Gun owners and other freedom lovers cheered on the 4th of July when President Donald Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill with provision included that nixed the $200 tax on suppressors, short-barreled rifles (SBRs), short-barreled shotguns (SBSs) and “any other firearms” as defined by the National Firearms Act (NFA).
With the law set to take effect at the first of the year, we are only weeks away from purchasing suppressors and other NFA items without having to fork over $200 extra for no good reason.
However, Democrats in Congress don’t want that day to come. To head it off, Democrats in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate have introduced a measure that would, as they say, repeal the “horrific gun tax cuts,” with the money raised going into Medicare.
The Medicare Investment and Gun Violence Prevention Act was introduced by Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Florida, Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, D-Maryland, and Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, alongside Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Maryland, Sen. Cory Booker, D-New Jersey, and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-New Hampshire. The lawmakers estimate their plan would pump $1.7 billion into Medicare over the next 10 years.
Of course, by earmarking the tax for Medicare, these gun-haters are insinuating that suppressors, SBRs and SBSs are often used in what they call “gun violence.” Ironically, suppressors and those types of guns are very seldomly used by violent criminals.
“Trump’s so-called ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ doesn’t just slash life-saving programs like SNAP, Medicaid, and Medicare—it also makes our communities less safe by subsidizing silencers and sawed-off shotguns, weapons that make mass shootings deadlier and harder to stop,” Rep. Frost said in a news release announcing the legislation. “At a time when our country has seen more mass shootings than days in the year, and as seniors and families face rising health care costs, this legislation reverses these tax cuts and puts people’s health, safety, and well-being above the profits of the gun industry.”
Of course, the “more mass shootings than days in the year” part is a complete lie, and only works if you use the thoroughly discredited Gun Violence Archive for your statistics. But I digress. Let’s see what lies the other sponsors wish to tell.
“This legislation is a 2-for-1 response to Republicans driving up health care costs and letting guns invade our communities,” said Sen. Alsobrooks. “When Republicans snuck in tax cuts to the Big Ugly Bill on gun silencers and short-barreled rifles, they made their position clear: guns matter more than Americans’ lives. At a time when health care costs are skyrocketing, and just days after yet another tragic school shooting, now is the time to act. Our bill will repeal the unnecessary tax cuts on deadly weapons and use the money saved for Americans’ health care, which has been decimated by Republicans.”
Again, how many murders are actually committed by criminals using SBSs or suppressors? The answer is very few, or we’d be reading about them every day in the so-called “mainstream” media.
Of course, gun-ban groups, who regularly refill the sponsors of the measure’s reelection coffers, also had a few choice lies to tell.
“For nearly a century, this nation has sensibly and specially regulated silencers and certain firearms because they pose a severe threat to public safety if placed in the wrong hands,” said Mark Collins, federal policy director for the gun-ban group Brady, formerly named Handgun Control Inc. “Trump’s One Big Ugly Bill gave the gun industry a tax break on NFA weapons, including silencers, that allows them to categorically put profits over people’s lives and while also forcing massive cuts to Medicaid and Medicare—further endangering survivors of gun violence and all others who rely on these programs.”
Ultimately, with the current makeup of the House and Senate, this measure should have a hard time passing either. But that will only happen if Republicans hold the line and don’t let the minority party drag the down the wrong road, like they frequently do.
Read the full article here