“...using a silencer goes too far...”
Please explain how so.
You don't need to suppress the noise as much as a silencer.
A person might want to know that his gun was fired -- such as a child firing the handgun.
That was my point. Just something to allow a person to hear after the gun is fired. A silencer would be okay, but knowing a gun is fired might be a desirable thing (as I pointed out above).
A gunowner would be horrified to find a child/person dead because he did not hear the shot of his gun from someone playing with it. And if it has a 'distinctive' sound, the homeowner would know it is his gun being fired...
That is the 'why' for my point of view (which could be total nonsense).