II
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 401
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to remove silencers from
the definition of firearms, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY14, 2023
Mr. C
RAPO(for himself, Mr. RISCH, Mr. HAGERTY, Mrs. HYDE-SMITH, Mr.
C
RAMER, Mr. CASSIDY, Mr. LANKFORD, Mr. TILLIS, Mr. MARSHALL, Mr.
K
ENNEDY, Ms. LUMMIS, Mr. WICKER, Mr. SCOTTof Florida, Mrs. CAP-
ITO, Mr. BOOZMAN, Mr. VANCE, Mr. BUDD, Mr. BRAUN, Mrs. BRITT,
Mr. D
AINES, Mr. CRUZ, Mr. COTTON, Mrs. FISCHER, Mrs. BLACKBURN,
Mr. H
AWLEY, and Mr. MORAN) 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
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
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Hearing Protection 4
Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. EQUAL TREATMENT OF SILENCERS AND FIREARMS. 1
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 5845(a) of the Internal 2
Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking ‘‘(7) any 3
silencer’’ and all that follows through ‘‘; and (8)’’ and in-4
serting ‘‘and (7)’’. 5
(b) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendment made by 6
this section shall apply to calendar quarters beginning 7
more than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this 8
Act. 9
SEC. 3. TREATMENT OF CERTAIN SILENCERS. 10
Section 5841 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 11
is amended by adding at the end the following: 12
‘‘(f) F
IREARMSILENCERS.—A person acquiring or 13
possessing a firearm silencer in accordance with chapter 14
44 of title 18, United States Code, shall be treated as 15
meeting any registration and licensing requirements of the 16
National Firearms Act with respect to such silencer.’’. 17
SEC. 4. PREEMPTION OF CERTAIN STATE LAWS IN RELA-18
TION TO FIREARM SILENCERS. 19
Section 927 of title 18, United States Code, is 20
amended by adding at the end the following: ‘‘Notwith-21
standing the preceding sentence, a law of a State or a 22
political subdivision of a State that imposes a tax, other 23
than a generally applicable sales or use tax, on making, 24
transferring, using, possessing, or transporting a firearm 25
silencer in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce, or 26
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imposes a marking, recordkeeping, or registration require-1
ment with respect to such a firearm silencer, shall have 2
no force or effect.’’. 3
SEC. 5. DESTRUCTION OF RECORDS. 4
Not later than 365 days after the date of the enact-5
ment of this Act, the Attorney General shall destroy any 6
registration of a silencer maintained in the National Fire-7
arms Registration and Transfer Record pursuant to sec-8
tion 5841 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, any ap-9
plication to transfer filed under section 5812 of the Inter-10
nal Revenue Code of 1986 that identifies the transferee 11
of a silencer, and any application to make filed under sec-12
tion 5822 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 that iden-13
tifies the maker of a silencer. 14
SEC. 6. AMENDMENTS TO TITLE 18, UNITED STATES CODE. 15
Chapter 44 of title 18, United States Code, is amend-16
ed— 17
(1) in section 921(a), by striking paragraph 18
(25) and inserting the following: 19
‘‘(25)(A) The terms ‘firearm silencer’ and ‘firearm 20
muffler’ mean any device for silencing, muffling, or dimin-21
ishing the report of a portable firearm, including the key-22
stone part of such a device. 23
‘‘(B) The term ‘keystone part’— 24
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‘‘(i) means, with respect to a firearm silencer or 1
firearm muffler, an externally visible part of a fire-2
arm silencer or firearm muffler, without which a de-3
vice capable of silencing, muffling, or diminishing 4
the report of a portable firearm cannot be assem-5
bled; and 6
‘‘(ii) does not include any interchangeable parts 7
designed to mount a firearm silencer or firearm 8
muffler to a portable 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 13
muffler’’; 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: ‘‘(1) In the case of a firearm 20
other than a firearm silencer or firearm muf-21
fler, licensed’’; and 22
(B) by adding at the end the following: 23
‘‘(2) In the case of a firearm silencer or firearm muf-24
fler, licensed importers and licensed manufacturers shall 25
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identify by means of a serial number engraved or cast on 1
the keystone part of the firearm silencer or firearm muf-2
fler, in such manner as the Attorney General shall by reg-3
ulations prescribe, each firearm silencer or firearm muffler 4
imported or manufactured by such importer or manufac-5
turer, except that, if a firearm silencer or firearm muffler 6
does not have a clearly identifiable keystone part or has 7
multiple keystone parts, licensed importers or licensed 8
manufacturers shall submit a request for a marking vari-9
ance to the Attorney General. The Attorney General shall 10
grant such a request except on showing good cause that 11
marking the firearm silencer or firearm muffler as re-12
quested would not further the purposes of this chapter.’’. 13
SEC. 7. IMPOSITION OF TAX ON FIREARM SILENCERS OR 14
FIREARM MUFFLERS. 15
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 4181 of the Internal Rev-16
enue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end of 17
the list relating to ‘‘Articles taxable at 10 percent’’ the 18
following: 19
‘‘Firearm silencers or firearm mufflers.’’. 20
(b) F
IREARMSILENCERS; FIREARMMUFFLERS.— 21
Section 4181 of such Code is amended by adding at the 22
end the following: 23
‘‘For purposes of this part, the terms ‘firearm si-24
lencer’ and ‘firearm muffler’ mean any device for silenc-25
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ing, muffling, or diminishing the report of a portable fire-1
arm.’’. 2
(c) C
ONFORMINGAMENDMENTS.— 3
(1) Section 4181 of such Code is amended by 4
striking ‘‘other than pistols and revolvers’’ and in-5
serting ‘‘other than articles taxable at 10 percent 6
under this section’’. 7
(2) Section 4182(b) of such Code is amended 8
by striking ‘‘firearms, pistols, revolvers, shells, and 9
cartridges’’ and inserting ‘‘articles described in sec-10
tion 4181 and’’. 11
(3) Section 4182(c)(1) of such Code is amended 12
by striking ‘‘or firearm’’ and inserting ‘‘firearm, 13
firearm silencer, or firearm muffler,’’. 14
(d) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 15
this section shall apply to articles sold by the manufac-16
turer, producer, or importer in any calendar quarter be-17
ginning more than 90 days after the date of the enactment 18
of this Act. 19
Æ
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