TN: Hearing Protection Act is introduced in Tennessee by Rep Tilman Goins

Gun Watch ^ | 12 January, 2016 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

A member of the Republican leadership in the Tennessee House of Representatives, Tilman Goins, has introduced a bill to reform archaic gun law.

Tilman is the Majority Caucus Treasurer, and is a member of the Criminal Justice and Business and Utilities committees.  His bill TN HB0011 the "Hearing Protection Act" would simply remove "firearms silencer" from the list of prohibited weapons.

If the bill is passed, it would go into effect on 1 July, 2017.

These types of reforms have been very popular with legislatures over the last several years.  Josh Waldron, one of the founders of the American Suppressor Association, says these sort of bills often receive 90% support, once legislators become educated. From Josh Waldron, June, 2016:

If you are an anti-gun guy, if you cannot outright ban the firearm, why not make the firearm safer? That is why we have been able to build a lot of momentum and get a lot done.  On the state level we have had 90 percent on both sides of the House and Senate vote yea on our bills.  90 percent.  That is a huge bipartisan issue.  There are a lot of bills these days that have been passing these days with that 90 percent bi-partisan approval level in both houses.

 HB0011 was introduced on 10 January. There are many steps that a bill goes through before it becomes law. Stay tuned.

©2016 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.

Link to Gun Watch

[marktwain]

The reform of stupid restrictions on gun mufflers, AKA silencers,suppressors, continues.

[jazminerose]

Yet another morning I’m happy we fled SoCal and moved to E Tennessee in 2015.

Actually, I’m always happy we did that.

[dynoman]

“the “Hearing Protection Act” would simply remove “firearms silencer” from the list of prohibited weapons.”

A silencer is not a weapon, except in the sense you could beat someone with one, like a baseball bat.

[jdsteel]

Like many FReepers, this hits close to home. I hope it is a trend.

[Ancesthntr]

Great proposal...but nearly useless unless the national HPA is passed. This would only allow Tennesseans to go through the onerous and expensive process of asking the BATF for permission to buy a suppressor. The national HPA would eliminate the BATF from the equation, allowing direct sales to us proles - just like any other consumer product.

[lurk]

It really is silly not to allow gun noise reducers. What were they thinking when they wrote these old laws?

[marktwain]

No one knows for sure. The legislative record does not give any reason for the inclusion of silencers.

http://gunwatch.blogspot.com/2016/05/review-criminal-use-of-firearm-silencers.html

My best guess is the Franklin Roosevelt administration were just grabbing as much power as they thought they could get.

The real push was to outlaw pistols. That was taken out of the legislation, and what was left made little sense.

[Tilted Irish Kilt]

Ping

[PROCON]

HEAR, HEAR! (See what I did there?)

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[smokingfrog]

WHAT?

[smokingfrog]

http://americansuppressorassociation.com/wp_asa/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/asa_edu_map_0616161.jpg

[Paal Gulli]

“A silencer is not a weapon, ...”

The Feds disagree. By federal law, a silencer is a firearm, whether it’s attached to a gun or not. And any firearm that isn’t also a weapon isn’t worth what you paid for it.

Even when removed from the weapon, a fully-automatic trigger mechanism (or as used in the AR-15, a Drop-In Auto Sear [DIAS] or Lightning Link) also are “firearms” (at least according to the BATF). That was the only way they could figure to bring them to heel under the BATF without expanding the name to Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, Silencers, and Full Auto Trigger Thingies.

Tennessee is one of eight states to have passed it’s own version of the Firearms Freedom Act (tip of the hat to the state of Montana for getting the ball rolling). The FFA states that the 10th Amendment to the US Constitution trumps (dontcha love that word?) any federal firearms law, so any firearm made in the state, sold to a state resident, and maintained within the state is exempt from all federal firearms laws.

Some of the FFA states (Tennessee among them) also have passed FFA supporting legislation which prohibits any state actor from assisting any federal agency which intends enforcing a federal law that contravenes the terms of their state’s FFA.

I always have thought that the purpose of the FFA was a strategic one, to give those states with an FFA the standing to join a SCOTUS suit to try to get all federal gun laws declared subordinate to state gun laws as stipulated in the FFAs, if not outright ruled unconstitutional. But because of the consequences to the future of the movement if the case should reach SCOTUS but fail, they necessarily were biding their time until the composition of SCOTUS (and preferably POTUS, too) was more 2A-friendly. It remains to be seen whether Tennessee thinks they can get away with this because Trump .45 will rein in an overreaching BATF, or whether they think it’s time to start bringing the 10th Amendment issue to a head.

AFAIK Barrett Arms is is the only “brand-name” manufacturer who builds silencers in Tennessee as of today, and their offerings are limited, but if this bill passes, mom’n’pop suppressor makers are sure to be popping up like toadstools after a spring rain.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montana_Firearms_Freedom_Act

http://firearmsfreedomact.com/

https://www.atf.gov/firearms/docs/form/form-4-application-tax-paid-transfer-and-registration-firearm-atf-form-53204/download

http://www.quarterbore.com/nfa/dias.html

http://www.quarterbore.com/nfa/lightninglink.html