Republicans attack gun safety, put Americans at risk

WASHINGTON — GIFFORDS, the national gun violence prevention group led by former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, released a statement today after the House passed President Trump’s partisan “Big, Beautiful Bill” with only Republican votes. The bill includes a radical provision that will make it easier to acquire gun silencers and short-barreled rifles and shotguns.

For nearly a century, these particularly dangerous weapons have been regulated through the National Firearms Act (NFA), which requires a thorough background check, tax and registration. By eliminating the tax, Republicans say they are attempting to gut the NFA’s safeguards that have kept silencers and short-barreled firearms from falling into the wrong hands.

“Today’s vote was a gift to Donald Trump’s gun lobby donors—and a betrayal of public safety,” said GIFFORDS Executive Director Emma Brown. “Almost 100 years of precedent has kept silencers and short-barreled firearms out of easy reach for criminals. But with this bill, Republicans are laying the groundwork to gut safeguards that stopped criminals from getting these deadly weapons. This vote is proof that the ‘law and order’ rhetoric Donald Trump has pushed for years rings hollow. In siding with the gun industry CEOs, he has handed criminals a win, and communities will suffer the deadly consequences.” 

Until now, silencers and most short-barreled firearms other than handguns have rarely been used in crimes because current law has successfully stopped them from falling into the wrong hands. Because of these protections, the shooters in the 2022 Tops Friendly Market massacre in Buffalo, New York, and the 2023 shooting in Lewiston, Maine, were unable to access silencers. A silencer was used in a 2019 Virginia Beach mass shooting that killed 12 innocent people, slowing law enforcement and the crowd’s ability to react to gunfire. This provision could ultimately make it easier for violent criminals to escape or secretly bring dangerous guns into crowded areas, putting both law enforcement and civilians at greater risk.