II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 364
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
FEBRUARY3, 2025
Mr. C
RAPO(for himself, Mr. RISCH, Mr. CASSIDY, Mr. MULLIN, Mr.
L
ANKFORD, Mr. SCOTTof Florida, Mr. MARSHALL, Mr. CRAMER, Mrs.
B
LACKBURN, Mr. BOOZMAN, Mr. JUSTICE, Mr. GRAHAM, Mr. ROUNDS,
Mr. R
ICKETTS, Mr. SHEEHY, Mr. TILLIS, Mr. LEE, Mrs. HYDE-SMITH,
Mrs. F
ISCHER, Ms. LUMMIS, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. MORAN, Mr. DAINES,
Mr. W
ICKER, Mr. BUDD, Mr. HOEVEN, Mr. COTTON, Mr. HAWLEY, and
Mr. J
OHNSON) 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) The terms ‘firearm silencer’ and ‘firearm muf-20
fler’ mean— 21
‘‘(A) any device designed or redesigned, made 22
or remade, and intended— 23
‘‘(i) to silence, muffle, or diminish the au-24
ditory report of a portable firearm; and 25
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‘‘(ii) to be attached to a portable firearm, 1
directly or through a mount, adaptor, or other 2
device that is not a firearm silencer or firearm 3
muffler; or 4
‘‘(B) the outer tube or other single part of any 5
device that— 6
‘‘(i) provides the primary housing or is the 7
primary structure for internal sound-reduction 8
components designed or redesigned, made or re-9
made, and intended to silence, muffle, or dimin-10
ish the auditory report of a portable firearm; 11
and 12
‘‘(ii) attaches to a portable firearm, di-13
rectly or through a mount, adaptor, or other de-14
vice that is not a firearm silencer or firearm 15
muffler.’’; 16
(2) in section 922(b)— 17
(A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘shotgun 18
or rifle’’ the first place it appears and inserting 19
‘‘shotgun, rifle, firearm silencer, or firearm 20
muffler’’; and 21
(B) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘rifle or 22
shotgun’’ and inserting ‘‘shotgun, rifle, firearm 23
silencer, or firearm muffler’’; and 24
(3) in section 923(i)— 25
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(A) by striking ‘‘Licensed’’ and inserting 1
the following: ‘‘(1) In the case of a firearm 2
other than a firearm silencer or firearm muf-3
fler, licensed’’; and 4
(B) by adding at the end the following: 5
‘‘(2) In the case of a firearm silencer or firearm muf-6
fler, licensed importers and licensed manufacturers shall 7
identify by means of a serial number engraved or cast on 8
the outer tube or other single part that provides the pri-9
mary housing or primary structure of the firearm silencer 10
or firearm muffler, in such manner as the Attorney Gen-11
eral shall by regulations prescribe, each firearm silencer 12
or firearm muffler imported or manufactured by such im-13
porter or manufacturer, except that, if marking the outer 14
tube or other single part that provides the primary hous-15
ing or primary structure is impractical, licensed importers 16
or licensed manufacturers shall submit a request for a 17
marking variance to the Attorney General. The Attorney 18
General shall grant such a request except on showing good 19
cause that marking the firearm silencer or firearm muffler 20
as requested would not further the purposes of this chap-21
ter.’’. 22
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SEC. 7. IMPOSITION OF TAX ON FIREARM SILENCERS OR 1
FIREARM MUFFLERS. 2
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Section 4181 of the Internal Rev-3
enue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end of 4
the list relating to ‘‘Articles taxable at 10 percent’’ the 5
following: 6
‘‘Firearm silencers or firearm mufflers.’’. 7
(b) F
IREARMSILENCERS; FIREARMMUFFLERS.— 8
Section 4181 of such Code is amended by adding at the 9
end the following: 10
‘‘For purposes of this part, the terms ‘firearm si-11
lencer’ and ‘firearm muffler’ mean any device for silenc-12
ing, muffling, or diminishing the report of a portable fire-13
arm.’’. 14
(c) C
ONFORMINGAMENDMENTS.— 15
(1) Section 4181 of such Code is amended by 16
striking ‘‘other than pistols and revolvers’’ and in-17
serting ‘‘other than articles taxable at 10 percent 18
under this section’’. 19
(2) Section 4182(b) of such Code is amended 20
by striking ‘‘firearms, pistols, revolvers, shells, and 21
cartridges’’ and inserting ‘‘articles described in sec-22
tion 4181 and’’. 23
(3) Section 4182(c)(1) of such Code is amended 24
by striking ‘‘or firearm’’ and inserting ‘‘firearm, 25
firearm silencer, or firearm muffler,’’. 26
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(d) EFFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 1
this section shall apply to articles sold by the manufac-2
turer, producer, or importer in any calendar quarter be-3
ginning more than 90 days after the date of the enactment 4
of this Act. 5
Æ
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