I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 404
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
JANUARY15, 2025
Mr. C
LINE(for himself, Mr. PFLUGER, Mr. ESTES, Mr. MOOREof West Vir-
ginia, Mr. B
EANof Florida, Ms. TENNEY, Mr. WEBERof Texas, Mr.
M
OOREof Alabama, Mr. NEHLS, Mr. OWENS, Mr. THOMPSONof Penn-
sylvania, Mr. W
ITTMAN, Mr. HUDSON, Mrs. LUNA, Mrs. CAMMACK, Mr.
C
ARTERof Georgia, Mr. PERRY, Mr. BOST, Mr. BERGMAN, Mr.
F
INSTAD, Mr. COLLINS, Mr. GRAVES, Mr. FLEISCHMANN, Mr. FULCHER,
Mr. B
ILIRAKIS, Mr. MCGUIRE, Mr. ADERHOLT, Mr. MCDOWELL, Mr.
H
ARRISof Maryland, Mr. BURCHETT, Mr. KUSTOFF, Mr. TIMMONS, Mr.
L
OUDERMILK, Mr. CRANK, Mr. GRIFFITH, Mr. HERNof Oklahoma, Mr.
W
OMACK, Mr. BABIN, Ms. MALOY, and Mr. COMER) 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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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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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
(25) and inserting the following: 21
‘‘(25) The terms ‘firearm silencer’ and ‘firearm 22
muffler’ mean— 23
‘‘(A) any device designed or redesigned, 24
made or remade, and intended— 25
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‘‘(i) to silence, muffle, or diminish the 1
auditory report of a portable firearm; and 2
‘‘(ii) to be attached to a portable fire-3
arm, directly or through a mount, adaptor, 4
or other device that is not a firearm si-5
lencer or firearm muffler; or 6
‘‘(B) the outer tube or other single part of 7
any device that— 8
‘‘(i) provides the primary housing or 9
is the primary structure for internal 10
sound-reduction components designed or 11
redesigned, made or remade, and intended 12
to silence, muffle, or diminish the auditory 13
report of a portable firearm; and 14
‘‘(ii) attaches to a portable firearm, 15
directly or through a mount, adaptor, or 16
other device that is not a firearm silencer 17
or firearm muffler.’’; 18
(2) in section 922(b)— 19
(A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘shotgun 20
or rifle’’ the first place it appears and inserting 21
‘‘shotgun, rifle, firearm silencer or firearm muf-22
fler’’; and 23
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(B) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘rifle or 1
shotgun’’ and inserting ‘‘shotgun, rifle, firearm 2
silencer or firearm muffler’’; and 3
(3) in section 923(i)— 4
(A) by striking ‘‘Licensed’’ and inserting 5
the following: 6
‘‘(1) In the case of a firearm other than a fire-7
arm silencer or firearm muffler, licensed’’; and 8
(B) by adding at the end the following: 9
‘‘(2) In the case of a firearm silencer or firearm 10
muffler, licensed importers and licensed manufactur-11
ers shall identify by means of a serial number en-12
graved or cast on the outer tube or other single part 13
that provides the primary housing or primary struc-14
ture of the firearm silencer or firearm muffler, in 15
such manner as the Attorney General shall by regu-16
lations prescribe, each firearm silencer or firearm 17
muffler imported or manufactured by such importer 18
or manufacturer, except that, if marking the outer 19
tube or other single part that provides the primary 20
housing or primary structure is impractical, licensed 21
importers or licensed manufacturers shall submit a 22
request for a marking variance to the Attorney Gen-23
eral. The Attorney General shall grant such a re-24
quest except on showing good cause that marking 25
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the firearm silencer or firearm muffler as requested 1
would not further the purposes of this chapter.’’. 2
SEC. 7. IMPOSITION OF TAX ON FIREARM SILENCERS OR 3
FIREARM MUFFLERS. 4
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 4181 of the Internal Rev-5
enue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end of 6
the list relating to ‘‘Articles taxable at 10 percent’’ the 7
following: 8
‘‘Firearm silencers or firearm mufflers.’’. 9
(b) F
IREARMSILENCERS; FIREARMMUFFLERS.— 10
Section 4181 of such Code is amended by adding at the 11
end the following: 12
‘‘For purposes of this part, the terms ‘firearm si-13
lencer’ and ‘firearm muffler’ mean any device for silenc-14
ing, muffling, or diminishing the report of a portable fire-15
arm.’’. 16
(c) C
ONFORMINGAMENDMENTS.— 17
(1) Section 4181 of such Code is amended by 18
striking ‘‘other than pistols and revolvers’’ and in-19
serting ‘‘other than articles taxable at 10 percent 20
under this section’’. 21
(2) Section 4182(b) of such Code is amended 22
by striking ‘‘firearms, pistols, revolvers, shells, and 23
cartridges’’ and inserting ‘‘articles described in sec-24
tion 4181 and’’. 25
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(3) Section 4182(c)(1) of such Code is amended 1
by striking ‘‘or firearm’’ and inserting ‘‘firearm, 2
firearm silencer, or firearm muffler,’’. 3
(d) E
FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 4
this section shall apply to articles sold by the manufac-5
turer, producer, or importer in any calendar quarter be-6
ginning more than 90 days after the date of the enactment 7
of this Act. 8
(e) I
NGENERAL.—Section 4181 of the Internal Rev-9
enue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end of 10
the list relating to ‘‘Articles taxable at 10 percent’’ the 11
following: 12
‘‘Firearm silencers or firearm mufflers.’’. 13
Æ
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