When President Donald Trump (R) signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB) into law on July 4, 2025, he scheduled the end of the burdensome $200 excise tax imposed on suppressors, short-barreled firearms and “any other weapons” as defined by the National Firearms Act (NFA).
That end came on January 1.
“By eliminating the excise tax on these NFA items, the OBBB will not only lift the heavy burden of an unconstitutional tax from the backs of hardworking Americas, it will also serve as a critical step towards our ultimate goal of dismantling the NFA once and for all. But there is much work yet to be done,” said John Commerford, executive director of the NRA Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) just after this legislation was signed.
“While the final bill is far from perfect, this bill represents the first major reduction of taxes imposed on law-abiding gun owners in decades and the first significant repeal of NFA provisions since its inception nearly a century ago. Additionally, this legislation opens the NFA to new legal challenges which could finally put an end to the NFA and its infringement on our Second Amendment Rights,” reported NRA-ILA at the time.
Soon after President Trump signed the OBBB, NRA-ILA, along with others, sued the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) in a suit known as Brown v. ATF that challenges the NFA’s registration requirements for items like suppressors and short-barreled rifles. Without the tax provision, it is nothing but an unconstitutional gun registry.
We’ll keep you posted as this legal challenge proceeds.
