Including the Hearing Protection Act in the House was a huge win. I was absolutely beside myself with joy at its inclusion. It was something I'd long thought was out of reach, believing the best chance we had was back in 2017 and was lost forever.

But that changed.

Still, a lot of people weren't happy. They wanted more. They were upset that they didn't get more. It was enough that both Brandon Herrera and I had thoughts on the subject.

For some, the fact that the SHORT Act wasn't included was a major problem. That's what they saw as the most important issue and they figured that without that, we got nothing.

I disagree, but they're entitled to their opinion.

And I still wanted the SHORT Act, too.

Well, now we can all be happy.

🚨BREAKING🚨

The @SenFinance Cmte. has improved the One Big Beautiful Bill to FULLY REPEAL the National Firearms Act excise taxes on:

✅Suppressors
✅Short-Barreled Rifles
✅Short-Barreled Shotguns
✅Any other Weapons

This is a massive victory for the Second Amendment!

— Gun Owners of America (@GunOwners) June 16, 2025

🚨 BREAKING: The Senate Finance Committee’s text for the One Big Beautiful Bill removes suppressors, short-barreled rifles, and short-barreled shotguns from the NFA tax scheme!

This is a major win for law-abiding Americans! ASA looks forward to working with members of Congress… pic.twitter.com/VzdlNfvVF4

— American Suppressor (@AmSuppressor) June 16, 2025

Post continues:

...to ensure these items are removed from the NFA tax scheme once and for all!  

https://finance.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/finance_committee_legislative_text_title_vii.pdf

That's right, ladies and gentlemen, we got them.

Of course, this still has to get around the Byrd Rule, which shouldn't be an issue since the NFA has always been considered a tax measure in the first place. Unsurprisingly, some people will now try to claim otherwise, but that's a pretty easy dunk.

And since they're part of a budget bill, this can't be filibustered.

Should it survive, which I think is ultimately likely, what we're looking at is a day soon when we can have suppressors on our 14" barrel (or shorter) AR-15s or some flavor of PDW for home defense without pesky NFA paperwork.

We'll be able to walk into our local gun store, pick out the short-barrel long gun of our choice, pick out a suppressor as well, go through the standard gun purchase paperwork, and leave after paying for it.

We can order short-barrel uppers for our AR-15s or other firearms and slap them on our existing lowers without becoming felons.

Hell, we'll be able to put a forward grip on our Glocks or M&Ps without it becoming a felony. I don't see any reason you'd want to, mind you, but I don't like the fact that I can't.

There's still a long way to go, of course, so we still need to reach out to our senators and let them know that we want them to support this. We need to keep it up with the House, since there will now be a reconciliation process that the House will be involved in.

If they do that, then the only thing left on the NFA will be machine guns.

Sure, I want those legalized, too, but one step at a time, and we're taking a big one here.

Now, to just get it the rest of the way over the finish line.