One provision of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that has received little attention but has a significant public health impact is the Hearing Protection Act, which removes suppressors from being regulated under the National Firearms Act. This change reduces regulatory and financial hurdles for eligible people to purchase, possess, and use these devices. This is overdue and necessary for advancing public health.

Invented in the early 1900s, a suppressor is a tube that attaches to the firing end of a gun’s barrel to reduce the sound of a gunshot. While often mislabeled as “silencers,” they are not designed to eliminate noise but rather to mitigate the shockingly loud noise that can cause irreversible hearing damage. Noise levels associated with gunfire can reach a staggering 140-175 decibels, leading to noise-induced hearing loss even after a single exposure.