Josh Waldron, CEO of SilencerCo on the Future of Silencers

Ammoland ^ | 8 June, 2016 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

This is part 2 of a 2 part series. Part 1 dealt with legislative efforts. At the NRA annual meeting in Louisville, Kentucky, I was able to talk to Josh Waldron, CEO of SilencerCo.

(snip)

I talked to people at the SilencerCo booth during the NRA annual meeting in Louisville, KY.  I was told that SilencerCo produces about 65% of the silencers in the United States.  The company is growing so fast that it was hard to keep up with the number of employees, currently about 330 and rising quickly.  There is no doubt that SilencerCo holds a dominant market share and is growing at an exceptionally fast rate.

The National Firearms Act (NFA), passed in 1934, imposes severe regulation and a $200 tax on legal silencers.

I asked Josh about the future of silencers and silencer legislation.

Do you have a plan, and can you tell me about it?

“It starts as education. Ever since we started the company in 2008, we have had a focus on education and advocacy.  When I first started the company there were only 18,000 silencers were sold in the United States each year, and that was every manufacturer.”

“From the time we have started until now, there were 18,000 then, we are now selling about 18,000 silencers every month, just SilencerCo.

In the last five years, this has been the fastest growing segment of the firearms industry.”

“People are just starting to understand. This is not a ‘cool accessory’ as much as it is a personal protection/personal safety device, just as you would consider any other device that keeps you safe while you shoot, such as safety glasses.  It is really the only true way to hunt while you protect your hearing.”

[marktwain]

SilencerCo has 65% of the silencer market in the U.S. They are producing 18,000 a month, so there are about 25,000 legal silencers a month being added to the U.S. stock. That would be 300,000 a year.

In 2010, two years after SilencerCo started operations, there were 285,000 silencers on the ATF books.

At the end of 2014, there were 792,282 silencers.

That extrapolates to over a million silencers registered with the ATF today.

[HiTech RedNeck]

This isn’t on the hush-hush (bad joke, bad joke)

[wrench]

The waiting period, depending on how you submit your application, is 6 months to a full year. This is totally unacceptable for a device that prevents hearing loss.

The 200 buck tax is bad enough.

[FreedomPoster]

Those are pretty astounding numbers given all the hoops you have to jump through with the tax stamp and related paperwork.

[wita]

...and transfer without double taxation for the same device is another issue as is...different day same manure.

[556x45]

Would be interesting to see the ownership split between govt, business and private citizens. I suspect the later has grown at a higher rate than the other 2. Suppressors are easier (as in cheaper) to own b/c their manufacture hasnt been capped. I suspect MGs would be experiencing the same renaissance if new could be held by other than govt.

[lacrew]

At $200 each, the ATF is making some $$.

[lacrew]

Well you see the application process and long wait is meant to prevent all those silencer related shooting sprees we’ve been reading about.

[marktwain]

Yes, the numbers are astonishing. The upside is even moreso.

In countries without the insane taxes and regulation that exist in the U.S. (there are several, much of Europe included), nearly everyone who owns a gun owns at least one silencer.

That translates to a potential U.S. market of 100 million, 100 times as many as now exist. SilencerCo (by my rough estimates) is grossing over 100 million a year, now. The potential is to gross billions a year.

SilencerCo is privately held.

[Yo-Yo]

At $200 each, the ATF is making some $$.

Us serfs are supposed to be thankful that the tax hasn't kept up with inflation since 1934 when the $200 tax was established.

In 1934, a $200 tax on a $2 silencer was a de facto silencer ban.

Today, $200 on a $800 silencer is economically viable.

[CopperTop]

SilencerCo is a great company that stands behind their products. I have nothing but praise for them. They updated my unit that I got from a company they acquired years ago. All at no charge and got it back to me before deer season.

Now THAT's customer service!! d:^)

[Axenolith]

I’d be willing to bet that the government would eliminate the tax and subsequently make their registration really easy, like drones are now, because it would essentially be a “freebie” means of firearm registration...

[IYAS9YAS]

Today, $200 on a $800 silencer is economically viable.

Without the ban, that $800 silencer would be $150 max.

[Fido969]

A million silencers? $200,000,000 in tax revenue if each silencer was only registered once.

[Axenolith]

Holy crap dude, that would mean there’d be 100 million ASSASSINS in the US!!!

/libtardthink

[Fido969]

Without the ban, that $800 silencer would be $150 max.

Heck, people would be making them themselves for $20.

[Rinnwald]

Call it the second object on the list of totally skewed perceptions propagated by American entertainment. Switchblades had “West Side Story”, and silencers had countless assassin movies where the quiet “phut” sound signalled someone’s nefarious demise.

It would be like movies ganging up against mufflers in the early part of the auto business. Honest people would be depicted in blaring, deafening cars, and mufflers would only be used to creep up for bank robberies.

[IYAS9YAS]

Heck, people would be making them themselves for $20.

True.

[marktwain]

That $200 million is spread out over quite a few years.

Still, at 300,000 a year, now, that is still 60 million a year. For the Fed Gov, that is peanuts..

[marktwain]

Yes indeed.

We have been ruled by a mediacracy for decades.

We are finally developing meaningful alternate media sources. It is changing everything, and the elites hate it with a passion.