Silencers Helping Us Save Hearing (SHUSH) Act Introduced

This week, Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) introduced the SHUSH (Silencers Helping Us Save Hearing) Act. The bill is designed to ease the federal restrictions on silencers. According to Senator Lee, the bill "is about making it easier for responsible gun owners to protect their hearing and safety while enjoying their Second Amendment right.”

From the one-pager:

This bill eliminates federal regulation of silencers as firearms under the National Firearms Act (NFA) and the Gun Control Act (GCA), removing overly burdensome taxes, fees, and registration requirements.

The bill removes current restrictions on the right to own, transport, transfer and use a silencer, including allowing current or retired law enforcement officers to carry concealed firearms with silencers.

It preempts any state regulation of the manufacture, transfer, transport or possession of silencers and strikes provisions requiring a mandatory minimum sentence for possession of a silencer in certain instances.

The bill also statutorily exempts silencers from regulation by the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Finally, for purposes of Section 5811 of the Internal Revenue Code, the bill contains a provision deeming the effective date to be two years prior to the date of enactment meaning that anyone who purchased a silencer and paid the $200 transfer tax within 2 years of the date of enactment will be eligible for a refund.

If passed, the SHUSH Act will work in conjunction with the Hearing Protection Act to achieve similar deregulation while additionally removing silencers from the Gun Control Act of 1968.

In recent years, there has been increasing support for removing suppressors from the NFA, and this bill is taking another stab at it. Senator Lee is taking the same approach as 2023's Hearing Protection Act, that silencers are safety accessories and should not be treated the same way as other NFA items.

“Suppressors are safety accessories, and their purchase should not be subject to antiquated federal controls,” Senator Mike Lee, R-UT.

It's dumb for the federal government to collect fingerprints and a $200 tax on anyone who wants to avoid going deaf while shooting their rifle, but if you watched Megan Thee Stallion twerking for the Vice President of the United States last night, you understand that we do, in fact, live in a dumb world.

The SHUSH Act does have the support of a number of gun rights organizations, such as the NRA, NSSF, GOA, and NAGR, but ultimately, I'd be surprised if common sense prevails in the current political climate. We'll keep you posted either way.

-Lee