The Hearing Protection Act has been re-introduced in 2025. The act removes silencers/gun mufflers from the National Firearms Act and places them in the same category as rifles and shotguns.
The introduced act does this by adding silencers/gun mufflers to applicable laws that now cover firearms, more specifically, rifles and shotguns, and removing them from the National Firearms Act.
Hearing Protection Act has Of 2025
In Title 18, United States Code, in section 922(b) —
(A) in paragraph (1), by striking
“shotgun or rifle”the first place it appears and inserting “shotgun, rifle, firearms silencer or firearm muffler”; and(B) in paragraph (3) by striking
“rifle or shotgun”and inserting “shotgun, rifle, firearms silencer or muffler”; and
The bill also changes the tax on firearms silencers/gun mufflers from the NFA $200 tax stamp to that of the current tax on firearms of 10%.
Bonus: The bill demands the destruction of all current NFA registration records of silencers/gun mufflers within 365 days of the Act’s enactment.
A specific provision in the bill states that the requirements in the Hearing Protection Act meet any registration and licensing requirements of the National Firearms Act with respect to silencers. This provision meets some state requirements that require silencers purchased and possessed in a state to meet the federal NFA requirements. Arizona has such a requirement. Without such a provision, it would require changes in state legislation to make silencers legal to possess in many states.
The bill has a preemption section that forbids states from imposing a silencer tax or requiring taxes on making, transferring, using, possessing, or transporting a firearm silencer in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce, or from imposing a marking, recordkeeping, or registration requirement with respect to such a firearm silencer.
The definition of silencers/gun mufflers has been reformed to only include the outer tube or other single part that provides the primary housing or primary structure of the silencer. This definition replaces the old definition, which included any part of a silencer that was specifically used and designed for a silencer. This definition eliminates the previous definition, which made any silencer part a legal “silencer.” The definition was sometimes stretched to include freeze plugs, o-rings, and washers as silencers under the law.
Because silencers would be placed in the same category as rifles and shotguns, most states would allow silencers to be purchased across state lines, just as rifles and shotguns are at present. Silencers could be sold and transferred just as rifles and shotguns are today. It is unclear how the eight states that currently ban ownership of silencers would fare under this bill. The outright ban on ownership is being challenged in federal court in Illinois. Massachusetts is considering bills to legalize the ownership of silencers. New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Delaware, California, and Hawaii are the other six states that currently ban silencers.
Analysis:
Because the Hearing Protection Act concerns taxes, it should be included in the reconciliation bill, which deals with the budget. If the act passes, expect additional legal challenges to outright bans on silencer/gun muffler possession and ownership in the eight states where the possession of silencers is banned by state law.
The text of the Hearing Protection Act has not been officially entered into the House of Representatives as of this writing, but it should be soon. As with all legislation, amendments and horsetrading are possible until the legislation actually passes.
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Conversations with Brandon Maddox, the Hearing Protection Act (HPA)
About Dean Weingarten:
Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of Constitutional Carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.
It’s not perfect, but it’s better than the system we have now. Trump and the GOP better move on this.
The whole NFA, GCA, and whatever amendments to them all need to go. They are blatantly unconstitutional and repealing them is necessary for the preservation of our God-given right to keep and bear arms.
Great, just add it to reconciliation, a must pass bill, and slip in an amendment that SBR’s are also included in the text of the bill, and what the heck, let’s amend it to include machine guns and any other weapon as well! That eviscerates the NFA in one clean move!