Cornyn Backs Budget Bill Provision Deregulating Firearms Silencers

The Senate is moving to deregulate firearms silencers in its long-anticipated version of the budget reconciliation bill.

The bill has passed the House and is now being debated in the Senate.

Provisions to loosen burdensome restrictions on firearms silencers have been included in the Senate Finance Committee’s legislative text for the Senate version of the budget package dubbed the “Big, Beautiful Bill.”

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who has been a champion of the provisions designed to end the encroachment on Americans’ Second Amendment rights, praised the added text. 

“No burdensome tax or regulation should infringe on law-abiding Americans’ God-given right to keep and bear arms,” he said. 

“I’m glad the Senate is joining the House to stand up for the Second Amendment and our Constitution, and I will continue to fight for these priorities as the Senate works to pass [President Donald Trump’s] One Big, Beautiful Bill,” the Texas senator added. 

Cornyn has been criticized in the past for supporting federal legislation that assisted states with red-flag laws. Those laws, also known as “extreme risk protection orders,” allow people to petition a judge to have firearms temporarily removed from a person’s possession if the judge determines an individual is a threat to himself or others.

At the same time, the Texas senator has also previously cosponsored the Hearing Protection Act, which would exempt sound suppressors from being regulated under the National Firearms Act. 

The Hearing Protection Act would also permit purchasing a firearm suppressor to be regulated in the same way as acquiring a long gun. The bill would substitute the federal transfer process for suppressors with an instantaneous background check under the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.

“For too long, firearm suppressors have been overregulated by those who want to prevent law-abiding citizens from exercising their Second Amendment rights,” the Texas lawmaker said.

The Senate Finance Committee has also included language from the Hearing Protection Act that “eliminate[s] both the transfer and manufacturing tax on suppressors.” The text additionally removes silencers from “the list of firearms in the tax code.”

Right now, the Senate committee is also supporting text that would remove short-barreled rifles and short-barreled shotguns from being subject to transfer and manufacturing taxes. The draft language also eliminates double regulation by “treating anyone who acquires or possesses these rifles, shotguns, or other weapons in compliance with federal statute to be in compliance with the state or local registration or licensing requirements.”

Cornyn is facing a GOP primary challenge from fellow Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Paxton has been leading the senior Texas senator in the polls, although the race is still quite early, and Cornyn is expected to marshal significant resources in his bid to retain his seat.

Cornyn, who has served in the Senate since 2002, performs better in hypothetical general election matchups against well-known Texas Democrats. As a result, some Republican strategists prefer Cornyn because it’s likely they would have to spend much less money defending his seat in the 2026 midterms.

The post Cornyn Backs Budget Bill Provision Deregulating Firearms Silencers appeared first on The Daily Signal.