Hearing Protection Act

Bill Summary

The “Hearing Protection Act” (S. 364) would remove firearm silencers (also called suppressors) from the National Firearms Act (NFA) and treat them like ordinary firearms under the Gun Control Act (GCA). Today, silencers are tightly regulated by the NFA: buyers must pay a $200 transfer tax, submit fingerprints and photographs, undergo an extensive ATF review, and wait months for approval; silencers are also registered in a federal NFA database. This bill would end that regime for silencers and replace it with the same framework that applies to most non‑NFA firearms, while adding a manufacturer-level excise tax.

Key changes and how they work:

- Removing silencers from the NFA: Section 2 strikes silencers from the NFA’s definition of “firearm,” which eliminates the NFA’s $200 transfer tax, its registration and transfer approvals (Forms 1 and 4), and its intensive federal licensing/registration requirements for civilian owners. Section 3 then clarifies that people who acquire or possess silencers in accordance with the GCA (i.e., through standard firearm dealer processes) are deemed to have met any NFA registration/licensing requirements—because silencers will no longer be NFA items.

- State preemption on certain requirements: Section 4 creates a targeted federal preemption. States and localities may not impose special taxes (other than generally applicable sales or use taxes) on making, transferring, using, possessing, or transporting silencers, and may not impose marking, recordkeeping, or registration requirements specific to silencers. This aims to prevent a patchwork of state-level registries or special fees. The preemption does not explicitly bar states from outright bans or from general firearm policies (such as universal background checks) that are not framed as silencer-specific “marking, recordkeeping, or registration” rules, though the scope of “recordkeeping” could be litigated if applied to silencer-specific purchase permits.

- Destruction of existing NFA records: Section 5 directs the Attorney General to destroy, within one year of enactment, existing NFA silencer registrations and any NFA transfer/making applications that identify transferees or makers of silencers. This would erase the current federal registry trail for silencers and eliminate legacy data used for tracing under the NFA; ordinary GCA dealer records and serial numbers would remain.

- Clarifying definitions and sales rules under the GCA: Section 6 updates the definition of “firearm silencer” and “firearm muffler,” and adjusts certain sales provisions. Importantly, it amends 18 U.S.C. 922(b) so silencers are treated like rifles and shotguns for two key purposes: (1) licensed dealers could sell silencers to 18–20-year-olds (as with long guns), rather than limiting sales to 21+; and (2) licensed dealers could sell silencers to nonresidents under the same interstate conditions that apply to long guns (i.e., a sale must comply with the laws of both states). The bill also requires serial-number marking on the outer tube or primary housing of silencers and instructs the Attorney General to grant marking variances unless there is “good cause” that a requested method would not further the chapter’s purposes.

- Replacing the NFA tax with a manufacturer excise tax: Section 7 adds silencers to the federal firearms and ammunition excise tax (FAET) at 10% at the manufacturer/importer level. This shifts revenue from the NFA’s flat $200 transfer tax to an ad valorem tax. Because FAET helps fund wildlife conservation (Pittman–Robertson), this would channel silencer sales into that program. The net fiscal effect would depend on sales volume and pricing compared with the foregone NFA revenues.

Practical effects if enacted:

- Buying a silencer would resemble buying a rifle or shotgun from a dealer: a standard Form 4473 and background check, with immediate or near-immediate transfer after approval, no $200 NFA tax, and no lengthy wait. In states without universal background check laws, private intrastate transfers of silencers could occur under the same rules that apply to other non‑NFA firearms.

- ATF would no longer process silencer Form 1 or Form 4 applications, reducing agency backlogs, and would purge historical NFA silencer records. Tracing would rely on serial markings and dealer records maintained under the GCA, not an NFA registry.

- States could not impose silencer-specific taxes, registries, or recordkeeping mandates, but they could still enforce general firearms laws. Whether silencer bans or licensing schemes survive could hinge on how courts read the preemption clause (it does not mention bans or licensing explicitly, but it does cover “registration” and “recordkeeping”).

Supporters will frame this as a safety and deregulation bill that normalizes a hearing-protection accessory and aligns U.S. policy more closely with some European countries where suppressors are common for hunters. Opponents will emphasize public safety and law enforcement concerns, including the lowered purchase age, broader interstate availability, the loss of a federal registry, and the potential for increased criminal use or harder-to-detect gunfire. The bill maintains serialization and dealer background checks but deliberately dismantles the NFA’s special restrictions and state-level registries for silencers.

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