Hearing Protection Act

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2050 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to remove silencers from the definition of firearms, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 15, 2021 Mr. CRAPO (for himself, Ms. ERNST, Mr. CRAMER, Mr. RISCH, Mr. MORAN, Mr. CORNYN, Mr. MARSHALL, Mr. BOOZMAN, Mrs. CAPITO, Mr. LANKFORD, Mr. COTTON, Mr. BRAUN, Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina, Mr. INHOFE, and Mr. TILLIS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to remove silencers from the definition of firearms, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Hearing Protection 4 Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. EQUAL TREATMENT OF SILENCERS AND FIREARMS. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 5845(a) of the Internal 7 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by striking ‘‘(7) any 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:10 Jun 23, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2050.IS S2050 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 2050 IS silencer’’ and all that follows through ‘‘; and (8)’’ and in- 1 serting ‘‘and (7)’’. 2 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 3 this section shall apply to calendar quarters beginning 4 more than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this 5 Act. 6 SEC. 3. TREATMENT OF CERTAIN SILENCERS. 7 Section 5841 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 8 is amended by adding at the end the following: 9 ‘‘(f) FIREARM SILENCERS.—A person acquiring or 10 possessing a firearm silencer in accordance with chapter 11 44 of title 18, United States Code, shall be treated as 12 meeting any registration and licensing requirements of the 13 National Firearms Act with respect to such silencer.’’. 14 SEC. 4. PREEMPTION OF CERTAIN STATE LAWS IN RELA- 15 TION TO FIREARM SILENCERS. 16 Section 927 of title 18, United States Code, is 17 amended by adding at the end the following: ‘‘Notwith- 18 standing the preceding sentence, a law of a State or a 19 political subdivision of a State that imposes a tax, other 20 than a generally applicable sales or use tax, on making, 21 transferring, using, possessing, or transporting a firearm 22 silencer in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce, or 23 imposes a marking, recordkeeping or registration require- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:10 Jun 23, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2050.IS S2050 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 2050 IS ment with respect to such a firearm silencer, shall have 1 no force or effect.’’. 2 SEC. 5. DESTRUCTION OF RECORDS. 3 Not later than 365 days after the date of the enact- 4 ment of this Act, the Attorney General shall destroy any 5 registration of a silencer maintained in the National Fire- 6 arms Registration and Transfer Record pursuant to sec- 7 tion 5841 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, any ap- 8 plication to transfer filed under section 5812 of the Inter- 9 nal Revenue Code of 1986 that identifies the transferee 10 of a silencer, and any application to make filed under sec- 11 tion 5822 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 that iden- 12 tifies the maker of a silencer. 13 SEC. 6. AMENDMENTS TO TITLE 18, UNITED STATES CODE. 14 Chapter 44 of title 18, United States Code, is amend- 15 ed— 16 (1) in section 921(a), by striking paragraph 17 (24) and inserting the following: 18 ‘‘(24)(A) The terms ‘firearm silencer’ and ‘firearm 19 muffler’ mean any device for silencing, muffling, or dimin- 20 ishing the report of a portable firearm, including the key- 21 stone part of such a device. 22 ‘‘(B) The term ‘keystone part’— 23 ‘‘(i) means, with respect to a firearm silencer or 24 firearm muffler, an externally visible part of a fire- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:10 Jun 23, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2050.IS S2050 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 2050 IS arm silencer or firearm muffler, without which a de- 1 vice capable of silencing, muffling, or diminishing 2 the report of a portable firearm cannot be assem- 3 bled; and 4 ‘‘(ii) does not include any interchangeable parts 5 designed to mount a firearm silencer or firearm 6 muffler to a portable firearm.’’; 7 (2) in section 922(b)— 8 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘shotgun 9 or rifle’’ the first place it appears and inserting 10 ‘‘shotgun, rifle, firearm silencer, or firearm 11 muffler’’; and 12 (B) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘rifle or 13 shotgun’’ and inserting ‘‘shotgun, rifle, firearm 14 silencer, or firearm muffler’’; and 15 (3) in section 923(i)— 16 (A) by striking ‘‘Licensed’’ and inserting 17 the following: ‘‘(1) In the case of a firearm 18 other than a firearm silencer or firearm muf- 19 fler, licensed’’; and 20 (B) by adding at the end the following: 21 ‘‘(2) In the case of a firearm silencer or firearm muf- 22 fler, licensed importers and licensed manufacturers shall 23 identify by means of a serial number engraved or cast on 24 the keystone part of the firearm silencer or firearm muf- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:10 Jun 23, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2050.IS S2050 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 2050 IS fler, in such manner as the Attorney General shall by reg- 1 ulations prescribe, each firearm silencer or firearm muffler 2 imported or manufactured by such importer or manufac- 3 turer, except that, if a firearm silencer or firearm muffler 4 does not have a clearly identifiable keystone part or has 5 multiple keystone parts, licensed importers or licensed 6 manufacturers shall submit a request for a marking vari- 7 ance to the Attorney General. The Attorney General shall 8 grant such a request except on showing good cause that 9 marking the firearm silencer or firearm muffler as re- 10 quested would not further the purposes of this chapter.’’. 11 SEC. 7. IMPOSITION OF TAX ON FIREARM SILENCERS OR 12 FIREARM MUFFLERS. 13 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 4181 of the Internal Rev- 14 enue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end of 15 the list relating to ‘‘Articles taxable at 10 percent’’ the 16 following: 17 ‘‘Firearm silencers or firearm mufflers.’’. 18 (b) FIREARM SILENCERS; FIREARM MUFFLERS.— 19 Section 4181 of such Code is amended by adding at the 20 end the following: 21 ‘‘For purposes of this part, the terms ‘firearm si- 22 lencer’ and ‘firearm muffler’ mean any device for silenc- 23 ing, muffling, or diminishing the report of a portable fire- 24 arm.’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:10 Jun 23, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2050.IS S2050 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 2050 IS (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 1 (1) Section 4181 of such Code is amended by 2 striking ‘‘other than pistols and revolvers’’ and in- 3 serting ‘‘other than articles taxable at 10 percent 4 under this section’’. 5 (2) Section 4182(b) of such Code is amended 6 by striking ‘‘firearms, pistols, revolvers, shells, and 7 cartridges’’ and inserting ‘‘articles described in sec- 8 tion 4181 and’’. 9 (3) Section 4182(c)(1) of such Code is amended 10 by striking ‘‘or firearm’’ and inserting ‘‘firearm, 11 firearm silencer, or firearm muffler,’’. 12 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 13 this section shall apply to articles sold by the manufac- 14 turer, producer, or importer in any calendar quarter be- 15 ginning more than 90 days after the date of the enactment 16 of this Act. 17 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 07:10 Jun 23, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2050.IS S2050 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS