Update — August 14, 2026
The tax cut described here did pass — the stamp has been $0 since January 1, 2026. Registration was not repealed by Congress, but on August 5, 2026 a federal court struck it down for suppressors in Silencer Shop Foundation v. ATF, for the parties to that case only. Our process at the shop is unchanged. Read our current breakdown of where the law actually stands →
Fair warning up front: this post is a snapshot of a fight that was still moving when I wrote it. NFA reform legislation changes week to week, so check the current status of the law before you make any buying decisions based on what’s here.
I’m Lance Rankin at Western Sport in Roanoke, Texas. As a Type 07 FFL with an SOT, suppressors and short-barreled rifles are a big part of what I sell and build, so when Congress starts talking about pulling them out of the National Firearms Act entirely, I sit up straight.
What’s on the table
The video above is from Gun Owners of America, featuring a conversation with Senator Steve Daines of Montana about the reconciliation package the president dubbed the “One Big Beautiful Bill” (HR1). The push, driven by GOA and allied lawmakers, is to remove suppressors, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, and AOWs from the NFA’s tax-and-registration scheme altogether.
Per Daines, the suppressor language made it through the House, but when the bill reached the Senate the short-barreled firearm provisions had been stripped out. He and others moved to get that language reinserted, and at the time of the interview it was back in. His line was that they were going to “make it a little more beautiful by getting the short provision into the bill.”
Why I care, and why you should
I walk customers through NFA paperwork all the time. A guy wants a suppressor to protect his hearing, or wants to put a stock on a braced pistol, and instead of walking out with it he pays a tax, submits fingerprints and photos, and waits on the ATF. For a tax stamp and months of waiting, he gets a quieter rifle that was legal for him to own the whole time. That’s the system we’re talking about reforming.
Daines made the constitutional argument plainly: “shall not be infringed” doesn’t come with a taxation carve-out. He also made the practical one. He runs suppressors on his own rifles, as do a lot of hunters in Montana, because muzzle blast is a hearing hazard, not a movie prop. Nothing about a 10.3-inch barrel versus a 16-inch barrel changes who’s holding the gun. If you’ve read my MK18 buyer’s guide, you know how much of the pistol-versus-SBR decision is pure paperwork, not function.
Where it stood, and what GOA asked for
At the time of the video, the bill was in the Senate with a floor vote expected within weeks and a margin that GOA’s Erich Pratt figured could come down to one or two votes. If it passed with the short-barreled provisions intact, it would head back to the House for another vote. Both Daines and Pratt asked gun owners to keep calling and emailing their senators rather than assuming it was done. “We are close to being across the finish line,” as Pratt put it.
Check the current status before you act
As of this writing, the final shape of the bill wasn’t settled, and reconciliation bills have a way of getting trimmed by Senate rules before passage. Whatever passed may look different from what was promised in this interview, so verify the current NFA rules before you buy or build anything that depends on them.
If you’re in the DFW area and want a suppressor or SBR under whatever the rules turn out to be, that’s exactly what my shop does. I’m a Type 07 FFL/SOT dealer in Roanoke and I handle the paperwork side every week. Email [email protected] or call 817-393-4000 and I’ll give you the current lay of the land.
Lance Rankin is the owner and Chief Gunsmith of Western Sport, a family-run Type 07 FFL and Class 3/SOT dealer in Roanoke, Texas, serving shooters since 2007. Born and raised in Texas with over 50 years of experience handling firearms, Lance purchased Western Sport in 2017 and turned his lifelong passion into his profession. He specializes in AR-15 and AR-10 platform rifles, manufactures Western Sport’s own AR-15 line under the Rankin Industries brand, and runs the shop’s in-house Cerakote coating operation. When he’s not behind the counter or the workbench, you’ll find him on his ranch deep into the night, hunting coyotes with an AR-15 and thermal optics. Lance holds an MBA and personally shoots and tests the products Western Sport sells.
