WFAA
A bill removing short-barrel or "sawed-off" guns from the state's list of weapons that are banned without federal registration is heading to Gov. Greg Abbott's desk.Short-barrel or "sawed-off" firearms, once banned, are one step from being legalized in Texas.
The bill, SB 1596, authored by state Sen. Brent Hagenbuch, R-Denton, would remove short-barrel guns from the state's list of weapons that are banned unless they're registered with the federal government, which involves paying a $200 tax and passing a background check, according to the ATF, or classified as a curio or relic.
Short-barrel guns are defined by law as a rifle with a barrel length of less than 16 inches or a shotgun with a barrel length of less than 18 inches, or any weapon made from a shotgun or rifle if, as altered, it has an overall length of less than 26 inches.
The Senate version of the bill passed the Texas House in a 87-52 vote Wednesday and now heads to Gov. Greg Abbott's desk to potentially be signed into law.
More:
https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/texas/sawed-off-guns-bill-sb-1596-texas/287-bbdc190c-77d5-4afb-b670-97652938136e
https://thereload.com/analysis-what-does-texas-legalizing-sawed-off-shotguns-actually-accomplish-member-exclusive/
Analysis: What Does Texas ‘Legalizing’ Sawed-Off Shotguns Actually Accomplish? [Member Exclusive]
Stephen Gutowski
June 1, 2025
5:05 am
This week, the Texas legislature made a curious move on gun policy.
They sent SB 1596, a short-barrel shotgun and rifle legalization bill, to Republican Governor Greg Abbott’s desk, where he’s likely to sign it. But that legalization is less expansive than people might assume. That’s because it only impacts state law, and Texans will still have to comply with federal short-barrel firearm regulations.
However, it may end up as something more than a symbolic act because of what’s going on in Congress. And it is an initiative gun-rights activists will need to recreate in a number of other states if they want silencer deregulation to stick.
That’s because Texas’s law is similar to many others around the country. As is often the case with many gun laws, Texas regulations on short-barrel guns mirror federal regulations. In this case, Texas law outlaws possession of short-barrel shotguns and rifles unless they are registered with the ATF under the National Firearms Act (NFA).
Therefore, if Congress removes short-barrel firearms from the purview of the NFA, that will cause serious legal problems for owners in Texas. If it becomes impossible to register short-barrel guns with the ATF, it becomes impossible to legally possess them in Texas without this change.
Delisting short-barrel shotguns and rifles from the NFA is not part of the reconciliation package that made it through the House of Representatives last week. However, it is something all of the major gun-rights groups are working to get added into the bill as it makes its way through the Senate over the next few weeks.
