This petition to the White House seeks to remove suppressors from the National Firearms Act:

Removal of suppressors as an NFA regulated item would eliminate the $200 tax stamp, eliminate legality and travel issues between states, reduce hearing safety concerns related to discharging firearms, and would help people be courteous neighbors when discharging firearms.

This petition to the White House seeks to remove short-barreled rifles (SBRs) from the National Firearms Act:

A rifle is a firearm with a barrel length greater than 16 inches. A Short Barreled Rifle (SBR) is a rifle with a barrel shorter than 16 inches. An SBR is less effective than a rifle but more effective than a handgun for self-defense. It is also more efficient for traversing close quarters to clear a threat from your place of residence such as a burglar, etc. As of right now, you can purchase a bull-pup rifle or rifle with a folding stock which is, in most cases, shorter in over all length than a SBR. The need to register an SBR (and Short Barreled Shotgun) is unjustified and the requirement should be removed.

It’s a wonderful thing that American citizens are becoming aware of the absurdities of the National Firearms Act (NRA) of 1934, a desperate FDR-era assault on the Second Amendment that was an attempt to deal with Prohibition-era gang war.

As a practical matter, the National Firearms Act simply doesn’t work in the 21st century. Suppressors are widely becoming recognized as a plus for both firearms owners, reducing the threat of hearing loss, and an environmental health bonus by reducing noise near firing ranges. They’re also helpful in those states where they are legal to hunting invasive non-game species, such as wide hogs.

The adoption of ATF-approved “arm braces” for pistols has rendered the SBR/SBS provisions in the National Firearms Act moot, as any pistol equipped with a arm brace is a de facto SBR.

Most citizens (I’m speaking of the non-shooting general public) are likely to want to continue requiring machine gun and destructive device registration under the Act, but there is real momentum building to remove the suppressor and SBR/SBS requirements from the Act.

Will a petition to this White House inspire this President to champion removing the suppressor and SBR/SBS provisions from the NFA? not unless he suffered sunstroke during one of his many rounds of golf.

What it might do, however, is serve as a marker for future efforts as we work as a community to gut the Act over time. Removing unconstitutional gun control laws is part of a marathon, not a sprint. Eventually, I suspect that SBRs/SBSs and suppressors will be removed from the NFA in a future Congress.