It’s Time to Get Serious Over One Big Beautiful Bill Provisions

A Senate committee added the SHORT Act to the One Big Beautiful Bill. The Hearing Protection Act was already included. Should both of these survive to become law, the National Firearms Act will be gutted. The only thing that would remain are machine guns, and those can be addressed in time.

This is a big thing, and it’s not something I actually expected to even be possible just a couple of weeks ago. I thought we’d be lucky with the Hearing Protection Act, and was good. We could revisit the SHORT Act later if we had to. I wanted more, but I’d have still been thrilled.

Now, though, we’ve got an opportunity many of us never dreamed would be possible.

The thing is, though, we can’t just coast. We can’t just pat ourselves on the back and call it a day. We’ve got to step up and take some action.

The National Association for Gun Rights (NAGR) is passing the word to Congress not to screw around.

The National Association for Gun Rights (NAGR) is warning Congress: Gun owners are watching, and they expect action. The latest draft of the Senate Finance Committee’s reconciliation bill includes long-overdue rollbacks of the National Firearms Act — repealing the tax on suppressors, short-barreled rifles, and short-barreled shotguns.

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However, the Finance Committee omitted critical preemption language protecting suppressors, an apparent oversight, as the bill does contain similar language for SBRs,  SBSs, and AOWs.

National Association for Gun Rights is urging all gun owners to call their Senators and demand that suppressor preemption be added to the final draft and the bill be passed.

National Association for Gun Rights is also demanding Senate Republican Leadership defend these pro-gun provisions against hostile efforts by Senate Democrats to gut them from the bill.

“This is a test,” Brown said. “The NFA is a tax, and gun owners will remember who stood strong to repeal it — and who caved. Pass it, or prepare to explain why you didn’t in the next election.”

Yes, I want the Hearing Protection Act returned to the Senate version, but there will also be a reconciliation process that can add it back as well, especially since the House included that.

Still, the fight is far from over, and it’s imperative that we contact our representatives and make it very, very clear where we stand on the issue of both of these important bits of legislation.

And, perhaps more importantly, make them fear for their jobs if they don’t back it.

See, that’s the thing the gun rights movement has lost. They’ve stopped making lawmakers afraid for their careers if they cross us. Supposedly pro-gun lawmakers in too many places are secure in their belief that they have job security no matter what, especially so long as they don’t pass gun control.

But there’s a difference between being pro-gun and anti-gun control. Standing up for the status quo is fine up to a point, but only when you’re trying to stem the tide of anti-gun zealotry.

You need a pro-gun sensibility to advance anything.

As it stands, we’ve got a chance we’ve never had before. We have an opportunity to restore a pile of our gun rights here and now. Lawmakers who squander this opportunity need to brush up their resumes, and we need them to understand this in their very soul.