Dear MSSA Friends,
There has been a considerable stir going on in D.C. about the current effort with Congress to take suppressors, short-barreled rifles and shotguns, and “any other weapons” out of the National Firearms Act, thereby removing those items from registration, taxation, and special regulatory attention. This change is being pushed to be included as a part of President Trump’s “one big beautiful” budget bill. This is a critical opportunity since the budget bill is not subject to filibuster in the Senate and can be passed with only 51 votes. As a stand-alone measure, supporters could never achieve the 60-vote majority required to override a filibuster in the Senate and get this done.
I have not reported on this to you because it has been such a fast moving target that it has been difficult to pick a point at which to report.
There are two measures under discussion here, the Hearing Protection Act, and the SHORT Act. HPA addresses suppressors and SHORT addresses SBRs, SBSs, and AOWs.
MSSA was early in signing a letter of support to get these fixes into the budget bill. See a report about this letter at:
https://www.ammoland.com/2025/05/gun-rights-groups-demand-real-reform-to-national-firearms-act
This effort has also long been pushed by Gun Owners of America, with which MSSA is associated and highly simpatico.
The current status is that the HPA has been included in the budget bill by the House, but not SHORT, and the bill has been passed on to the Senate. The immediate push is to get the Senate to add SHORT to the budget bill and approve the bill with both HPA and SHORT included.
We assume that both of Montana’s U.S. Senators Daines and Sheehy are in support of this effort to pass both the HPA and SHORT as a part of the budget, but it won’t hurt to remind them that Montana gun owners are watching, critically. A brief message to them could be something like “Please add the SHORT Act to the budget bill and pass it with both the HPA and SHORT included.”
You can message Senator Daines at:
https://www.daines.senate.gov/services/email-steve/
202-224-2651
You can message Senator Sheehy at:
https://www.sheehy.senate.gov/share-your-opinion/
202-224-2644
Thanks for your help with this.
Best wishes,
Gary Marbut, President
Montana Shooting Sports Association
Author, Gun Laws of Montana
http://www.mtpublish.com