It’s not about the tax. Removing the tax is meaningless. It’s the registration that needs to be eliminated. Trusting the GOP to protect the 2A has always been our biggest mistake. But somehow we on the Right continue to believe in the tooth fairy.
Late Friday night, Republicans introduced new text to the reconciliation bill, trying to satisfy the Senate Parliamentarian’s view on the Byrd Rule. The new text will keep short-barreled rifles (SBRs), short-barreled shotguns (SBSs), any other weapons (AOW), and suppressors under the National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA), but would reduce the tax stamp fee to $0. Machineguns and destructive devices tax stamp fee will remain $200.
The Byrd rule is named after former U.S. Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia, a member of the Democratic Party. The Byrd Rule states that only budgetary and tax items can be passed through the reconciliation process. A reconciliation bill differs from a standard bill as only 50 votes are needed to pass it through the Senate. In contrast, any other bill requires a supermajority of 60 votes to pass due to the filibuster. Republicans argued that since the NFA is a tax law, as confirmed by the United States Supreme Court in 1937, it could be changed through reconciliation. Democrats argued that it was a policy issue, not a tax issue, and therefore off-limits to reconciliation.
The Senate Parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, a Democrat, ruled that the Hearing Protection Act (HPA) and the Stop Harassing Owners of Rifles Today (SHORT) Act violated the Byrd Rule.
By John Crump
