I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 152
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to remove silencers from
the definition of firearms, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY9, 2023
Mr. D
UNCAN(for himself, Mr. ADERHOLT, Mr. ARMSTRONG, Mr. BERGMAN,
Mr. B
IGGS, Mr. BISHOPof North Carolina, Mr. BRECHEEN, Mr. BUCK,
Mr. B
URCHETT, Mrs. CAMMACK, Mr. CARL, Mr. CARTERof Georgia, Mr.
C
LINE, Mr. CLOUD, Mr. COMER, Mr. ESTES, Mr. FERGUSON, Mr.
F
INSTAD, Mr. FLEISCHMANN, Mr. FULCHER, Mr. GAETZ, Mr. GOSAR,
Mr. G
RIFFITH, Mr. GUTHRIE, Mr. HARRIS, Mrs. HARSHBARGER, Mr.
H
ERN, Mr. HUDSON, Mr. HUIZENGA, Mr. ISSA, Mr. JORDAN, Mr.
K
USTOFF, Mr. LATURNER, Mrs. LESKO, Mr. MCCLINTOCK, Mr. MOON-
EY, Mr. MURPHY, Mr. NORMAN, Mr. PALMER, Mr. PERRY, Mr.
P
FLUGER, Mr. RESCHENTHALER, Mr. ROY, Mr. AUSTINSCOTTof Geor-
gia, Mr. S
ESSIONS, Mr. STAUBER, Mr. THOMPSONof Pennsylvania, Mr.
T
IMMONS, Mr. WEBERof Texas, Mr. WEBSTERof Florida, Mr. WILSON
of South Carolina, Mr. W
ITTMAN, and Mr. WOMACK) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means,
and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration
of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee con-
cerned
A BILL
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to remove
silencers from the definition of firearms, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
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•HR 152 IH
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Hearing Protection 2
Act’’. 3
SEC. 2. EQUAL TREATMENT OF SILENCERS AND FIREARMS. 4
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 5845(a) of the Internal 5
Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking ‘‘(7) any 6
silencer’’ and all that follows through ‘‘; and (8)’’ and in-7
serting ‘‘and (7)’’. 8
(b) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendment made by 9
this section shall apply to calendar quarters beginning 10
more than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this 11
Act. 12
SEC. 3. TREATMENT OF CERTAIN SILENCERS. 13
Section 5841 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 14
is amended by adding at the end the following: 15
‘‘(f) F
IREARMSILENCERS.—A person acquiring or 16
possessing a firearm silencer in accordance with chapter 17
44 of title 18, United States Code, shall be treated as 18
meeting any registration and licensing requirements of the 19
National Firearms Act with respect to such silencer.’’. 20
SEC. 4. PREEMPTION OF CERTAIN STATE LAWS IN RELA-21
TION TO FIREARM SILENCERS. 22
Section 927 of title 18, United States Code, is 23
amended by adding at the end the following: ‘‘Notwith-24
standing the preceding sentence, a law of a State or a 25
political subdivision of a State that imposes a tax, other 26
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•HR 152 IH
than a generally applicable sales or use tax, on making, 1
transferring, using, possessing, or transporting a firearm 2
silencer in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce, or 3
imposes a marking, recordkeeping or registration require-4
ment with respect to such a firearm silencer, shall have 5
no force or effect.’’. 6
SEC. 5. DESTRUCTION OF RECORDS. 7
Not later than 365 days after the date of the enact-8
ment of this Act, the Attorney General shall destroy any 9
registration of a silencer maintained in the National Fire-10
arms Registration and Transfer Record pursuant to sec-11
tion 5841 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, any ap-12
plication to transfer filed under section 5812 of the Inter-13
nal Revenue Code of 1986 that identifies the transferee 14
of a silencer, and any application to make filed under sec-15
tion 5822 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 that iden-16
tifies the maker of a silencer. 17
SEC. 6. AMENDMENTS TO TITLE 18, UNITED STATES CODE. 18
Title 18, United States Code, is amended— 19
(1) in section 921(a), by striking paragraph 20
(24) and inserting the following: 21
‘‘(24)(A) The terms ‘firearm silencer’ and ‘fire-22
arm muffler’ mean any device for silencing, muf-23
fling, or diminishing the report of a portable fire-24
arm, including the ‘keystone part’ of such a device. 25
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•HR 152 IH
‘‘(B) The term ‘keystone part’ means, with re-1
spect to a firearm silencer or firearm muffler, an ex-2
ternally visible part of a firearm silencer or firearm 3
muffler, without which a device capable of silencing, 4
muffling, or diminishing the report of a portable 5
firearm cannot be assembled, but the term does not 6
include any interchangeable parts designed to mount 7
a firearm silencer or firearm muffler to a portable 8
firearm.’’; 9
(2) in section 922(b)— 10
(A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘shotgun 11
or rifle’’ the first place it appears and inserting 12
‘‘shotgun, rifle, firearm silencer or firearm muf-13
fler’’; and 14
(B) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘rifle or 15
shotgun’’ and inserting ‘‘shotgun, rifle, firearm 16
silencer or firearm muffler’’; and 17
(3) in section 923(i)— 18
(A) by striking ‘‘Licensed’’ and inserting 19
the following: 20
‘‘(1) In the case of a firearm other than a fire-21
arm silencer or firearm muffler, licensed’’; and 22
(B) by adding at the end the following: 23
‘‘(2) In the case of a firearm silencer or firearm 24
muffler, licensed importers and licensed manufactur-25
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•HR 152 IH
ers shall identify by means of a serial number en-1
graved or cast on the keystone part of the firearm 2
silencer or firearm muffler, in such manner as the 3
Attorney General shall by regulations prescribe, each 4
firearm silencer or firearm muffler imported or man-5
ufactured by such importer or manufacturer, except 6
that, if a firearm silencer or firearm muffler does 7
not have a clearly identifiable keystone part or has 8
multiple keystone parts, licensed importers or li-9
censed manufacturers shall submit a request for a 10
marking variance to the Attorney General. The At-11
torney General shall grant such a request except on 12
showing good cause that marking the firearm si-13
lencer or firearm muffler as requested would not 14
further the purposes of this chapter.’’. 15
SEC. 7. IMPOSITION OF TAX ON FIREARM SILENCERS OR 16
FIREARM MUFFLERS. 17
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 4181 of the Internal Rev-18
enue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end of 19
the list relating to ‘‘Articles taxable at 10 percent’’ the 20
following: 21
‘‘Firearm silencers or firearm mufflers.’’. 22
(b) F
IREARMSILENCERS; FIREARMMUFFLERS.— 23
Section 4181 of such Code is amended by adding at the 24
end the following: 25
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•HR 152 IH
‘‘For purposes of this part, the terms ‘firearm si-1
lencer’ and ‘firearm muffler’ mean any device for silenc-2
ing, muffling, or diminishing the report of a portable fire-3
arm.’’. 4
(c) C
ONFORMINGAMENDMENTS.— 5
(1) Section 4181 of such Code is amended by 6
striking ‘‘other than pistols and revolvers’’ and in-7
serting ‘‘other than articles taxable at 10 percent 8
under this section’’. 9
(2) Section 4182(b) of such Code is amended 10
by striking ‘‘firearms, pistols, revolvers, shells, and 11
cartridges’’ and inserting ‘‘articles described in sec-12
tion 4181 and’’. 13
(3) Section 4182(c)(1) of such Code is amended 14
by striking ‘‘or firearm’’ and inserting ‘‘firearm, 15
firearm silencer, or firearm muffler,’’. 16
(d) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 17
this section shall apply to articles sold by the manufac-18
turer, producer, or importer in any calendar quarter be-19
ginning more than 90 days after the date of the enactment 20
of this Act. 21
(e) I
NGENERAL.—Section 4181 of the Internal Rev-22
enue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end of 23
the list relating to ‘‘Articles taxable at 10 percent’’ the 24
following: 25
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•HR 152 IH
‘‘Firearm silencers or firearm mufflers.’’. 1
Æ
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