Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB364 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 364
5	5	To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to remove silencers from
6	6	the definition of firearms, and for other purposes.
7	7	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
8	8	FEBRUARY3, 2025
9	9	Mr. C
10	10	RAPO(for himself, Mr. RISCH, Mr. CASSIDY, Mr. MULLIN, Mr.
11	11	L
12	12	ANKFORD, Mr. SCOTTof Florida, Mr. MARSHALL, Mr. CRAMER, Mrs.
13	13	B
14	14	LACKBURN, Mr. BOOZMAN, Mr. JUSTICE, Mr. GRAHAM, Mr. ROUNDS,
15	15	Mr. R
16	16	ICKETTS, Mr. SHEEHY, Mr. TILLIS, Mr. LEE, Mrs. HYDE-SMITH,
17	17	Mrs. F
18	18	ISCHER, Ms. LUMMIS, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. MORAN, Mr. DAINES,
19	19	Mr. W
20	20	ICKER, Mr. BUDD, Mr. HOEVEN, Mr. COTTON, Mr. HAWLEY, and
21	21	Mr. J
22	22	OHNSON) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
23	23	referred to the Committee on Finance
24	24	A BILL
25	25	To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to remove
26	26	silencers from the definition of firearms, and for other
27	27	purposes.
28	28	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
29	29	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
30	30	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
31	31	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Hearing Protection 4
32	32	Act’’. 5
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35	35	•S 364 IS
36	36	SEC. 2. EQUAL TREATMENT OF SILENCERS AND FIREARMS. 1
37	37	(a) I
38	38	NGENERAL.—Section 5845(a) of the Internal 2
39	39	Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking ‘‘(7) any 3
40	40	silencer’’ and all that follows through ‘‘; and (8)’’ and in-4
41	41	serting ‘‘and (7)’’. 5
42	42	(b) E
43	43	FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendment made by 6
44	44	this section shall apply to calendar quarters beginning 7
45	45	more than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this 8
46	46	Act. 9
47	47	SEC. 3. TREATMENT OF CERTAIN SILENCERS. 10
48	48	Section 5841 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 11
49	49	is amended by adding at the end the following: 12
50	50	‘‘(f) F
51	51	IREARMSILENCERS.—A person acquiring or 13
52	52	possessing a firearm silencer in accordance with chapter 14
53	53	44 of title 18, United States Code, shall be treated as 15
54	54	meeting any registration and licensing requirements of the 16
55	55	National Firearms Act with respect to such silencer.’’. 17
56	56	SEC. 4. PREEMPTION OF CERTAIN STATE LAWS IN RELA-18
57	57	TION TO FIREARM SILENCERS. 19
58	58	Section 927 of title 18, United States Code, is 20
59	59	amended by adding at the end the following: ‘‘Notwith-21
60	60	standing the preceding sentence, a law of a State or a 22
61	61	political subdivision of a State that imposes a tax, other 23
62	62	than a generally applicable sales or use tax, on making, 24
63	63	transferring, using, possessing, or transporting a firearm 25
64	64	silencer in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce, or 26
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67	67	•S 364 IS
68	68	imposes a marking, recordkeeping, or registration require-1
69	69	ment with respect to such a firearm silencer, shall have 2
70	70	no force or effect.’’. 3
71	71	SEC. 5. DESTRUCTION OF RECORDS. 4
72	72	Not later than 365 days after the date of the enact-5
73	73	ment of this Act, the Attorney General shall destroy any 6
74	74	registration of a silencer maintained in the National Fire-7
75	75	arms Registration and Transfer Record pursuant to sec-8
76	76	tion 5841 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, any ap-9
77	77	plication to transfer filed under section 5812 of the Inter-10
78	78	nal Revenue Code of 1986 that identifies the transferee 11
79	79	of a silencer, and any application to make filed under sec-12
80	80	tion 5822 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 that iden-13
81	81	tifies the maker of a silencer. 14
82	82	SEC. 6. AMENDMENTS TO TITLE 18, UNITED STATES CODE. 15
83	83	Chapter 44 of title 18, United States Code, is amend-16
84	84	ed— 17
85	85	(1) in section 921(a), by striking paragraph 18
86	86	(25) and inserting the following: 19
87	87	‘‘(25) The terms ‘firearm silencer’ and ‘firearm muf-20
88	88	fler’ mean— 21
89	89	‘‘(A) any device designed or redesigned, made 22
90	90	or remade, and intended— 23
91	91	‘‘(i) to silence, muffle, or diminish the au-24
92	92	ditory report of a portable firearm; and 25
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95	95	•S 364 IS
96	96	‘‘(ii) to be attached to a portable firearm, 1
97	97	directly or through a mount, adaptor, or other 2
98	98	device that is not a firearm silencer or firearm 3
99	99	muffler; or 4
100	100	‘‘(B) the outer tube or other single part of any 5
101	101	device that— 6
102	102	‘‘(i) provides the primary housing or is the 7
103	103	primary structure for internal sound-reduction 8
104	104	components designed or redesigned, made or re-9
105	105	made, and intended to silence, muffle, or dimin-10
106	106	ish the auditory report of a portable firearm; 11
107	107	and 12
108	108	‘‘(ii) attaches to a portable firearm, di-13
109	109	rectly or through a mount, adaptor, or other de-14
110	110	vice that is not a firearm silencer or firearm 15
111	111	muffler.’’; 16
112	112	(2) in section 922(b)— 17
113	113	(A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘shotgun 18
114	114	or rifle’’ the first place it appears and inserting 19
115	115	‘‘shotgun, rifle, firearm silencer, or firearm 20
116	116	muffler’’; and 21
117	117	(B) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘rifle or 22
118	118	shotgun’’ and inserting ‘‘shotgun, rifle, firearm 23
119	119	silencer, or firearm muffler’’; and 24
120	120	(3) in section 923(i)— 25
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123	123	•S 364 IS
124	124	(A) by striking ‘‘Licensed’’ and inserting 1
125	125	the following: ‘‘(1) In the case of a firearm 2
126	126	other than a firearm silencer or firearm muf-3
127	127	fler, licensed’’; and 4
128	128	(B) by adding at the end the following: 5
129	129	‘‘(2) In the case of a firearm silencer or firearm muf-6
130	130	fler, licensed importers and licensed manufacturers shall 7
131	131	identify by means of a serial number engraved or cast on 8
132	132	the outer tube or other single part that provides the pri-9
133	133	mary housing or primary structure of the firearm silencer 10
134	134	or firearm muffler, in such manner as the Attorney Gen-11
135	135	eral shall by regulations prescribe, each firearm silencer 12
136	136	or firearm muffler imported or manufactured by such im-13
137	137	porter or manufacturer, except that, if marking the outer 14
138	138	tube or other single part that provides the primary hous-15
139	139	ing or primary structure is impractical, licensed importers 16
140	140	or licensed manufacturers shall submit a request for a 17
141	141	marking variance to the Attorney General. The Attorney 18
142	142	General shall grant such a request except on showing good 19
143	143	cause that marking the firearm silencer or firearm muffler 20
144	144	as requested would not further the purposes of this chap-21
145	145	ter.’’. 22
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148	148	•S 364 IS
149	149	SEC. 7. IMPOSITION OF TAX ON FIREARM SILENCERS OR 1
150	150	FIREARM MUFFLERS. 2
151	151	(a) I
152	152	NGENERAL.—Section 4181 of the Internal Rev-3
153	153	enue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end of 4
154	154	the list relating to ‘‘Articles taxable at 10 percent’’ the 5
155	155	following: 6
156	156	‘‘Firearm silencers or firearm mufflers.’’. 7
157	157	(b) F
158	158	IREARMSILENCERS; FIREARMMUFFLERS.— 8
159	159	Section 4181 of such Code is amended by adding at the 9
160	160	end the following: 10
161	161	‘‘For purposes of this part, the terms ‘firearm si-11
162	162	lencer’ and ‘firearm muffler’ mean any device for silenc-12
163	163	ing, muffling, or diminishing the report of a portable fire-13
164	164	arm.’’. 14
165	165	(c) C
166	166	ONFORMINGAMENDMENTS.— 15
167	167	(1) Section 4181 of such Code is amended by 16
168	168	striking ‘‘other than pistols and revolvers’’ and in-17
169	169	serting ‘‘other than articles taxable at 10 percent 18
170	170	under this section’’. 19
171	171	(2) Section 4182(b) of such Code is amended 20
172	172	by striking ‘‘firearms, pistols, revolvers, shells, and 21
173	173	cartridges’’ and inserting ‘‘articles described in sec-22
174	174	tion 4181 and’’. 23
175	175	(3) Section 4182(c)(1) of such Code is amended 24
176	176	by striking ‘‘or firearm’’ and inserting ‘‘firearm, 25
177	177	firearm silencer, or firearm muffler,’’. 26
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180	180	•S 364 IS
181	181	(d) EFFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 1
182	182	this section shall apply to articles sold by the manufac-2
183	183	turer, producer, or importer in any calendar quarter be-3
184	184	ginning more than 90 days after the date of the enactment 4
185	185	of this Act. 5
186	186	Æ
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