II
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 163
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to remove short-barreled
rifles, short-barreled shotguns, and certain other weapons from the defini-
tion of firearms for purposes of the National Firearms Act, and for
other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY31, 2023
Mr. M
ARSHALL(for himself, Mr. BARRASSO, Mr. BOOZMAN, Mr. CRAPO, Mr.
C
RUZ, Mr. DAINES, Mrs. HYDE-SMITH, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. LEE, Ms.
L
UMMIS, Mr. MULLIN, Mr. PAUL, Mr. RISCH, Mr. ROUNDS, Mr. SCOTT
of Florida, Mr. T
HUNE, and Mr. TUBERVILLE) introduced the following
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance
A BILL
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to remove
short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, and certain
other weapons from the definition of firearms for pur-
poses of the National Firearms Act, and for other pur-
poses.
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 ‘‘Stop Harassing Own-4
ers of Rifles Today Act’’ or the ‘‘SHORT Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. DEFINITION OF FIREARM. 1
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Subsection (a) of section 5845 of 2
the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended— 3
(1) by striking ‘‘(1) a shotgun’’ and all that fol-4
lows through ‘‘as defined in subsection (e);’’, and 5
(2) by redesignating paragraphs (6) through 6
(8) as paragraphs (1) through (3), respectively. 7
(b) S
HOTGUNSNOTTREATED ASDESTRUCTIVEDE-8
VICES.—Section 5485(f) of the Internal Revenue Code of 9
1986 is amended by striking ‘‘except a shotgun or shotgun 10
shell which the Secretary finds is generally recognized as 11
particularly suitable for sporting purposes’’ and inserting 12
‘‘except shotgun shells and any weapon that is designed 13
to shoot shotgun shells’’. 14
(c) C
ONFORMINGAMENDMENT.—Section 5811(a) of 15
the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking 16
‘‘, except, the transfer tax on any firearm classified as any 17
other weapon under section 5845(e) shall be at the rate 18
of $5 for each such firearm transferred’’. 19
(d) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendment made by 20
this section shall apply to calendar quarters beginning 21
more than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this 22
Act. 23
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SEC. 3. ELIMINATION OF DISPARATE TREATMENT OF 1
SHORT-BARRELED RIFLES AND SHORT-BAR-2
RELED SHOTGUNS USED FOR LAWFUL PUR-3
POSES. 4
Section 922 of title 18, United States Code, is 5
amended— 6
(1) in subsection (a)(4)— 7
(A) by striking ‘‘device,’’ and inserting 8
‘‘device or’’; and 9
(B) by striking ‘‘short-barreled shotgun, or 10
short-barreled rifle,’’; and 11
(2) in subsection (b)(4)— 12
(A) by striking ‘‘device,’’ and inserting 13
‘‘device or’’; and 14
(B) by striking ‘‘short-barreled shotgun, or 15
short-barreled rifle,’’. 16
SEC. 4. TREATMENT OF SHORT-BARRELED RIFLES, SHORT- 17
BARRELED SHOTGUNS, AND OTHER WEAP-18
ONS DETERMINED BY REFERENCE TO NA-19
TIONAL FIREARMS ACT. 20
Section 5841 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 21
is amended by adding at the end the following: 22
‘‘(f) R
EQUIREMENTS FOR SHORT-BARRELEDRI-23
FLES, SHORT-BARRELEDSHOTGUNS, ANDOTHERWEAP-24
ONSDETERMINED BY REFERENCE.—In the case of any 25
registration or licensing requirement under State or local 26
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law with respect to a short-barreled rifle, short-barreled 1
shotgun, or any other weapon (as defined in section 2
5845(e)) which is determined by reference to the National 3
Firearms Act, any person who acquires or possesses such 4
rifle, shotgun, or other weapon in accordance with chapter 5
44 of title 18, United States Code, shall be treated as 6
meeting any such registration or licensing requirement 7
with respect to such rifle, shotgun, or other weapon.’’. 8
SEC. 5. PREEMPTION OF CERTAIN STATE LAWS IN RELA-9
TION TO SHORT-BARRELED RIFLES, SHORT- 10
BARRELED SHOTGUNS, AND OTHER WEAP-11
ONS. 12
Section 927 of title 18, United States Code, is 13
amended— 14
(1) by striking ‘‘No provision’’ and inserting 15
the following: 16
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—No provision’’; and 17
(2) by adding at the end the following: 18
‘‘(b) T
AXES ONSHORT-BARRELEDRIFLES, SHORT- 19
B
ARRELEDSHOTGUNS, ANDOTHERWEAPONS.—Not-20
withstanding subsection (a), a law of a State or a political 21
subdivision of a State that imposes a tax, other than a 22
generally applicable sales or use tax, on making, transfer-23
ring, using, possessing, or transporting a short-barreled 24
rifle, short-barreled shotgun, or any other weapon (as that 25
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term is defined in section 5845 of the Internal Revenue 1
Code of 1986) in or affecting interstate or foreign com-2
merce, or imposes a marking, recordkeeping, or registra-3
tion requirement with respect to such a rifle, shotgun, or 4
other weapon, shall have no force or effect.’’. 5
SEC. 6. DESTRUCTION OF RECORDS. 6
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Not later than 365 days after the 7
date of the enactment of this Act, the Attorney General 8
shall destroy— 9
(1) any registration of an applicable weapon 10
maintained in the National Firearms Registration 11
and Transfer Record pursuant to section 5841 of 12
the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, 13
(2) any application to transfer filed under sec-14
tion 5812 of such Code that identifies the transferee 15
of an applicable weapon, and 16
(3) any application to make filed under section 17
5822 of such Code that identifies the maker of an 18
applicable weapon. 19
(b) A
PPLICABLEWEAPON.—For purposes of this sec-20
tion, the term ‘‘applicable weapon’’ means— 21
(1) a rifle, or weapon made from a rifle, de-22
scribed in paragraph (3) or (4) of section 5845(a) 23
of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (as in effect 24
on the day before the enactment of this Act), 25
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(2) any shotgun— 1
(A) described in paragraph (1) or (2) of 2
section 5845(a) of the Internal Revenue Code 3
of 1986 (as in effect on the day before the en-4
actment of this Act), or 5
(B) treated as destructive device under 6
5845(f) of such Code (as in effect on the day 7
before the enactment of this Act) and not so 8
treated under such section as in effect imme-9
diately after such date, and 10
(3) any other weapon, as defined in section 11
5845(e) of such Code. 12
Æ
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