While I am certainly in favor of lowering the tax stamp cost for suppressors to five dollars, I am much more in favor of completely eliminating suppressors from the NFA in the first place. There is also legal justification for doing so.
The simple fact is that the BATFE regulates suppressors under the authority of the 1934 NFA, which defines suppressors as “arms.“ Well, if they are “arms,“ then they cannot charge a fee to exercise the right to own those devices, any more than a state can charge a poll tax to exercise the right to vote. On the other hand, if suppressors are not “arms,“ then under what pretext can they possibly be regulated at all? The government simply cannot have it both ways. Either suppressors are “arms“ or they are not, and either way they should not be regulating them - fee or no fee.
Ironically, these are available right off the shelf without any regulations whatsoever in Europe, where it is required to use suppressors in many countries because it helps to preserve people‘s hearing. So, even the hoplophobic Europeans recognize that suppressors are not arms, and that they provide a tremendous benefit to society in terms of preserving health. For a change, they are far more rational than we are on a gun-related issue, since our pathetic Congress in 1934 got it’s motivation for passing this law from the movies and sensationalist reporting regarding mafia activities. Even more pathetic is that 91 years after the fact, we still apparently cannot have a rational discussion about these devices.
If it facilitates the exercise of 2nd Amendment rights, it falls in the category of “arms” and the 2nd Amendment protects it.
Remove all NFA restrictions, and sell them over the counter at your local hardware store. Just like earmuffs and other hearing-protecting items.
I’m in favor of SCOTUS getting rid of all the modern infringements starting with the 1934 NFA and moving up to today.
You may say I’m a dreamer. But I’m not the only one.