H.R. 404: Hearing Protection Act

Since 1934, silencers have sat in the same federal category as machine guns and short-barreled shotguns. That category comes with a federal registry, an application for every transfer, and a $200 tax on each one. The 2025 budget law (H.R. 1) repealed that tax, but it left the registration system in place.

H.R. 404, the Hearing Protection Act, removes silencers from that category. If you buy a silencer through a licensed dealer after a background check, the bill counts that as meeting every federal registration and licensing requirement. In practice, a silencer would be sold the way a rifle or shotgun is sold today.

That comparison has real consequences. Licensed dealers could sell silencers to buyers 18 and older, the age limit for rifles, instead of 21. And like rifles, you could buy one in person in another state, as long as the sale is legal in both states.

The bill also orders the Attorney General to destroy, within 365 days, the federal records that register silencers and name the people who bought or made them. It then blocks state and local governments from imposing their own silencer taxes, registries, marking rules, or recordkeeping requirements. Ordinary sales taxes still apply. The text does not address states that ban silencers outright.

Silencers wouldn't go untaxed or untracked. Manufacturers and importers would pay a 10% excise tax on each one they sell, the same rate pistols carry, and each silencer would still need a serial number engraved on its outer tube. Replacement internal parts, like baffles, would no longer count as silencers on their own.

The main changes apply starting with the first calendar quarter that begins more than 90 days after the bill is signed.