“I Found This Old Maxim Silencer…”

forgottenweapons.com ^ | December, 2013 | NA

[marktwain]

Since I posted my brief article on the original Maxim silencers, I’ve had more than a few people contact me saying that they have found one among the possessions of a deceased parent or grandparent. These folks are curious what the value of a Maxim silencer is, and are looking to sell it or learn more about the history behind them. Well, from the number of contacts I’ve had along these lines, it is clearly something that needs to be better addressed. I expect many of my regular readers are going to know what I’m about to explain, but I want to put this out there so that people searching on Google and other engines will find it.

So – the first thing that you need to know about Maxim silencers is that, like all other silencers (aka suppressors) today they are required to be registered with the BATF. The law requiring this took effect way back in 1934, and possession of an unregistered silencer is a federal felony. In addition, it is not legal to register an existing unregistered silencer – they must be registered when originally manufactured (or during the one registration amnesty that was granted in 1968).

The Maxim silencers were patented in 1909, before this law (the National Firearms Act) existed, and at that time they were cheap and unregulated. They were purchased via mail order, and cost a few dollars (exact cost depended on which model you wanted; they made them for .22s as well as centerfire rifles). They were stamped “Maxim Silencer”, but were not serial numbered – there was no reason to go to the expense of putting a serial number on such an item.

[marktwain]

Forgotten Weapons does a good job of showing how insane the Federal law on gun mufflers/silencers/suppressors is. This law is a good example of legislation/regulation simply to stifle freedom, with no other effect.

It is hard to believe that a law this stupid has remained on the books.

[JRandomFreeper]

Where are the ADA advocates for those of us with hearing problems? They need to be fighting the BATF on this.

/johnny

[MeganC]

It’s not about safety, it’s about control.

Also, many US cities now have city-wide networks of sensors that detect gunshots and determine where they came from and silencers would easily defeat this surveillance and control tool.

Example:

http://www.shotspotter.com/

[The KG9 Kid]

"...This law is a good example of legislation/regulation simply to stifle freedom, with no other effect."

That was all they knew how to do in the 1930s.

[marktwain]

“Also, many US cities now have city-wide networks of sensors that detect gunshots and determine where they came from and silencers would easily defeat this surveillance and control tool.”

Those are also defeated by shooting indoors. (The house becomes a giant gun muffler.

or,

Shooting with the muzzle inside of a vehicle. The vehicle becomes a giant gun muffler. That is what the D.C. Snipers did, which I predicted before it came out.

[MHGinTN]

Interesting point; I am putting the finishing touches on a bullet backstop/trap made of plywood and filled with shredded rubber mulch, for the shooting range in my garage. So far not one neighbor has mentioned hearing the ‘pops’.

[bigbob]

Hiram Percy Maxim went on to found the American Radio Relay League, the US national organization yet today for radio amateurs.

[petro45acp]

Thank you BigBob!!! I didn’t know that about HM and the ARRL.

“Learn something new and the day isn’t wasted”

This has been a good day.

Cheers,
KYPD

[backwoods-engineer]

Not registered? Then it is contraband to be turned in or destroyed. And if you turn it in, you will likely go to Federal pound-me-in-the-tail prison. Insane laws outlawing gun mufflers. What were our grandparents thinking?

[dfwgator]

And if you turn it in, you will likely go to Federal pound-me-in-the-tail prison.

"In these conjugal visits, you can have sex with women?"

[marktwain]

“What were our grandparents thinking?”

It was part of the “progressive” landslide pushed by the Roosevelt revolution. Part of the “progressivism” was that the Constitution was flawed and obsolete.

Most of them had no idea that it was being passed at the time. Of those who did, most thought they would not apply to them.

http://gunwatch.blogspot.com/2013/11/michigan-moves-to-repeal-obsolete-gun.html

The Supreme Court case (Miller) that tested the constitutionality of it was a set-up by a corrupt judge.

The Appeals cases that built on Miller flagrantly ignored what the Miller case found.

All that changed with Heller, where the second amendment finally was given a reasonably fair shake at court.

[marktwain]

Here is the definitive paper on the background of U.S. v. Miller. This fine bit of scholarship shows that the case was a test case created by collusion of the government parties to create the weakest possible second amendment case to take to the Supreme Court.

THE PECULIAR STORY OF UNITED STATES V . MILLER

Here is a quote:

“This essay suggests the conventional wisdom is only half-right, because Miller did less than generally supposed. Part I presents a brief historiography of Miller. It argues scholars have not provided an entirely convincing account of the Supreme Court’s holding in Miller, largely because they focus on the original meaning of the Second Amendment. Part II recounts the history of the case. It shows Jack Miller was a career criminal and government informant. It finds Miller was a Second Amendment test case arranged by the government and designed to support the constitutionality of federal gun control. And Part III analyzes Miller in light of this history.”

http://www.scribd.com/doc/122415466/us-v-miller

Absolutely loaded with footnotes and details not found elsewhere. The judge, Ragon was a New Deal supporter who wanted a Supreme Court appointment. He might have got it, too, but he died.

[Hiddigeigei]

Hiram Percy Maxim was the son of Hiram Maxim, the inventor of the Maxim machine gun used by Kitchener to defeat the Mahdi forces in the Sudan. He, the son, wrote an very amusing book, called A Genius in the Family, about growing up with his father. The book is available from Amazon.

[S.O.S121.500]

BOOKbump