By Dave Workman
By a vote of 218-214, the House of Representatives has passed President Donald Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” less than a day after the Senate also approved the measure, with a tie-breaking vote cast by Vice President J.D. Vance.
President Trump is expected to sign on Friday.
The package, according to Fox News, includes permanent extension of income tax brackets lowered by Trump during his first term, and “temporarily” adds new tax deductions on tips and overtime wages “up to certain caps.” It also provides a new tax deduction for seniors over age 65.
But most important to the Second Amendment community is the elimination of the $200 excise tax on short-barreled rifles and shotguns, suppressors and firearms which fall under the “AOW” (Any Other Weapon) definition. This tax, levied under the National Firearms Act, was designed as an economic burden to average citizens so they would be discouraged or financially prevented from owning the firearms or suppressors.
The 91-year-old NFA has been long considered essentially useless in preventing violent crime. While gun rights organizations initially wanted language included in the bill to remove the short-barreled guns, AOWs and suppressors from regulation under the NFA, that language was eliminated by the Senate Parliamentarian. Quick action by pro-gun lawmakers did the “next-best-thing” by simply eliminating the tax. Organizations including the National Rifle Association, Firearms Policy Coalition, Second Amendment Foundation and American Suppressor Association and Gun Owners of America were on board.
In a statement signed by SAF, NRA, FPC and ASA, the gun groups stated,
Passage of the legislation is a major victory for Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune. It is a crushing defeat for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), both of whom are avowed anti-gunners.
Jeffries may have actually tilted a couple of holdout Republicans to vote for the bill by launching a record-setting diatribe on the House floor.
Not one Democrat voted for the bill, a fact not lost on various leaders in the Second Amendment community. Gun owners across the country will no doubt be reminded of this next year during the mid-term election cycle.
