Overnight, the U.S. Senate added pro-gun tax relief language back into the Reconciliation bill after the Senate Parliamentarian struck out an earlier provision. While this new provision is not as expansive as the language we advocated for which would have removed suppressors, short-barreled rifles (SBR), short-barreled shotguns (SBS), and “any other weapons” (AOW) from the National Firearms Act (NFA), it does remove the $200 dollar unconstitutional and punitive tax on these items.
While this is far from what is needed, it is still a step in the right direction to eliminate the unconstitutional tax imposed on these NFA items. Please call your U.S. Senators at (202) 224-3121 and urge them to reduce the NFA tax on suppressors, SBR’s, SBS’s, and AOW’s to $0 today!
How did we get here and why didn’t we get the items removed from the NFA?
The removal language, which we advocated for, was deemed to violate the “Byrd Rule” by the Harry Reid appointed Senate Parliamentarian. The “Byrd Rule” is a process that is used when considering reconciliation measures by the U.S. Senate. This process allows measures that would typically require a 60-vote threshold in the U.S. Senate to only require a simple majority. The “Byrd Rule” determination is made by the Senate Parliamentarian based upon a number of factors including whether the provision would increase or decrease revenues, and whether the change in revenue would be “merely incidental” to the other alterations that the provision would make to public law.
Once a provision is deemed to be violative of the “Byrd Rule,” that same language cannot be reintroduced to the bill. And while we strongly disagree with the ruling of the Senate Parliamentarian, we worked to include provisions that would pass the “Byrd Rule” and benefit NRA members and law-abiding gun owners.
Your NRA-ILA will continue to update you on the Reconciliation Bill as it moves its way through Congress.
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