Republicans on Capitol Hill this week debuted a bicameral measure to remove SBRs from the red tape of National Firearms Act regulations. 

The Stop Harassing Owners of Rifles Today, or SHORT Act, introduced by U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) in the Senate and U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) in the House, will delete the taxation, registration, and regulation in the NFA of firearms currently classified as Short-Barreled Rifles, Short-Barreled Shotguns, and Any Other Weapons. 

The sponsors argue it is past time for this reform, and it will legislatively make the question of outlawing pistol stabilizing braces via a simple bureaucratic rule moot. 

"Deregulating SBRs, SBSs, and AOWs is the most effective way to ensure American gun owners are not subjected to unlawful and unnecessary restrictions, taxation, and registration of firearms or pistol braces," said Clyde in a statement from his office. 

The SHORT Act would drop the onerous NFA regulations on more than 532,000 registered SBRs, 162,000 registered SBSs, and 67,000 registered AOWs, all relics of early 20th century gun control legislation that many argue have never been logical or effective. Meanwhile, the Congressional Research Service in 2021 estimated there may be as many as 40 million stabilizing braces in circulation. 

As for the formerly NFA-controlled items, the measure requires all forms and registries related to the guns to be destroyed within a year of it becoming law. Further, states that currently restrict or prohibit the items will be preempted from continuing to do so under the new law.

Taken in tandem with the Hearing Protection Act, which would remove suppressors from NFA oversight, if both bills are successful, the dated regulation scheme would only apply to machine guns and destructive devices. Whittled down, the NFA itself may be easier to repeal as a whole at that point. 

“The SHORT Act takes a step toward rolling back nonsensical regulations that the National Firearms Act has placed upon gun owners," said Marshall. 

The legislation is supported at introduction by Gun Owners of America and the National Association of Gun Rights.

Banner image: A Zastava M85NP 5.56 NATO large format pistol that has been Form 1'd into an SBR and had its brace swapped out with a USMG Galil-style side-folder stock.