language from the budget reconciliation text for violating the Byrd Rule’s ban on non-budgetary measures.
• The provision would have eliminated the $200 federal tax and ATF registration requirement for suppressors and declassified short-barrel firearms under the 1934 National Firearms Act.
• Senate Majority Leader John Thune opposes overruling the parliamentarian, warning that challenging the advisory opinion could jeopardize passage of the broader tax bill.
• More than 50 Second Amendment and gun-rights groups, led by the American Suppressor Association, have urged GOP leaders to restore the measure and called the NFA tax scheme a barrier to hearing protection.
• Gun-control advocates caution that repealing parts of the NFA would remove a vital ATF paper trail used to investigate and solve firearm crimes.