Senator Murphy Moves to Reverse NFA Tax Repeal with $4,709 Amendment

After the success of H.R.1 and the repeal of the $200 NFA tax, Democrats fire back with a staggering proposal buried in the appropriations bill.

When H.R.1 passed with the embedded repeal of the $200 NFA tax — a move long championed by Second Amendment advocates — it wasn’t just a win. It was a signal. A message that the Overton window had shifted and that gun rights legislation could be advanced through the same procedural tools used to pass healthcare mandates and spending bills.

But now the counterattack has begun.

On July 22, 2025, Senator Chris Murphy (D–CT) quietly introduced Amendment SA 3012 to H.R.3944, the FY2026 Military Construction and VA Appropriations Act. The proposal? A massive increase to the NFA tax, raising it from $200 to $4,709 for most items, with the AOW category jumping from $5 to $55.

The timing caught many off guard — not because it was unexpected in principle, but because Murphy moved without waiting for a Democratic majority. Traditionally, the anti-gun left has waited for political advantage before acting. But H.R.1 changed that. It showed them what was possible.

Murphy’s amendment likely won’t pass. Not this year. But that’s not the point.

It puts the idea into the public sphere.
It gives their base something to rally around.
And it warns us: They’re watching. They’ve learned from H.R.1.

This is the legislative equivalent of a trial balloon — testing whether an aggressive tax hike can gain traction, whether the media will cover it favorably, and whether moderate Democrats might buckle under the pressure.

More importantly, it affirms what we said in our previous coverage:

By passing H.R.1 with the tax on certain NFA items set to $0, we poked the sleeping bear.

And now that bear is awake — and taking notes.

Stay alert. Stay informed. And keep the pressure on.