Suppressors

[ChattanoogaPhil]

In the last few years sales of suppressors have soared from 20k in 2008 to over 100k a year and continue to grow. The NRA, which has been no friend to suppressor owners in past decades, has finally begun to publicly warm up to the idea in the last few years http://www.nraila.org/news-issues/articles/2011/suppressors-good-for-our-hearing.aspx and have backed state bills related to suppressors. NRA-ILA | Search

Curious about your thoughts on efforts to make suppressors legal (still illegal in several states), more easily purchased ($200 Fed Tax Stamp required and up to a year wait for approval) and restrictions on hunting use.

My thoughts are that a suppressor should have no restrictions for purchase or use on otherwise legal gun use. I can walk into a gun store and walk out with a gun 10min later, as it should be. But to purchase a muffler for that gun I have to pay a $200 Federal tax and wait up to a year for approval and suffer restricted use.

 

[zzzippper]

I have one and have never understood why they are more restricted than the guns that wear them.

 

[Alpo]

They should be openly legal. They were added to NFA to prevent poor Depression-era people from using them to poach and feed their families. It was never about criminals or gangsters.

Probably the only reason someone has not pushed a bill to remove them from the list is because the only time anyone ever sees them, they are being used by a professional assassin in a movie or TV show, so they are obviously evil.

If they were openly legal, they might even be affordable. There is no reason why a silencer should cost 500 or more dollars. There's not that much to 'em. I think that, because they are NFA, and you have that cruddy tax, you EXPECT them to be expensive.

 

[kmyers]

Definitely should be legal. The NFA of 1934 and the GCA of 1968 should be done away with as should the Hughes ammendment to the Firearm Owners Protection Act.

 

[Old TexMex]

Best hunting tool since the invention of the rifle.
Should be standard equipment for hunters, and regulation free.

 

[lonejacklarry]

I agree with you, Phil. The problem will be the same folks that think the AR-15 "looks" evil will certainly think that a suppressor really looks evil and, therefore, must be bad.

I'd be a fan of splitting the difference in that I would pay the $200 for the tax stamp that enabled me to walk out the door the day I decided I wanted another one.

On the other hand, maybe that wouldn't be a good idea..............

 

[OFT II]

I can't think of a single reason for me to have one but I do think that anyone who wants one should be able to get it without jumping through all those hoops.

 

[leswad]

Texas has made it legal to hunt with suppressors.

 

[tlay]

I wish the use of them by our military was more advanced when I was in. No one used hearing protection! I have lost a lot of my hearing from shooting without hearing protection when I was young and dumb!!

 

[Gunslinger808]

They should be as easy to buy as a firearm.

Really the whole NFA thing with them is so backwards.
They're no good without a host firearm which can be sold with a simple call in to NICS, but the suppressor requires a 9 month background check?

A firearm without a suppressor is still a firearm, a suppressor without a firearm is a fancy rock.

And I really love me some supprerssors!

 

[Rastoff]

I agree with all. The problem today is the movies. People watch a movie and think that if you have a "silencer" on a gun that it can't be heard at all. They think that because a gun is quiet it will be more likely to be used in a crime. They believe this even though I have never heard of one being used in the commission of a crime in the last 50 years.

Restrictions should be on the action not the tool. It's already illegal to kill or assault someone. What advantage is gained by making the tool illegal?

Suppressors are great devices. I believe to be considered a suppressor, the device must lower the muzzle blast to less than 120dBa. That's still loud enough to cause permanent hearing loss.

 

[shouldazagged]

I can't think of a single reason for me to have one but I do think that anyone who wants one should be able to get it without jumping through all those hoops.

Agreed. I can't hunt anymore, and it's been weeks since I had to quietly eliminate an enemy sentry, but I can't see why they're so restricted.

 

[Slim Chance]

I love mine. Georgia just legalized hunting with suppressors, but not with subsonic ammo.

 

[Moonman]

Should just be sold OVER THE COUNTER, no FEDERAL TAX AT ALL.

A environmentally FRIENDLY ITEM, it lessens NOISE POLLUTION.

 

[Coldshooter]

Even Great Britain allows them, look at any air gun periodicals from there and it is hard to find one sold with out. Considered a method to not annoy the neighbors. When I once checked with a dealer in England I found out the .22 suppressor which was standard on the Euro gun I wanted was not available to ship to the US due to NFA issues.

 

[Frank237]

Stopped in a gun shop in Edinburgh (possibly their ONLY gun shop) and they had an entire cabinet of cans, mostly for .22's though. They had a heck of a display of high end shotguns and maybe a dozen rifles. Ammo was silly expensive too.

Got talking with the gun manager and when he figured out I was from the USA he started ragging on me about our "Assault weapon and handgun problems". How we needed more restrictions, WHO really needs such a weapon, etc. Rather unbelievable.

Yet suppressors available over the counter! LOL.

 

[Aticus]

I've heard that in some Scandinavian countries it's considered VERY impolite to hunt without one.

 

[redneckemt]

Stopped in a gun shop in Edinburgh (possibly their ONLY gun shop) and they had an entire cabinet of cans, mostly for .22's though. They had a heck of a display of high end shotguns and maybe a dozen rifles. Ammo was silly expensive too.

Got talking with the gun manager and when he figured out I was from the USA he started ragging on me about our "Assault weapon and handgun problems". How we needed more restrictions, WHO really needs such a weapon, etc. Rather unbelievable.

Yet suppressors available over the counter! LOL.

And their troops are murdered in broad daylight by terrorist while even the cops stand back and wait for good guys with guns.

Oh and during WWII when the Uk was facing a very real threat of invasion Americans were sending guns to arms the scared populace who understood the need for guns to defense.

 

[tlay]

Isn't that the same country that a terrorist hacked a guys head off and people stood around and watched!!!

 

[LVSteve]

I'd be a fan of splitting the difference in that I would pay the $200 for the tax stamp that enabled me to walk out the door the day I decided I wanted another one.

On the other hand, maybe that wouldn't be a good idea..............

I agree, bad idea... for my bank balance, anyway.