One year later, attacks on gun safety in One Big Beautiful Bill put Americans at risk

WASHINGTON —   GIFFORDS, the national gun violence prevention group led by former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, released a statement today marking the one-year anniversary of the passage of President Trump’s partisan “Big Beautiful Bill.”

The bill included a radical provision designed to eliminate mandatory background checks on gun silencers, short-barreled rifles and shotguns.

“The passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill took big hits to public safety and was a gift to Republicans’ gun lobby donors. In marking this anniversary, Republicans are celebrating gutting the safeguards that prevented criminals from getting these deadly weapons, making them cheaper and easier to access,” said Emma Brown, Executive Director of GIFFORDS. “The One Big Beautiful Bill has made our families, our communities — and the law enforcement officers who protect them — all less safe. With a bill that ripped healthcare and food assistance away from millions of Americans, Republicans were still able to secure $1.5 billion to advance the gun industry’s interests. That’s where their priorities lie and that’s what Republicans in Congress will need to answer for in the midterms.”

Before the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill, silencers, short-barreled rifles and shotguns were regulated by the National Firearms Act (NFA), which required a thorough background check, tax and registration. By eliminating the tax, Republicans gutted the NFA’s safeguards that kept silencers and short-barreled firearms from falling into the wrong hands.