The SHUSH Act — short for Silencers Help Us Save Hearing Act — is a pending federal bill (S. 345 in the Senate, H.R. 850 in the House) that would remove firearm suppressors from regulation under both the National Firearms Act and the Gun Control Act, and would override state laws that ban or tax them.1Congress.gov. S 345 – SHUSH Act, 119th Congress Senator Mike Lee introduced the Senate version and Representative Michael Cloud introduced the House companion in the 119th Congress. If enacted, buying a suppressor would work the same way buying a scope or a magazine does today. As of mid-2026, the bill has not advanced past introduction.
What the Bill Would Do
The SHUSH Act would strike suppressors from the NFA’s definition of “firearm,” which eliminates the entire federal registration apparatus that currently governs them.1Congress.gov. S 345 – SHUSH Act, 119th Congress No Form 4 application. No fingerprint cards. No passport photos. No wait for ATF approval before taking possession.
The bill also excludes suppressors from the Gun Control Act’s firearm definition. That is the piece that distinguishes the SHUSH Act from other suppressor proposals: licensed dealers would not run a NICS background check or complete an ATF Form 4473 for a suppressor sale.2Congress.gov. HR 850 – SHUSH Act, 119th Congress The device leaves federal firearms regulation entirely.
A downstream effect worth flagging: NFA gun trusts, which buyers commonly use to share suppressor access with family, would lose their purpose for suppressors. There would be no registration to hold in the trust’s name.
State Bans Would Be Overridden
The bill contains a broad preemption clause that would void state and local laws taxing or regulating suppressors.1Congress.gov. S 345 – SHUSH Act, 119th Congress Eight states and the District of Columbia currently prohibit civilian suppressor possession: California, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island. Some other states allow ownership but restrict use, including bans on hunting with a suppressor.
Under the SHUSH Act, all of those state-level prohibitions would be invalidated, and suppressors would become legal to own nationwide. This provision is what separates the SHUSH Act from a straightforward tax adjustment: it directly overrides the policy of nearly a dozen state legislatures, and that is where much of the political resistance to the bill sits.
Sentencing, Law Enforcement, and Consumer Safety Provisions
Several parts of the bill get less attention than the deregulation headline but matter to how it would work in practice.
The SHUSH Act would strike the enhanced federal mandatory minimum sentences that currently apply when a defendant uses a suppressor-equipped firearm during a crime of violence or a drug trafficking offense.2Congress.gov. HR 850 – SHUSH Act, 119th Congress Opponents point to this provision as a separate concern from the hearing-protection rationale used to justify the rest of the bill.
Active and retired law enforcement officers would be permitted to carry a concealed suppressor, mirroring existing federal concealed-carry protections for qualified officers.
The bill also explicitly excludes suppressors from the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s jurisdiction, blocking that agency from issuing safety standards or recalls for these devices.
How the SHUSH Act Differs From Current Law
Congress has already changed part of the suppressor regime, and it is easy to confuse what is now law with what the SHUSH Act would additionally do. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (P.L. 119-21), signed on July 4, 2025, set the NFA transfer and making tax on suppressors to $0 effective January 1, 2026, and removed silencers from the NFA’s list of taxable firearms for tax purposes.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 5811 – Transfer Tax
Everything else the NFA requires is still in place.4Congress.gov. The National Firearms Act and PL 119-21 – Issues for Congress Buyers still register, submit fingerprints and a photograph, pass an enhanced background check, and wait for ATF approval before taking possession. Suppressors are still defined as “firearms” under 26 USC 5845, which is what pulls them into the registration system in the first place.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 5845 – Definitions State bans still apply, because P.L. 119-21 preserved state authority.
So the current picture is a free tax stamp bolted onto an otherwise unchanged federal process, with state prohibitions fully intact. The SHUSH Act would demolish all of that.
Competing Suppressor Bills
The SHUSH Act is not the only suppressor bill in the 119th Congress, and the differences matter if you are watching which version might realistically move.
The Hearing Protection Act (H.R. 404/S. 364) is the more moderate proposal. It would take suppressors out of the NFA but keep them under the Gun Control Act, so buyers would still complete a Form 4473 and pass a NICS check at a licensed dealer, just like buying a rifle.6Congress.gov. S 401 – Hearing Protection Act The tax provisions from the HPA are what ended up folded into P.L. 119-21.
The Constitutional Hearing Protection Act (H.R. 3228), introduced in May 2025, would also remove suppressors from the NFA and was referred to the House Committees on Ways and Means and the Judiciary.7GovInfo. HR 3228 – Constitutional Hearing Protection Act
Where Things Stand
Neither the SHUSH Act nor the Constitutional Hearing Protection Act has moved beyond introduction as of mid-2026. If none of the pending bills passes, the current framework stays in place: no tax, but full NFA registration, ATF approval before possession, and state bans in the states that have them.4Congress.gov. The National Firearms Act and PL 119-21 – Issues for Congress
For anyone considering a suppressor purchase right now, the $200 tax stamp is gone and wait times have shortened, but the federal paperwork and approval step are still mandatory, and where you live still decides whether you can own one at all. The SHUSH Act’s over-the-counter model is a proposal, not the law.