Senator Chris Murphy recently proposed a staggering $4,709 federal tax on some popular firearms. His latest attack comes mere weeks after Congress passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which zeroed out outdated federal gun taxes that the ATF itself admitted were meant to ‘discourage or eliminate’ lawful firearm transfers – and violate your Second Amendment rights in the process.
The Connecticut Democrat’s latest anti-gun proposal isn’t merely another assault on gun owners. Murphy knows it won’t pass this Republican-controlled Senate; but passing it was never the point. Instead, the move is part of a broader, long-term strategy to erase the Second Amendment from American life, piece by piece. It’s designed to normalize radical restrictions on Americans’ rights, shift the Overton window, and lay the groundwork for a future Congress less inclined to defend the Constitution.
In just the past seven months, Murphy has backed six bills attacking gun owners – including efforts to ban pro-gun speech. And he’s not acting alone. Murphy and his anti-gun allies are on offense, aggressively advancing their anti-freedom agenda with discipline and coordination.
Unfortunately, while Murphy and his allies are playing offense to move their anti-freedom agenda forward, too many Second Amendment supporters in Congress are stuck playing defense. They respond instead of lead. And in Washington, those who don’t lead inevitably lose ground.
For example, some important federal firearm law repeals in the Senate version of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act were undermined by a single, unelected staffer: Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough. Senate Republicans went along with MacDonough’s non-binding, advisory opinion and pulled key pro-rights provisions from the bill. And Americans lost. Republican leadership should replace MacDonough with someone who won’t stand in the way of restoring constitutional rights.
If pro-Second Amendment lawmakers don’t act boldly now, they will squander the best opportunity in a generation to roll back unconstitutional gun control laws and pass key protections for the right to keep and bear arms. There are two urgent reforms Congress must advance before this small window of opportunity slams shut.
First, Congress must guarantee the fundamental right to carry nationwide. While the Supreme Court made clear that the Second Amendment protects the right to carry a firearm in public, anti-gun states like New York, New Jersey, and California continue to expand their gun control laws, restrict the right to bear arms, and arrest and prosecute peaceable Americans. These abuses aren’t isolated incidents, but part of a deliberate campaign to sidestep the Supreme Court through both red tape and aggressive new laws.
Second Amendment right-to-carry lawsuits around the country – from California to New York – make it crystal clear that we need strong national carry reciprocity and to preempt state and local laws that infringe on the right to possess, carry, and transport firearms, ammunition, and accessories for lawful purposes like self-defense, hunting, and training.
That’s not federal overreach – it’s Congress doing its job. In fact, the Fourteenth Amendment explicitly gives Congress the authority to protect and enforce Americans’ constitutional rights nationwide. They should use that authority today because the right to bear arms cannot be allowed to end at state lines.
Federal lawmakers should also take aim at one of the most outdated and unconstitutional laws on the books: the National Firearms Act. Enacted during the New Deal era – one of the most constitutionally destructive times in American history – the NFA imposes a tax-and-registration scheme on constitutionally protected firearms and accessories, including suppressors and rifles, that has no basis in the nation’s historical tradition of firearms regulation. Under the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, any restriction on the right to keep and bear arms must align with that tradition. The NFA fails that test, and it’s time Congress repealed it once and for all.
These reforms aren’t optional – they’re a constitutional imperative. And they can be included in must-pass legislation like a continuing resolution or reconciliation bill. There has never been a better time for Congress to act.
Pro-Second Amendment Republicans and Democrats have a once-in-a-generation chance to stop playing defense and start advancing bold, meaningful reforms to protect the right to keep and bear arms. Senator Murphy and his anti-gun allies are already planning for the next decade – and they’re not waiting to strike. If gun rights supporters in Congress want to preserve liberty, they must go on offense now and deliver real wins for the Constitution and the American people.