The Parliamentarian’s Split Decision: Why Ending the NFA Tax Stamp Is Still Possible

The Senate Parliamentarian’s ruling on the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) has sent shockwaves through the Second Amendment community. But while the headlines screamed that the Hearing Protection Act (HPA) and the SHORT Act were “stripped out,” the reality is more nuanced—and more promising—than most realize.

Here’s exactly what the Parliamentarian said:

Sec. 70436. Elimination of tax on certain devices under the National Firearms Act. (CBA sections 313(b)(1)(D) (major policy) and 313(b)(1)(C))

Not sustained with respect to (a)(3) – the fee

Sustained with respect to the other provisions relating to registration.

In plain English: Repealing the $200 tax stamp is still an option.

What This Means

The Parliamentarian ruled that removing the tax itself does have a valid budgetary impact—so it could remain in a reconciliation bill if reintroduced narrowly.

However, the broader deregulation measures—like eliminating registration, transfer paperwork, and background checks—were blocked because they are not primarily budgetary.

This split decision leaves the door open for a focused repeal of the NFA tax stamp alone.

Why This Matters

For decades, the National Firearms Act has relied on the premise that it is “just a tax.” In the 1937 Supreme Court case Sonzinsky v. United States, the Court upheld the law by saying every tax has regulatory effects, and this was no different.

But in a post-Bruen legal landscape, that logic is on shaky ground. If the tax disappears and all that remains is regulation—registration, fingerprinting, transfer restrictions—the NFA starts to look a lot less like a revenue measure and a lot more like an unconstitutional infringement.

Repealing the tax stamp doesn’t just save gun owners $200. It undermines the very foundation of the NFA.

Why Overriding the Parliamentarian Could Backfire:

• Precedent of ignoring the referee:
  If a Senate majority decides to overrule the Parliamentarian now, it would weaken the traditional expectation that reconciliation is limited to narrowly budgetary measures.
• Future majorities could exploit the same tactic:
  A future Senate controlled by gun-control advocates could use the same override to pass sweeping firearm restrictions in a reconciliation bill—without needing 60 votes.
• Examples of what might follow:
  • Reinstate the $200 NFA tax stamp (or adjust it for inflation, raising it to over $4,000)
  • Expand NFA-style taxes and registration to AR-15s, standard-capacity magazines, or all semiautomatic firearms
  • Do so via budget reconciliation, bypassing the filibuster
• Strategic concern:
  Even if overriding the Parliamentarian feels justified in the short term, it could create a long-lasting tool that future Senates will not hesitate to use for very different goals.

In 2013, then–Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Democrats grew frustrated with Republicans filibustering judicial and executive branch nominees. So they used the so-called “nuclear option”: they changed the rules to allow confirmations by a simple majority, instead of the 60-vote threshold.

🔹 Short-Term Gain:
Reid got his judges and Obama’s appointments confirmed quickly.

🔹 Long-Term Consequence:
When Republicans took control of the Senate, Mitch McConnell expanded that precedent to Supreme Court nominees, enabling Trump to confirm three Supreme Court Justices (Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, Barrett) with 51 votes.

This fundamentally altered the balance of the Court for a generation.

What Happens Next

Senate Republicans have a choice:

• Rewrite and refile a narrower provision that repeals only the $200 tax. Do not let them merely lower the tax. It must be fully repealed, or we stand no chance to dismantle the NFA in court.
• Do nothing and let the Parliamentarian’s ruling be the end of the conversation.

There is no procedural excuse anymore. The Parliamentarian explicitly said the tax repeal itself is budget-related.

The only question now is whether Senate leadership has the will to act.

The Path Forward

If you care about dismantling the NFA, this is the time to speak up. Removing the tax alone is the best legal strategy in the long run—even if it doesn’t end registration today.

The butcher’s knife didn’t carve everything out. It left the heart of the matter—the tax—still on the table.

Lawmakers should reintroduce this provision immediately. And if they won’t, gun owners should demand new leadership that will. And while we’re at it, add the machine gun tax to the list. Let’s repeal all NFA taxes—every last one of them.

Take Action

Call your Senators and Representatives today. Tell them if they reintroduce this provision, it must fully repeal the $200 tax—not lower it. Anything less leaves the NFA’s power intact. Your voice is the difference between a token gesture and a real step toward ending this unconstitutional law. It was because of your voices that the HPA and the SHORT acts were included in the first place!

Stay tuned. This fight is far from over.