The Big Beautiful Bill: First Blood Against the NFA

On July 4, 2025, President Donald J. Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R. 1) into law with the kind of fanfare we’ve come to expect—a Fourth of July signing ceremony complete with fireworks, fighter flyovers, and plenty of red, white, and boom.

But beyond the spectacle was something gun owners have been fighting to undo for nearly a century: the long-standing financial burden of the National Firearms Act (NFA). The final law eliminates the $200 tax stamp on all NFA-regulated items—suppressors, SBRs, SBSs, etc.

It wasn’t everything we hoped for. But the road to get there tells a story of bold moves, last-minute amendments, political overreach, and a shot that came close to landing square in the heart of the NFA.

Where It Started: The House Version

The House introduced the One Big Beautiful Bill with modest language related to the NFA. The original text proposed a simple reform:

• Reduce the NFA tax stamp to $0.

This alone would have been a win, cutting out the financial barrier for anyone trying to own a suppressor or short-barreled rifle. But just before the final vote, an amendment was introduced that took things further. The revised House bill:

• Removed suppressors entirely from the NFA
• Left the rest of the NFA items untouched

This was a surgical strike. Lawmakers focused on suppressors—arguably the most misunderstood and over-regulated accessory in American firearms law. The amendment passed, and gun owners took notice. At this point in the process, I was thrilled. I truly thought we were about to strike gold.

Suppressor manufacturers, firearm trainers, and everyday citizens who’ve been stuck in ATF purgatory for months waiting on approval saw this as the most meaningful legislative progress on suppressors in modern history.

The Senate Goes for Broke

When the bill arrived in the Senate, Republican leadership decided to go even bigger.

Rather than stop at suppressors, they proposed:

Full elimination of all NFA restrictions on all NFA items.

That meant deregulation of:

Suppressors (already in the House version) as well as short-barreled rifles and shotguns.

To some, it was the natural next step. To others, it was a gamble—a bridge too far that risked the whole thing.

I'm not politically wise. I don't understand at any given time the balance of powers and politics but from my perspective, and hindsight being 20/20 it looks a bit like the Senate had the ball in the red zone—and then tried to throw a Hail Mary.

Ultimately, the Senate Parliamentarian struck down this more expanded version of the bill. The expanded repeal supposedly violated the Byrd Rule, which blocks non-budgetary provisions from being included in reconciliation bills. The experts I listen to call BS on this move by the Parliamentarian (I didn't even know there was such a person until this happened).

What remained? The part that affected the budget:

• The tax was zeroed out across the board.

What Passed: A Win… But Not The War

Here’s what’s now the law of the land:

• The $200 NFA tax stamp is eliminated for all NFA items
• Registration, background checks, and transfer delays remain intact
• Suppressors are still under the NFA, despite the House version attempting to delist them

It’s not the sweeping repeal many hoped for. But it’s the first meaningful cut into the NFA’s power structure since 1934—and it sets up the next fight.

What’s Next?

Second Amendment organizations are already preparing lawsuits that aim to finish what Congress couldn’t. With the tax justification gone, attorneys are preparing to argue that many NFA provisions no longer serve a compelling government interest.

Gun rights leaders have been blunt:

“They killed the tax. Now we kill the registry.”

If future litigation succeeds in overturning the registration and transfer requirements, this bill may be remembered as the domino that started the collapse, and ultimately I'm trying to remind myself that we are better off right now than we were when this bill was first proposed in the house.