I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 173
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to remove short-barreled
rifles from the definition of firearms for purposes of the National Fire-
arms Act, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY9, 2023
Mr. G
RIFFITHintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on the Ju-
diciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in
each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic-
tion of the committee concerned
A BILL
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to remove
short-barreled rifles from the definition of firearms for
purposes of the National Firearms Act, 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
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Home Defense and 4
Competitive Shooting Act of 2023’’. 5
VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:19 Jan 18, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H173.IH H173
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2
•HR 173 IH
SEC. 2. SHORT-BARRELED RIFLES. 1
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 5845(a) of the Internal 2
Revenue Code of 1986 is amended— 3
(1) by striking ‘‘(3) a rifle’’ and all that follows 4
through ‘‘(5) any other weapon’’ and inserting ‘‘(3) 5
any other weapon’’; and 6
(2) by redesignating paragraphs (6), (7), and 7
(8) as paragraphs (4), (5), and (6), respectively. 8
(b) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendment made by 9
this section shall apply to calendar quarters beginning 10
more than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this 11
Act. 12
SEC. 3. ELIMINATION OF DISPARATE TREATMENT OF 13
SHORT-BARRELED RIFLES USED FOR LAW-14
FUL PURPOSES. 15
Section 922 of title 18, United States Code, is 16
amended in each of subsections (a)(4) and (b)(4) by strik-17
ing ‘‘short-barreled shotgun, or short-barreled rifle’’ and 18
inserting ‘‘or short-barreled shotgun’’. 19
SEC. 4. TREATMENT OF SHORT-BARRELED RIFLES DETER-20
MINED BY REFERENCE TO NATIONAL FIRE-21
ARMS ACT. 22
Section 5841 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 23
is amended by adding at the end the following: 24
‘‘(f) S
HORT-BARRELEDRIFLEREQUIREMENTSDE-25
TERMINED BYREFERENCE.—In the case of any short-bar-26
VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:19 Jan 18, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H173.IH H173
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3
•HR 173 IH
reled rifle registration or licensing requirement under 1
State or local law which is determined by reference to the 2
National Firearms Act, any person who acquires or pos-3
sesses such a rifle in accordance with chapter 44 of title 4
18, United States Code, shall be treated as meeting any 5
such registration or licensing requirement with respect to 6
such rifle.’’. 7
SEC. 5. PREEMPTION OF CERTAIN STATE LAWS IN RELA-8
TION TO SHORT-BARRELED RIFLES. 9
Section 927 of title 18, United States Code, is 10
amended by adding at the end the following: ‘‘Notwith-11
standing the preceding sentence, a law of a State or a 12
political subdivision of a State that imposes a tax, other 13
than a generally applicable sales or use tax, on making, 14
transferring, using, possessing, or transporting a short- 15
barreled rifle in or affecting interstate or foreign com-16
merce, or imposes a marking, recordkeeping or registra-17
tion requirement with respect to such a rifle, shall have 18
no force or effect.’’. 19
SEC. 6. DESTRUCTION OF RECORDS. 20
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 365 days after the 21
date of the enactment of this Act, the Attorney General 22
shall destroy any registration of an applicable rifle main-23
tained in the National Firearms Registration and Trans-24
fer Record pursuant to section 5841 of the Internal Rev-25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:19 Jan 18, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H173.IH H173
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4
•HR 173 IH
enue Code of 1986, any application to transfer filed under 1
section 5812 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 that 2
identifies the transferee of an applicable rifle, and any ap-3
plication to make filed under section 5822 of the Internal 4
Revenue Code of 1986 that identifies the maker of an ap-5
plicable rifle. 6
(b) A
PPLICABLERIFLE.—For purposes of this sec-7
tion, the term ‘‘applicable rifle’’ means a rifle, or weapon 8
made from a rifle, described in paragraph (3) or (4) of 9
section 5845(a) of such Code (as in effect on the day be-10
fore the enactment of the Home Defense and Competitive 11
Shooting Act of 2023). 12
Æ
VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:19 Jan 18, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H173.IH H173
pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB