The Hearing Protection Act and SHORT Act may not have stripped suppressors and short-barreled long guns from the NFA list, but at least the tax stamp is gone. However, Sen. Chris Murphy thinks he can bring it back, and then some.
When the National Firearms Act was passed in 1934, the tax stamp cost was set at $200. That was an awful lot of money back then, and while it remained firm over the years, it was still more than anyone should have to pay in order to exercise their right to keep and bear arms.
Now, though, on those two categories of NFA items, the tax stamp is gone.
Murphy, though, has introduced an amendment to the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2026 that would change things well beyond where they were.
SA 2973. Mr. MURPHY submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill H.R. 3944, making appropriations for military construction, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2026, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows: At the appropriate place, insert the following: SEC. ___. INCREASE IN TRANSFER AND MANUFACTURING TAXES FOR FIREARMS REGULATED UNDER THE NATIONAL FIREARMS ACT. (a) Transfer Tax.--Subsection (a) of section 5811 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended by section 70436(a) of Public Law 119-21, is amended to read as follows: ``(a) Rate.--There shall be levied, collected, and paid on firearms transferred a tax at the rate of $4,709 for each firearm transferred.''. (b) Making Tax.--Section 5821(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended by section 70436(b) of Public Law 119-21, is amended-- (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ``$200'' and inserting ``$4,709'', and (2) in paragraph (2), by striking ``$0'' and inserting ``$55''. (c) Conforming Amendment.--Section 4182(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended by section 70436(c) of Public Law 119-21, is amended by striking the second sentence. (d) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall apply to calendar quarters beginning more than 90 days after the date of the enactment of Public Law 119-21. ______
Unsurprisingly, the people at Brady are loving this proposal.
Thank you @ChrisMurphyCT for introducing this critical amendment to strike the provision in the big UGLY bill that removed taxes on deadly silencers & other uniquely lethal weapons, and instead adjust taxes to reflect inflation today.https://t.co/1ofv0xBUVx
— Brady | United Against Gun Violence (@bradybuzz) July 23, 2025
Basically, Murphy is trying to not just bring back the NFA tax stamp on suppressors and short-barreled long guns, but bring the tax stamp up to the point where it would be if it were indexed to inflation.
Yeah, not super great.
However, this is more than most anti-gun Democrats were talking about doing once they had the chance. That plan was to triple the cost of the tax stamp. What Murphy is suggesting goes well beyond that. That raises an interesting question of whether those Democrats will back this or wait until they actually have the votes to do something.
Right now, they don't.
Yes, the HPA and SHORT Act squeaked by, and not without having some unfortunate trimming take place, but they still passed. I find it very difficult to fathom lawmakers who voted for that suddenly agreeing to jacking up the cost of that same tax stamp by orders of magnitude. It's just not going to happen.
But Murphy and the anti-gun crowd are going to push it anyway, because they have to pretend they're accomplishing something in order to bilk more anti-gunners out of their money.
