The struggle to dismantle the National Firearms Act (NFA) has reached a critical juncture in Congress, with Gun Owners of America (GOA) spearheading efforts to eliminate the burdensome taxes imposed on suppressors, short-barreled rifles (SBRs), short-barreled shotguns (SBSs), and other weapons (AOWs). In a recent Senate vote, a budget reconciliation bill reduced these taxes to $0—a step forward, yet a far cry from the complete repeal GOA demanded and worked for since the November 2024 election.
Now, GOA is calling on House Republicans to “insert a full repeal of the NFA excise tax on suppressors & short-barreled firearms [and] send it back to the Senate to fire/overrule the Parliamentarian.” But the fate of the bill in the House is uncertain, and many on Capitol Hill wonder whether it will reach the President’s desk by July 4, 2025.
Through budget reconciliation—a process allowing budget-related legislation to pass the Senate with a simple majority of 51 votes—GOA saw an opportunity to strike down these taxes. However, the Senate’s Byrd Rule, which excludes non-budgetary provisions from reconciliation bills, posed a significant obstacle from the beginning.
BREAKING
The Senate just passed H.R. 1 with the $0 NFA tax stamp 51-50, with @JDVance breaking the tie.@HouseGOP should insert a full repeal of the NFA excise tax on suppressors & short-barreled firearms & send it back to the Senate to fire/overrule the Parliamentarian. pic.twitter.com/z8ZvWer8uM
— Gun Owners of America (@GunOwners) July 1, 2025
GOA’s campaign to gut the NFA began in September 2024, upon learning of Republicans’ plan to undertake the budget reconciliation process, only to face opposition by other gun groups, betrayal by the firearm industry, compromise by weak Republicans, and ultimately a highly partisan ruling from the Senate Parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough. Many in Washington, D.C., only supported a modest reduction in the suppressor tax to $5 and leaving short-barreled firearms, machineguns, and destructive devices at $200.
Throughout the process, GOA consistently fought to pursue a bolder vision: the total repeal of NFA taxes and registration requirements for suppressors, SBRs, SBSs, and AOWs.
In January 2025, GOA was actively engaged with Congress behind the scenes, collaborating with dedicated Second Amendment advocates such as Representatives Ben Cline and Andrew Clyde, and Senators Mike Crapo and Roger Marshall, sponsors of the Hearing Protection Act and SHORT Act. By February, GOA presented its plan to the appropriate committees and began coordinating with leadership offices as well as other gun rights organizations.
In April, GOA got word that the House Ways and Means Committee was preparing to compromise and propose only a limited NFA tax reduction for suppressors to $5, a measure GOA deemed wholly inadequate at this early stage in the process. Rallying its grassroots supporters in early May, GOA triggered a flood of thousands of calls to the committee. This pressure, bolstered by Rep. Clyde’s advocacy, ultimately secured an amendment at the House Rules Committee to fully deregulate suppressors under the NFA. On May 22, 2025, the House passed the bill—a triumph GOA and our members celebrated.
GOA escalated their efforts in the Senate, seeing an opportunity to build on our victory in the House and expand it to fully repeal short-barreled firearms from the NFA. GOA worked closely with Senators Daines, Marshall and Finance Committee Chairman Crapo to insert a full repeal of NFA taxes for both suppressors and short-barreled firearms into the Senate text—a “massive victory” in gun rights history.
But the “Byrd Bath” loomed, and a couple of weeks later, Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough ruled that the repeal violated the Byrd Rule. This highly partisan decision rightly infuriated gun owners, since excise tax cuts and repeals have always been permitted under budget reconciliation.
The NFA became the first and only excise tax repeal in history to be ruled out of compliance with the Senate’s Byrd Rule.
Nevertheless, GOA began a two-pronged strategy to work within the Rules of the U.S. Senate and to overturn this egregious decision. GOA’s grassroots activists pressed Senate Majority Leader John Thune to remove MacDonough and urged Vice President JD Vance, with President Trump’s endorsement, to overrule her decision.
At the same time, GOA helped Senate Republicans revise the bill text to comply with the Parliamentarian’s ruling, which ultimately reduced the NFA tax to $0 for suppressors and short-barreled firearms. Upon further review, this language was deemed to satisfy the Byrd Rule and ultimately passed the Senate 51-50, with Vice President Vance casting the decisive vote.
As of July 1, 2025, the bill has returned to the House, where its fate hangs in the balance. It remains unclear whether the House will accept the Senate’s version or demand further revisions by July 4.
While the $0 tax alleviates the financial burden on gun owners, it stops short of dismantling the NFA’s unconstitutional framework. This partial measure may undermine the law’s legal basis—upheld by the Supreme Court in 1937 as a tax—and could open avenues for future judicial challenges.
GOA’s proactive leadership distinguished its approach. While other organizations entered the fray later when the House Ways and Means Committee went public in May, GOA began lobbying behind the scenes to gut the NFA immediately after the 2024 election.
The Senate’s failure to secure a full NFA repeal marks a profound disappointment for GOA and its supporters. And the NFA remains a blatant assault on Second Amendment rights, and no compromise can obscure that reality. Undeterred, GOA pledges to press forward, in Congress and with litigation to challenge the unconstitutionality of the $0 NFA tax, to eradicate this unconstitutional burden entirely. Their campaign has elevated NFA reform to national prominence, proving the impact of unified advocacy. Gun owners must remain steadfast and vigilant—the fight is far from over.
As this article goes to press, Rep. Clyde has just filed an amendment in the House Rules Committee to restore the full repealof suppressors and short-barreled firearms from the NFA.
[NOTE: AmmoLand should have more info on this very soon.]
About John Crump
Mr. Crump is an NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. John has written about firearms, interviewed people from all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons, follow him on X at @crumpyss, or at www.crumpy.com.
“The NFA became the first and only excise tax repeal in history to be ruled out of compliance with the Senate’s Byrd Rule.”
That simple sentence says it all. It was unprecadented. That’s all the Repubs needed to say to justify over-ruling the parliamentarian.
(“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing”), this is a powerful quote. We the people have the power to make this constitutional republic whole again with the power of the vote. I personally believe this country has two, maybe three generations before it’s unrecoverable. I also believe we’ve stood idly by while the communist have infiltrated our schools, the retaking of the school curriculum is vitally important so these young and impressionable students are taught the history of this country and the reason for a constitutional republic. Senators and representatives are… Read more »
Our Government, at work. It reminds me of the constant gnawing of Carpenter Bees on the beams in my house.
HLB
Damn, Representative Clyde is a fighter. It’s about time we had one.
Senators Hawley and Schmitt: Gun owners are done playing the part of Charlie Brown to Congress’s Lucy holding the Second Amendment football. Don’t ask us for campaign money, you won’t get any. Don’t even ask us for your vote. Did you decline the advice from the parliamentarian on the HPA (Hearing Protection Act)? No. The SHORT (Stop Harassing Owners of Rifles Today) act? No. The SHUSH (Silencers Help Us Save Hearing) act? No. It’s NOT about the f***ing $200. It’s about the registration, the process, and the very concept of asking and legally requiring the government’s permission to own my choice of firearm. You did not support us in the reason… Read more »
There’s not consistency here. The NFA is in the tax code because police power is reserved to the states. It was a way to survive a 10th Amendment challenge by using the power of the purse instead, which the federal government has in spades. Either it’s a tax and it survives both the 10th and the Byrd rule, or is policy and it was always an unconstitutional usurpation of police power.
Politicians talking out of both sides of their mouth here.